Seamless Cross-TechNology Communication Platform for Internet of Things Applications

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the fastest growing technology sectors. By 2025, it is predicted that there will be 50 billion connected devices, a 400% growth from today. IoT growth is predicted to be highest in the following industrial sectors: manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and social assistance, energy & utilities, infrastructure, and smart homes. Many IoT applications and existing cyber physical systems are enabled with wireless technologies, for example, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee. However, due to limited budget and relatively compact design, many IoT devices cannot afford to support multiple communication interfaces.Therefore, it is not intuitive to connect IoT applications with existing smart systems. We propose to develop a seamless cross-technology communication (CTC) platform for IoT applications to close such a gap. Prixarc LLC and its team is developing a novel cross-technology communication (CTC) platform for IoT applications that can 1) increase energy efficiency in IoT applications, 2) enable seamless communications between IoT applications and existing cyber physical systems, and 3) enhance device level security. During Phase I SBIR project, Prixarc and its team demonstrated (i) seamless communication for IoT devices using Wi-Fi and ZigBee technologies; (ii) improved transmission energy efficiency of IoT devices through the automatic switching between Zigbee and Wi-Fi; and (iii) physical-layer security supported authentication and secret key generation for IoT communications. During Phase II of this project, we will focus on optimizing and extending the technical capabilities of our platform developed during Phase I, evaluate and validate the platform design using a testbed, and produce prototypes of the potential product, a smart IoT module. The next generation IoT systems consist of sensors with built-in power management that can harvest energy for its operation from its surroundings, signal processing, cellular connectivity, and CTC capability. Prixarc is proposing to develop smart IoT modules that has all the above capabilities, during the DOE Phase II SBIR program. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The need for low-power, wireless sensors is expected to grow due to the growth of IoT in various industrial sectors (Power, Agriculture, Transportation, Home, Smart Infrastructure, etc.). Smart IoT modules with the ability to harvest electromagnetic energy and provide seamless cross-technology communication can be useful in many industries, including power, agriculture, industrial sensing, remote environmental monitoring, and structural monitoring of buildings and bridges.