NSF Award
1128726
SBIR/STTR ERC Collaborative Proposal: #1128726 <br/><br/>SBIR PI: Navid Yazdi (Evigia Systems, Inc); Phase II Proposal #0956908; SBIR PD: Murali Nair <br/><br/>ERC: Wireless Integrated Microsystems (WIMS) Engineering Research Center; University of Michigan; Yogesh Gianchandani, Director <br/><br/>NSF invites funding requests from current Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase II grantees to perform collaborative research with an Engineering Research Center (ERC). The goals of this collaborative effort are to provide a mutually beneficial research and commercialization platform where SBIR/STTR Phase II grantees can perform collaborative research with ERC faculty, researchers, and graduate students, to strengthen the capacity of their firms, and/or speed the transition of ERC advances to the marketplace. <br/><br/>In accordance with the NSF solicitation NSF 10-617, Evigia Systems, Inc has submitted a request for additional funding. The sub-awardee identified in the funding request is the University of Michigan. This proposal meets the requirements of the solicitation NSF 10-617. <br/><br/>In attempting to use record environmental changes by scavenging the energy associated with such changes, the proposed collaborative work explores important fundamental concepts for microsystems. The project brings together the long-range ultra-low energy wireless circuits developed at the University of Michigan Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems (WIMS) with Evigia's batteryless sensor labels with embedded non-volatile memory. The development of such Microsystems is synergistic with research now being pursued in WIMS. The ultra-low power wireless circuit technologies developed at ERC if not combined with low-power sensing and electronics will not provide the wide advantage over competing technologies. The ultra-low power batteryless sensing, digital memory and electronics technologies developed by Evigia will meet the initial demands of the market as these circuit blocks dominate the power consumption in batteryless operation, yet cannot hold the market position over time without maintaining a longer-range operation over competing technologies and solutions that will be introduced over time. <br/><br/>Long range unpowered wireless sensors have clear and compelling uses. There is an identified market and need, from object tracking to environmental and infrastructure monitoring. The proposal to store the small amount of energy needed to run the chip for a short while on a MEMS isolated on-chip capacitor is, if not entirely novel, a good design choice. The suggestion of using a Walton voltage multiplier to gather energy from even weak RF radiation fields over time is an excellent reuse of an existent concept in a novel application. This proposal rests solidly on developed engineering. <br/><br/>The proposal has the potential to give consumers and industrial users an improved sensor. This sensor can store and report the health of the product, thereby reducing waste and improving the logistics of the delivery system. Students and faculty members will gain valuable experience by interaction with an SBIR company. Students will gain important experience from using actual industrial processes that will make them able to contribute to a multi-discipline team as soon as they graduate.
