SBIR Phase I: Infrastructure-to-Everything (I2X) Communication Technology for Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Support

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是通过使用可嵌入民用基础设施的混合无线技术来增强基础设施对一切（I2X）通信的稳健性和安全性。该技术可以通过提高不确定驾驶条件下的整体系统效率、安全性和鲁棒性，增强现有自动驾驶和半自动驾驶车辆的传感模式。该技术可用于减轻对交通标志等基础设施地标的对抗性操纵和篡改，也可在地理导航信号不可用时用作后备机制。该技术还将为州和联邦利益相关者提供一个灵活的集成平台，以执行新的指导方针和检查点标准。该技术将具有足够的灵活性，可以实施新的通信协议，从而降低其他以移动为基础的企业进入自动驾驶市场的门槛。除了移动应用之外，基础设施所有者和州/联邦交通部门（DoTs）还可以使用该技术对结构健康监测传感器进行大规模查询。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发一种基于嵌入式混合射频识别（RFID）的系统，用于基础设施到一切（I2X）通信。实现嵌入式I2X设备的一个主要挑战是电源的有限可用性。当设备部署在沥青或混凝土结构中或桥面下时，更换电池是不可行的。该技术采用混合系统，将无源RFID标签的长寿命与有源RFID标签的低延迟相结合，从而解决了这一问题。该项目将：(1)表征实现I2X通信所需的射频能量；(2)评估符合联邦通信委员会法规的嵌入式无线设备的可用能量；(3)构建可在嵌入和压实过程中存活的商用设备；(4)开发基础软件，支持与嵌入式I2X原型进行有意义的信息交换；(5)在小规模的现场部署研究中验证原型。该项目的最终目标是开发使用商品电子产品的I2X原型，同时仍能实现比路面和其他民用基础设施中使用的建筑材料成本更低的大规模价格点。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 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enhance the robustness and security of infrastructure-to-everything (I2X) communications through the use of a hybrid wireless technology that can be embedded inside civil infrastructure. The technology could augment the sensing modality of existing autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles by improving the overall system efficiency, security, and robustness under uncertain driving conditions. The technology could be used to mitigate adversarial manipulation and tampering of infrastructural landmarks like traffic signs and could also be used as a fallback mechanism when geo-navigation signals are unavailable. The technology will also provide a flexible integration platform for state and federal stakeholders to enforce new guidelines and checkpointing standards. The technology will be flexible enough to implement new communication protocols that can lower the barrier for other mobility-based businesses to enter the autonomous driving market. In addition to mobility applications, infrastructure owners and state/federal departments of transportation (DoTs) could use this technology for large-scale interrogation of structural health monitoring sensors. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop an embedded hybrid radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based system for infrastructure-to-everything (I2X) communications. A major challenge to implementing embedded I2X devices is the limited availability of power. It is not feasible to replace batteries when the devices are deployed in asphalt or concrete structures or underneath a bridge-deck. This problem is solved by the proposed technology using a hybrid system that combines the long lifetime of passive RFID tags with low-latency of their active counterparts. This project will: (1) characterize the radio-frequency energy required to enable I2X communications;(2) evaluate the energy available for embedded wireless devices that adhere to Federal Communications Commission regulations; (3) build commercial-ready devices that can survive the embedding and the compaction process; (4) develop basic software to support meaningful information exchange with the embedded I2X prototypes; and (5) verify prototypes in small scale field deployment studies. The end goal of the project will be to develop the I2X prototype using commodity electronics while still achieving an at-scale price point that is cheaper than the cost of the construction material used in road surfaces and in other civil infrastructure.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.