Less than three years
Coil-on-chip
Coil-on-chip technology allows the fabrication of antenna coil onto the surface of the silicon wafer to create chips that can sense and interact with readers via radio frequency. Such chips typically measure an approximate 2.5mm by 2.5mm and can be used on tiny objects or in areas that have extremely small spaces. The chip fabrication technology used is photolithography which creates very small structures with a high degree of precision and reproducibility.
Today, coil-on-a-chip technology has been implemented in certain RFID tags and specialised applications such as magnetic resonance micro-imaging. When compared to conventional ones with external antenna coils, the coil-on-chip RFID tag achieves a smaller footprint and rarely malfunctions because of the deterioration of contacts on the lack of external soldering connections between the antenna coils and the IC chips. RFID coil-on-chip has basic storage capacities ranging from 128 bytes to 4 kilobytes of data and no moving parts so it can withstand the harshest environments, including wet and dry conditions.
For IOT, coil-on-chip technology is particular useful as it allows small physical objects to be tagged with tiny coil-on-chip sensors to be monitored by applications. Some of these physical objects could be living things such as birds and insects that require monitoring on their immigration patterns due to weather. Maxell – a world leader in memory and storage technologies has developed coil-on-chip RFID tags that have read/write capabilities with a memory capacity of 1 kbit. The tiny 2.5mm by 2.5mm RFID chip allows data to be recorded, erased and re-recorded, and new data can be added until the memory capacity is filled. This makes the coil-on-chip a good choice for long-term data management over a project lifecycle. The data on the chip can either be erased and re-used, or saved for archiving after processing.
Low-power devices and batteries
Power consumption has the greatest challenge for sensors. Today sensors need to be able to sustain longer battery lifespan, especially in cases such as outdoor deployments, to shorten hardware maintenance and prevent breakdown of communication. In many deployment cases, in order to prolong the usability of the sensors in the field, large battery sources have to be attached to the sensors, making the sensor setup bulky and cumbersome.
IOT supports the pervasive connectivity of sensors and the need for them to interact with each other i.e., act as both tags and interrogators. In order to support such connectivity and communications, the design and use of low-power chipsets will create a significant impact and consideration on power consumption for future sensors. Ultra-low power designs for chipset circuits have been an ongoing research area, with techniques moving from single gate to multi-gate transistors and to carbon nanotube designs
Power scavenging (energy harvesting) technologies that convert energy out of physical
energy sources such as temperature differences and applied pressure, have been researched
to explore their capability to replace conventional batteries. Two examples of power
scavenging technologies are photovoltaic technology which generates electric power by
using solar energy and piezoelectrics technology that creates charges on stress or shape
change on voltage applied. Newer forms of battery technologies, e.g., polymer battery, fuelcell
and paper batteries will support increasing functionality and longer battery lifetime.
Paper and smart label batteries have shown promising use cases in warehousing usage as
they allow containers to perform two-way communications with the reader.
Monolithic/Single Chip Device
In many sensing applications today (e.g., motion detectors and ambient intelligence systems), there is an increasing need for sensors and tags to exchange data with other devices such as tags, sensors, network nodes and routers. In order for these sensors and tags to communicate heterogeneously across various communication protocols, chip design is allowing additional RF components (e.g., for Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wireless LAN and FM functionality) to be part of the monolithic/single chip device.
The definition of a monolithic chip is a type of “integrated circuit” electronics that contains active and passive devices (transistors, microcontrollers and capacitors) that are made in and on the surface of a single piece of a silicon wafer. The “planar technology” used in a single block (monolith) allows the block to interconnect with the insulating layer over the same body of the semiconductor to produce a solid integral monolithic chip. If the devices are interconnected by bonding wires dangling above the chip, it is not a monolithic chip but a hybrid chip.
With monolithic chips, applications can not only communicate with the reader but are also able to exchange data with other devices (tags, sensors, network nodes, routers, etc). Such designs will lead to a cost-effective solution for industries looking to integrate sensors with communication devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, notebooks and navigation systems.
ZigBee (used in the context of Wireless Sensor Networks)
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) or Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) is defined by the ability of sensors (often called nodes) to communicate directly with each other to form a mesh network. The sensors in the network can act as interrogators and are often mobile. If they are inadvertently moved, they can compensate electronically, without human intervention, i.e., they are “self-calibrating”.
The nodes can be constructed from a variety of electronic hardware - a sensor, an actuator, a microprocessor, a radio and a power source - and some may be different from others in a given system to form a “heterogeneous network”. IEEE 802.15.4 wireless technology is a short-range communication system intended to provide applications with throughput and latency requirements in WSN. The key features of 802.15.4 wireless technology are short distance transmission, low power consumption and low cost characteristics that can be supported by devices.
Most wireless sensor networks use wireless mesh technology based on IEEE 802.15.4, sometimes referred to as ZigBee. ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, lowpower digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks (PAN). Using ZigBee protocol, sensors are able to communicate with each other on low-power, reliable bit-rate transfer of 250kbps at 2.4GHz band and secure data transfer, i.e., 128 AES plus security. The radio design used by ZigBee has been optimised for low-cost production and has a transmission range of less than 100 m.
