Integrated Wireless Sensor Networks for the Control of the Indoor Environment in Buildings

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With the recent progress in microelectronics and micromechanics, integrated, small footprint combinations of sensors, wireless transceivers, and energy sources are now becoming reality. This offers an unprecedented opportunity for such devices to be widely applied in controlling the environments in large buildings, and to provide tremendous improvement in how well and how energy-efficient buildings are operated. First-order estimations indicate that an energy-conscious building management approach could reduce source energy consumption by 2 quads (quadrillion British Thermal Units or BTUs) in the U.S. alone. This project proposes to develop novel, non-traditional applications of chip technology that will revolutionize environmental control in the building industry, where chip-based devices are virtually not utilized at all today. An integrated "sensor / wireless communication / energy source" node will be developed, that supports multiple sensoring front-ends including, but not restricted to, temperature, light, and localization, a seamless wireless network interface, and an integrated energy source, which allows the node to be self-contained and to operate independently for at least five years. The module will integrate the individual components using both single chip integration, and advanced packaging techniques. The node will support all the functionality needed to configure, operate, query, and maintain the network. The networking approach employed will have the capability to deal with individual node failure through redundancy. To address the multi-disciplinary nature of this research, the project combines the efforts of four research centers in Berkeley, each with a very specific area of expertise essential to the success of the program (1)The Berkeley Wireless Research Center (BWRC); (2) The Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC); (3) The Center for the Built Environment (CBE); and (4) the Integrated Manufacturing Lab (IML). This award is co-funded by the Civil & Mechanical Systems Division and the Engineering Education and Centers Division.