Wireless UltraMiniature Smart Sensor

To address the Navy need for highly integrated, ultraminiature, nonintrusive, wireless, weapon diagnostics systems, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) has developed a new Wireless UltraMiniature Smart Sensor (WUMSS). The WUMSS system is based on an ultralow-power RF transceiver that integrates an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and an onboard microcontroller (MCU), for a very small (0.5 in. diameter x 0.25 in.), low-cost (between $1 to $2) system. The integrated MCU/RF/ADC allows for a small sensor due to the reduction in discrete components, and an operational lifetime in excess of 10 yr due to power management, a thin-film battery, and the integration of POC’s power-harvesting technology. POC has also developed a data processing node to collect data, and a T-connector for electrical connection without the need to rewire the LAV. In Phase I, POC successfully demonstrated the feasibility of WUMSS by creating the WUMSS architecture, developing a prototype sensor node, the T-connector, and base station, and investigated candidate power-harvesting technologies for use in the field. In addition, POC demonstrated the ability of more than 50 wireless sensors to operate in tandem. In Phase II, POC plans to optimize the WUMSS in an engineering prototype that is field-deployable for testing on LAVs.