PFI-RP: Zero-power Wireless Flame Detector for Ubiquitous Fire Monitoring

该创新研究伙伴关系（PFI-RP）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是推动破坏性火灾监测传感器技术的发展，该技术每年可以挽救数千人的生命，防止数十亿美元的资产损失。目前，大规模的无线火灾传感器网络受到与所有权、安装和维护相关的过高成本的困扰。商业上可用的传感器依靠有源电子来检测和区分感兴趣的信号。因此，即使在没有检测到相关数据的情况下，它们也会持续消耗电力来监测环境，这导致电池寿命很短，只有几个月。所提出的无线火焰探测器几乎可以部署在任何地方，大大降低了与传感器硬件、安装和维护相关的成本。该技术的完全被动传感机制和无线连接可以在传统电子设备恶劣的环境条件下提供防火保护（例如，极端温度和有限的电源）。该项目将推进该技术，以解决飞机的狭窄空间（即发动机或货舱），在那里火灾的传播受到严重阻碍，从而限制了传统火灾探测器的使用。该项目旨在开发一种新型的微机械火焰探测器，在待机状态下消耗接近零的功率，直到被火焰发出的特定红外信号唤醒。最基本的技术挑战在于最先进的传感器技术的持续功耗。该装置推进了最近开发的零功率数字化红外传感器，该传感器可以选择性地从温暖物体发出的特定红外信号中获取能量，从而在不使用任何电力的情况下工作。严格的火灾探测器标准要求高水平的系统鲁棒性和稳定性，以应对极端温度、振动和外来瞬变等环境变化。拟议的项目将展示一个符合国家火焰探测器标准的原型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is to advance the development of a disruptive fire monitoring sensor technology that could save thousands of lives and prevent billions of assets loss annually. Currently large-scale wireless fire sensor networks suffer from prohibitive cost associated with ownership, installation and maintenance. Commercially available sensors rely on active electronics to detect and discriminate signal of interest. Therefore, they consume power continuously to monitor the environment even when there is no relevant data to be detected, which results in a short battery lifetime limited to very few months. The proposed wireless flame detectors can be deployed virtually anywhere by dramatically reducing the cost associated with sensor hardware, installation, and maintenance. The completely passive sensing mechanism and wireless connectivity of the proposed technology offer fire protection in environmental conditions considered harsh for conventional electronics (e.g., extreme temperature and limited access to power sources). The project will advance the technology to address the constricted spaces of an aircraft (i.e., the engine or the cargo compartments) where the propagation of fire is significantly hampered, hence restricting the use of the conventional fire detectors. The proposed project aims to develop a novel micromechanical flame detector consuming near-zero power in standby until awakened by the specific infrared signature emitted by a flame. The fundamental technical challenge lies in the continuous power consumption of state-of-the-art sensor technologies. The proposed device advances recently developed zero-power digitizing infrared sensors that can selectively harvest the energy from the specific infrared signature emitted from a warm object to operate without using any electrical power. The rigorous fire detector standards require a high level of system robustness and stability against environmental variabilities such as temperature extremes, vibration, and extraneous transients. The proposed project will demonstrate a prototype meeting the national flame detector standards.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.