Virtual Sensor Wiring Harness for Hazardous Environments

LIT proposes developing a HERO-Safe communication protocol to allow the use of RF transceivers to meet the requirements of a Virtual Wiring Harness for Hazardous Environments. LIT is teaming with Texas Instruments (TI) and will utilize TI’s Chipcon family of RF components to achieve the low power and long battery life required to make the Virtual Sensor Wiring Harness a reality. LIT’s teaming relationship with TI provides the Government Customer improved access to TI’s low power processor and RF technology. The LIT HERO-Safe Protocol will address network registration and registration delay, node synchronization, data transfer, low duty cycle operation, and hierarchical networks in which the superior network that may not be static. In Phase I LIT will develop the HERO safe RF Protocol with the understanding that the sensor network, composed of sensor nodes and Data-Logging control node, is static. Size, mass, and power are especially important in this embedded sensor system. The long range goal of a one cubic inch system with a ten year battery life is realistic. LIT’s team member, Texas Instruments, possesses state of the art low-power processor and RF technology which makes the ten-year battery life a realizable goal.