WSNs are playing a key role in supporting several IOT application scenarios. With many smart objects having different communication, information and processing capabilities, a reliable network to provide seamless interaction among them becomes imperative. Scalability is another issue for the IOT due to the large scope of communications needed to seamlessly interconnect objects and people. Finally, when dealing with battery-operated smart objects, low-power communication becomes a crucial aspect to ensure continuous connectivity of these objects. The characteristics of WSN support these network requirements. Some examples of WSN deployments are in healthcare, environmental monitoring and smart buildings
Coil-on-chip
Coil-on-chip technology allows the fabrication of antenna coil onto the surface of the silicon wafer to create chips that can sense and interact with readers via radio frequency. Such chips typically measure an approximate 2.5mm by 2.5mm and can be used on tiny objects or in areas that have extremely small spaces. The chip fabrication technology used is photolithography which creates very small structures with a high degree of precision and reproducibility.
Today, coil-on-a-chip technology has been implemented in certain RFID tags and specialised applications such as magnetic resonance micro-imaging. When compared to conventional ones with external antenna coils, the coil-on-chip RFID tag achieves a smaller footprint and rarely malfunctions because of the deterioration of contacts on the lack of external soldering connections between the antenna coils and the IC chips. RFID coil-on-chip has basic storage capacities ranging from 128 bytes to 4 kilobytes of data and no moving parts so it can withstand the harshest environments, including wet and dry conditions.
For IOT, coil-on-chip technology is particular useful as it allows small physical objects to be tagged with tiny coil-on-chip sensors to be monitored by applications. Some of these physical objects could be living things such as birds and insects that require monitoring on their immigration patterns due to weather. Maxell – a world leader in memory and storage technologies has developed coil-on-chip RFID tags that have read/write capabilities with a memory capacity of 1 kbit. The tiny 2.5mm by 2.5mm RFID chip allows data to be recorded, erased and re-recorded, and new data can be added until the memory capacity is filled. This makes the coil-on-chip a good choice for long-term data management over a project lifecycle. The data on the chip can either be erased and re-used, or saved for archiving after processing.
Power consumption has the greatest challenge for sensors. Today sensors need to be able to sustain longer battery lifespan, especially in cases such as outdoor deployments, to shorten hardware maintenance and prevent breakdown of communication. In many deployment cases, in order to prolong the usability of the sensors in the field, large battery sources have to be attached to the sensors, making the sensor setup bulky and cumbersome.
IOT supports the pervasive connectivity of sensors and the need for them to interact with each other i.e., act as both tags and interrogators. In order to support such connectivity and communications, the design and use of low-power chipsets will create a significant impact and consideration on power consumption for future sensors. Ultra-low power designs for chipset circuits have been an ongoing research area, with techniques moving from single gate to multi-gate transistors and to carbon nanotube designs
Monolithic/Single Chip Device
In many sensing applications today (e.g., motion detectors and ambient intelligence systems), there is an increasing need for sensors and tags to exchange data with other devices such as tags, sensors, network nodes and routers. In order for these sensors and tags to communicate heterogeneously across various communication protocols, chip design is allowing additional RF components (e.g., for Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wireless LAN and FM functionality) to be part of the monolithic/single chip device.
The definition of a monolithic chip is a type of “integrated circuit” electronics that contains active and passive devices (transistors, microcontrollers and capacitors) that are made in and on the surface of a single piece of a silicon wafer. The “planar technology” used in a single block (monolith) allows the block to interconnect with the insulating layer over the same body of the semiconductor to produce a solid integral monolithic chip. If the devices are interconnected by bonding wires dangling above the chip, it is not a monolithic chip but a hybrid chip.
With monolithic chips, applications can not only communicate with the reader but are also able to exchange data with other devices (tags, sensors, network nodes, routers, etc). Such designs will lead to a cost-effective solution for industries looking to integrate sensors with communication devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, notebooks and navigation systems.
ZigBee (used in the context of Wireless Sensor Networks)
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) or Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) is defined by the ability of sensors (often called nodes) to communicate directly with each other to form a mesh network. The sensors in the network can act as interrogators and are often mobile. If they are inadvertently moved, they can compensate electronically, without human intervention, i.e., they are “self-calibrating”.
The nodes can be constructed from a variety of electronic hardware - a sensor, an actuator, a microprocessor, a radio and a power source - and some may be different from others in a given system to form a “heterogeneous network”. IEEE 802.15.4 wireless technology is a short-range communication system intended to provide applications with throughput and latency requirements in WSN. The key features of 802.15.4 wireless technology are short distance transmission, low power consumption and low cost characteristics that can be supported by devices.
Most wireless sensor networks use wireless mesh technology based on IEEE 802.15.4, sometimes referred to as ZigBee. ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, lowpower digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks (PAN). Using ZigBee protocol, sensors are able to communicate with each other on low-power, reliable bit-rate transfer of 250kbps at 2.4GHz band and secure data transfer, i.e., 128 AES plus security. The radio design used by ZigBee has been optimised for low-cost production and has a transmission range of less than 100 m.
WSNs are playing a key role in supporting several IOT application scenarios. With many smart objects having different communication, information and processing capabilities, a reliable network to provide seamless interaction among them becomes imperative. Scalability is another issue for the IOT due to the large scope of communications needed to seamlessly interconnect objects and people. Finally, when dealing with battery-operated smart objects, low-power communication becomes a crucial aspect to ensure continuous connectivity of these objects. The characteristics of WSN support these network requirements. Some examples of WSN deployments are in healthcare, environmental monitoring and smart buildings
No comments:
Post a Comment