This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a miniature radio frequency antenna that can be configured into micropower applications for selected frequency bands into the gigahertz range. The proposed antenna is a basic component in radio frequency identification systems (RFID) which includes the use of wireless, batteryless remote ID and sensor tags for many applications. The opportunity is to provide systems with increased range making practical for the first time remote sensing in buildings, hard to access locations, environmentally dangerous for personnel with handheld units for very long durations of time. These antennas can supply power to remote sensor tags by scavenging energy from incident RF radiation. A successful outcome of this SBIR work will impact wireless ID and sensor applications across a large technology base including pharmaceutical, biomedical, smart buildings, shipping, and vehicle tracking. We propose a combined experimental and theoretical study to optimize the characteristics of this antenna in the GHz frequency range.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project can impact a range of applications. The use of university personnel and students enhances the contribution of this funding to science and engineering education in the US. The proposed prototyping and characterization is applicable to microwave identification and sensor systems. As we detail our modeling and optimization CAD work we will be contributing to scientific and technological understanding of electromagnetic antennas. Unique structural features of the proposed antenna increase the range between sensor tag and the reader interrogator of RFID systems. Benefits include tagging and tracking goods in shipment, goods in storage, animals, and people with high security coding in many instances to avoid misuse of the technology. The technology area is UHF wireless and the market sector is RFID systems.
Highlight & Project Outcome: With Phase I SBIR funding from the National Science Foundation New Jersey Microsystems aka RFID Sensor Systems has developed a highly efficient miniature antenna for use in micropower radio systems with remote sensors, identification technology, data logging, and tracking. The application space includes mobile telephones, remote control sensors, and autonomous RFID including energy scavenging. During our 6-month Phase 1 period we have already commercialized a small miniature radio antenna that claims the world’s record for maximum range in radio frequency identification (RFID) systems of the type that contain no internal batteries or power sources Impact / Benefits: This project is providing a highly competitive product for manufacturing in the US with a highly automated production assembly line and with maximum use of silicon integrated circuits. Our business model creates jobs with a minimum of outsourced procurement. Our background has been to draw heavily from the resources of US universities where we use academic lab resources and some support from university faculty Background / Explanation: Once one understands the accomplishments we have made toward commercializing micropower radio systems, it becomes more obvious that New Jersey Microsystems is an excellent example of a high technology US-company that has potential to become a key player in a major high-tech business sector of the future: wireless sensor systems. This sector is already a multibillion dollar industry and is only at its pioneering stage today. The US continues to be at the forefront of this great industrial development generally known as "RFID". It is our belief however that without an informed federal governance such as the enlightened guidance at NSF we will not be able to maintain our position as the scientific and commercialization innovators of the world. We are actually competing directly with foreign governments as much as with foreign entrepreneurs and that is why US federal agencies who support our technology R&D innovation and commercialization are so critical for America’s future. Contribution to General Good: 1. We are pioneers in a fast developing world of wireless devices and sensors that operate with micropower. These systems are ubiquitous and economical. 2. We have already seen radio frequency identification (RFID) and sensing used to great advantage by the Departments of State around the world for identification, the Department of Homeland Security for identification and tracking, by the military and shippers for supply chain tracking and sensing, in hospitals for locating and tracking personnel and equipment, on turnpikes for vehicle ID. This is a high technology area where American innovations can complete very effectively in world markets if efficiently managed and nurtured with a small amount of federal resources. The implications yet to be commercialized are for yet smaller mobile phones, batteryless sensors of a myriad of applications, tracking food shipment and data logging of shipment temperature and humidity, and more economical turnpike toll collection systems. 3. We have supported and employed students in US universities and colleges through a variety of funding and alliances. Potentially Transformative Research? We are developing a new class of miniature radio antennas. Several of our designs are now filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office and also with the WIPO PCT Office. Since these radio antennas now provide a higher efficiency than was heretofore available in miniature antennas, we believe that we are indeed working on transformative research. Intellectual Merit of this project: The core technologies of our project are especially interesting from the standpoint of academic research. Our R&D program requires a keen understanding of Maxwell’s electromagnetic equations and the use of computer aided design systems that apply these equations with application boundary conditions to highly efficient miniature radio antennas. In addition to the electromagnetics design we use finite element CAD tools to optimize enclosures and mechanical design for our sensors.. . Lineage: Our wireless sensor technology had its beginnings at the New Jersey Institute of Technology with Prof. William Carr and his students developing new wireless silicon integrated circuit chips and specialized microelectromechanical system sensors. The miniature antennas for wireless radio systems have already been commercialized in Q4 2010 and represents a big payback for the PhaseI investment from NSF. Managing NSF Program Officer: Juan E. Figueroa Select one of the following options that best describes your award: SBIR Phase I Principal Investigator(s): William Carr Institution/Company Name/Center Name: New Jersey Microsystems, Inc Website: www.RFIDSensorSystems.com Contact Information: William Carr carr@jerseymicro.com 973 297 1450
