SBIR Phase II: Microelectromechanical System Radio Transceivers for Low-Power Wireless Networks

SBIR 第二阶段：用于低功耗无线网络的微机电系统无线电收发器

• 批准号: 1738563
• 负责人: Tristan Rocheleau
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: MuMEC, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2022-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1738563&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Microelectromechanical; System

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS)-based radio transceiver providing a steep reduction in operating power for wireless data transmission in battery-powered devices. Conventional technology offerings for such radios are numerous, but with 10's of mW of power consumption they are unable to operate for long periods on batteries or scavenged power. If the low power radio promised by MEMS technology is realized, battery life of consumer products such as wireless headphones can be greatly extended, and battery size reduced, saving money and increasing convenience to the end user. With the spread of compact wearable and consumer devices, battery space is becoming increasingly at a premium, strongly incentivizing lower power electronics. As this technology matures, the expanding interconnection of devices (aka, the Internet of Things) offers yet greater potential. With rapidly expanding market adoption of wireless connectivity for sensing, control, and data collection, power consumption is becoming a major limiter in device deployment. If lower power transceivers are available, wired devices may be replaced by wireless and battery replacement cycles reduced or even done away with altogether, saving time and money, and paving the way to true interconnection of all things. The work of this Phase II SBIR project will focus on designing and verifying performance of the MEMS-based radios using fabrication processes suitable for mass production and commercial distribution. By combining MEMS technology with traditional circuit design, the proposed system will enable a 10x reduction in power consumption, low enough that these radios will allow extended operation on battery power alone. In the phase I project, the feasibility of the MEMS-based receiver was tested using resonators compatible with currently available MEMS foundry processes, and power consumption of the core radio-frequency transceiver components was verified at a low 300 mW. In phase II, these results will be expanded upon to add the additional transceiver components and software stack needed for a complete commercial product. The resultant design will be then transferred to the commercial foundry processes needed for mass production. The end goal of this project is to demonstrate a complete MEMS-based radio compatible with the widely-used Bluetooth Low-Energy protocol while operating on a total of only 2 mW in receive-mode.

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在开发一种基于微机电系统（MEMS）的无线电收发器，以大幅降低电池供电设备中无线数据传输的工作功率。用于这种无线电的传统技术产品很多，但是由于功耗为10 mW，它们无法在电池或收集的电力上长时间工作。如果实现MEMS技术所承诺的低功耗无线电，则可以大大延长无线耳机等消费产品的电池寿命，并减小电池尺寸，从而为最终用户节省资金并增加便利性。随着紧凑型可穿戴设备和消费类设备的普及，电池空间变得越来越珍贵，这极大地激励了低功耗电子产品。随着这项技术的成熟，不断扩大的设备互连（又名物联网）提供了更大的潜力。随着用于传感、控制和数据收集的无线连接的市场采用的迅速扩大，功耗正在成为设备部署的主要限制因素。如果低功率收发器可用，有线设备可以被无线设备取代，电池更换周期减少甚至完全取消，节省时间和金钱，并为所有事物的真正互连铺平道路。该SBIR项目第二阶段的工作将集中在设计和验证基于MEMS的无线电的性能，使用适合大规模生产和商业分销的制造工艺。通过将MEMS技术与传统电路设计相结合，拟议的系统将使功耗降低10倍，低到足以使这些无线电设备仅依靠电池供电即可扩展操作。在第一阶段项目中，使用与当前可用的MEMS铸造工艺兼容的谐振器测试了基于MEMS的接收器的可行性，并在低300 mW下验证了核心射频收发器组件的功耗。在第二阶段，这些结果将得到扩展，以添加完整商业产品所需的其他收发器组件和软件堆栈。最终的设计将被转移到大规模生产所需的商业铸造工艺中。该项目的最终目标是展示一个完整的基于MEMS的无线电兼容广泛使用的蓝牙低功耗协议，同时在接收模式下运行的总功率仅为2 mW。