Wireless, RF & Smart Dust

Research that includes:

  • Tuneable RF components: capacitors, inductors, transformers
  • RF microrelays
  • High frequency MEMS resonators: devices, structures, and processes

BPN524: Wireless Sensor Network Scalability and Deployment in Industrial Automation

Samuel B. Zats
2010

Analyses and simulations of a comprehensive wireless sensor network for industrial automation applications. Utilizing WirelessHART architecture, the proposed network will consist of 1 million motes within an area of 10 km2. Each mote is presumed to be single sensing and sampling vibration, pressure, temperature, or light. The project seeks to evaluate the scaling limits and challenges for deployment of a reliable (characterized by at least 99.9% reliability), frequently sensing (measuring levels every 10 secs), low power (7+ year lifetime power), secure wireless network (encrypted...

BPN437: A Low-Power Receiver Employing RF Channel-Selection

Jesse Richmond
2010

The performance of traditional wireless receivers is limited in a large part by the lack of a narrow bandwidth, low loss, and reconfigurable filter at the RF bandwidth, which leads to designers needing to use circuit techniques to ensure adequate linearity and allow channel selection. This project aims to make use of recent developments in high quality micromechanical resonators to enable new circuit designs featuring ultra-low power consumption and an extremely small size. The receiver will be based around an array of filters to perform sub-carrier separation and allow a multi-tone...

BPN521: Passive Wireless Transducers for a Distributed High Density Neural Interface

Peter Ledochowitsch
2010

In this project we are striving to develop biocompatible passive micro-scale transducers which are able to measure transient extracellular ion concentrations and transmit them at microwave frequencies. We are interested in fabricating implantable MEMS devices which shift their resonant frequency whenever a nearby neuron fires. When implanted up to 2 mm deep into the brain cortex, we expect these devices to enable next-generation distributed neural interfaces featuring not only superior spatial and temporal resolution of extracellular action potentials but also robust long-term...

BPN592: Workshop: Hands-On Intro to Low-Power Wireless Sensor Networking

Dr. Anita Flynn
Dr. Thomas Watteyne
Leo Keselman
2010

This IAB we have prepared a half-day tech-transfer workshop for industrial members teaching background, fundamentals, advantages and limitations associated with standards-based low-power sensor networks. Open standards are important because they allow technologies to gain traction and industries to blossom. Open-source reference implementations take things one step further. Because standard protocols invariably allow optional configurations, a reference implementation gives people a concrete example of how to get started. The proposed IEEE802.15.4e standard prescribes time...

BPN541: High-Voltage MEMS Resonators

Brian Pepin
2010

The use of high voltages (>100 volts) in MEMS-based resonators presents a pathway towards achieving low motional resistances while maintaining excellent linearity, as would be required, for example, in a MEMS-based power amplifier. This research demonstrates the feasibility of creating MEMS resonators which can withstand such voltages without succumbing to electrical pull-in, focusing on careful device design informed by FEM simulation.

Project end date: 02/01/11

BPN576: Off-the-Shelf Sensors for Wireless Smart Home Applications

Alex Sun
James Peng
Edmund Ye
Thomas Watteyne
2010

The goal of this project is to show proof of concept that, with widely available and relatively inexpensive off-the-shelf sensors, wireless low-power sensor networks can be easily created and integrated into everyday life. The eventual objective is to equip a house with a wide variety sensors and actuators, allowing a user to wirelessly monitor and control his or her home. Installation should be easy and flexible enough so that the wireless motes of the network can be added on to any pre-existing structure.

Project end date: 02/04/11

BPN572: Decentralized TSCH Scheduling for a Floating Wireless Sensor Network

Andrew Tinka
Kevin Weekly
Thomas Watteyne
2011

The Floating Sensor Network system is a fleet of robotic sensor packages with water quality sensors, GPS receivers, and 802.15.4 wireless communication modules. They are deployed in riverine and estuarine environments to observe the water flow and propagation of constituents such as salt, nitrates, and other contaminants. Their observations will be used for real-time estimates and forecasts of the system state. The connectivity is dynamic and unpredictable, making a centralized scheme challenging. Our project will develop networking algorithms and methods to enable reliable...

BPN597: QES: Design and Optimization of Passive Wireless Implantable Pressure Sensors

Neel K. Shah
Mozziyar Etemadi
Rishi Kant
2011

Inductor design for passive wireless implantable use presents several challenges not currently addressed. A small form factor is desired for minimally invasive implantation and monitoring, and a low frequency is necessary for effective through-body power transfer. However a small inductor area limits effective power transfer and low-frequency operation. It is thus necessary to optimize the inductor for maximal power transfer while satisfying tight area and low frequency constraints. We present a design methodology for planar circular spiral inductors used with capacitive pressure...

BPN358: Micromechanical Transmit Filter

Li-Wen Hung
2011

The ever-increasing appetite for wireless interconnectivity is beginning to drive new functions, like frequency gating spectrum analysis, that in turn drive a need for GHz resonators with si-multaneous high Q (>30,000) and low impedance (<200 Ohm). No single on-chip resonator device can deliver such performance in this frequency range to date. To achieve simultaneous high Q and low impedance, either the impedance of capacitive resonators must be lowered, or the Q's of piezoelectric resonators must be raised. This project investigates methods for increasing quality factor of...

BPN470: Low Power All-Digital Transceiver for Wireless Sensor Network

Richard Y. Su
2011

Radios available today are designed to be high performance devices, and they consume about 30mW (CC1101). We would like to demonstrate an all-digital transceiver using only standard cell library components. This new design paradigm will focus mainly on low cost, ease of design, portability, and also decent performance. This transceiver will operate somewhere between 50 MHz and 1000 MHz, and it will have reasonable sensitivity and wide-band linearity across this band with low power consumption. No passive components, except for capacitors, will be used. The goal of this is to develop...