Kristofer S.J. Pister (Advisor)

Research Advised by Professor Kristofer S.J. Pister

Pister Group:  List of Projects | List of Researchers

BPN713: Ring GINA: Highly Miniaturized Ring-Format Wearable Mote

Joseph Greenspun
David Burnett
2015

Computer input devices such as mice and keyboards have remained largely unchanged since the dawn of the personal computer. The Ring GINA platform is capable of sensing and interpreting a user’s hand and finger movements to emulate and enhance the functions of these standard input devices. A wearable platform frees the user from the need to know hand position relative to a keyboard or mouse, and grants the ability to perform gestures in open space or on any surface. Here, a method is presented that utilizes these rings as a text input system. In moving forward, efforts are being...

BPN705: Standard CMOS-Based, Fully Integrated, Stick-On Electricity Meters for Building Sub-Metering

Michael C. Lorek
2015

We propose the development and testing of a system of technologies to minimize the installed cost of electricity sub-metering in buildings. This system utilizes non-contact, self-calibrating voltage and current sensors and wireless communication to eliminate the need for installation by an electrician, installation of conduit and enclosures, and installation of wired communication infrastructure. Electricity sub-metering is a critical component for continuous commissioning, fault detection and diagnosis, demand response, and other energy efficiency opportunities.

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BPN768: Plug-Through Energy Monitor for Wall Outlet Electrical Devices

Michael C. Lorek
2015

This project focuses on the development of a Plug-Through Energy Monitor (PTEM) for electrical devices connected to wall outlets. Using a non-intrusive inductive current sensing technique, the load current can be measured without requiring a series sensing element that breaks the circuit. This enables slim profile sensing hardware, and eliminates the power dissipated across series elements as in traditional current measurement techniques. This work aims to design a PCB-based solution that measures load current & line voltage, accurately calculates real power dissipated by a plug...

BPN712: Bridging Research-to-Commercialization Gaps In an Industry/University Ecosystem

John Huggins
Hossain M. Fahad
Hiroshi Shiraki
David Burnett
Nicola Accettura
2015

Some BSAC members have, in our surveys and at IAB meetings, vocalized that we need to help bridge commercialization gaps and increase the speed of commercialization. Traditional University research commercialization paths through passive licensing to start-ups, are often highly successful and will remain the dominant path. But such paths do not leverage the sophisticated manufacturing, marketing, and sales channels of our larger Industrial members who could rapidly exploit certain research discoveries. While any such commercialization facilitation programs cannot compromise the...

BPN683: OpenWSN: A Standards-Based Low-Power Wireless Development Environment

Nicola Accettura
2015

The OpenWSN project is an open-source implementation of a fully standards-based protocol stack for capillary networks, rooted in the new IEEE802.15.4e Time Synchronized Channel Hopping standard. The novel IETF 6TiSCH protocols make IEEE802.15.4e TSCH perfectly interfaced with well-known Internet-of-Things IETF standards, such as 6LoWPAN, RPL and CoAP, thus enabling ultra-low power and highly reliable mesh networks which are fully integrated into the Internet. The resulting protocol stack will be cornerstone to the upcoming Machine-to-Machine revolution. OpenWSN is ported to numerous...

BPN789: Reconfigurable, Wearable Sensors to Enable Long-Duration Circadian Biomedical Studies

David C. Burnett
2016

The last 10 years have seen the emergence of wearable personal health tracking devices as a mainstream industry; however, they remain limited by battery lifetime, specific sensor selection, and a market motivated by a focus on short- term fitness metrics (e.g., steps/day). This hampers the development of a potentially much broader application area based on optimization around biomedical theory for long- term diagnostic discovery. As new biometric sensors come online, the ideal platform enabling the gathering of long-term diagnostic data would have the built-in extensibility to allow...

BPN810: Non-Intrusive Wireless Current Metering of Standard Power Cables Using Vector Magnetic Field Measurements

Naing Ye Aung
Michael C. Lorek
2016

The goal of this project is to design a non-intrusive meter that can accurately measure the current in a standard electric power cable such as an extension cord or lamp cord by monitoring the vector magnetic field around it. Standard ’non-intrusive’ current meters either require the conductors to be separated and a single conductor inserted through a magnetic loop-based current transformer, or use an external magnetic field sensor and knowledge of the relative geometry of the wires and sensor. The net flux surrounding a standard power cable is zero because there is no net current in...

BPN823: Automated System for Assembling a High-Density Microwire Neural Recording Array

Travis L. Massey
2016

Assembly at the microscale involves manipulation of one or more components relative to another in order to create a microstructure or device composed of these two or more components that would be difficult or impossible to monolithically fabricate. One specific class of problems that is well suited to microassembly rather than microfabrication is the creation of very high aspect ratio out-of-plane microstructures. As size and complexity of these out-of-plane microstructures grows, it becomes compelling if not necessary to automate the device assembly. To this end, we are developing...

BPN744: Self-Destructing Silicon

Joseph Greenspun
Osama Khan
Travis Massey
Brad Wheeler
Ryan Shih
2017

Funded under the DARPA Vanishing Programmable Resources (VaPR) program, this project explores the fundamental issues associated with making wireless sensor nodes disappear after achieving an objective. The MEMS Hammer is a micromachined device capable of storing mechanical energy and delivering that energy to a target. It has been used to fracture other microfabricated structures made of silicon and silicon dioxide. The MEMS Hammer is capable of storing a wide range of energies with the upper limit exceeding 10uJ. These devices have been characterized to determine the tradeoffs among...

BPN573: Fabrication and Microassembly of a High-Density Carbon Fiber Neural Recording Array

Travis L. Massey
Jason F. Hou
2018

We present a 32-channel carbon fiber monofilament-based intracortical neural recording array fabricated through a combination of bulk silicon microfabrication processing and microassembly. This device represents the first truly two-dimensional carbon fiber neural recording array. The five-micron diameter fibers are spaced at a pitch of 38 microns, four times denser than the state of the art one-dimensional arrays. The fine diameter of the carbon fiber microwires affords both minimal cross-section and nearly three orders of magnitude greater lateral compliance than standard tungsten...