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Ultra Low-Power Miniaturized Flexible Radio Optimized for Long-Term Battery Operation

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Defense Microelectronics Activity
Contract: H94003-08-P-8010
Agency Tracking Number: 08-8B3
Amount: $100,000.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: DMEA07-003
Solicitation Number: 2007.2
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2007
Award Year: 2008
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2008-02-05
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2008-08-05
Small Business Information
200 Greenleaf St.
Fort Worth, TX 76107
United States
DUNS: 008038846
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: Yes
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Nithya Ramaswami
 Electrical Engineer
 (817) 872-1500
 nithya.ramaswami@williams-pyro.com
Business Contact
 Brent Williams
Title: Vice President and COO
Phone: (817) 872-1500
Email: brent.williams@williams-pyro.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

The DMEA needs a flexible, miniature, reconfigurable radio suitable for long-term operation (one year or more) on battery power and capable of being embedded in data collector nodes for deployed sensor arrays, sensors, and other applications where very low power consumption combined with flexibility is desired. To address flexibility in radios, Williams-Pyro has designed a highly innovative software-defined radio system. We propose to optimize our existing software-defined radio architecture and develop an Embeddable, Power Efficient, Robust, and Reconfigurable (Emperor) Radio, a battery-operated radio that can be deployed in wireless sensor network applications. Our solution includes implementing innovative power management, developing ultra-low-power software defined radios, and integrating the elements of the sensing, communication, and networking subsystems in a single System-on-a-Chip (SOC) package. The wireless nodes can also be networked using mesh routing protocols to increase the area of surveillance and further reduce power consumption and communication failures. Emperor Radio consists of an ultra-low-power transceiver with software-reconfigurable modem and reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) front-end as well as a low-power processor that interfaces with the transceiver and input/output (I/O) and controls I/O subsystem. The resulting miniature, lightweight, low-power radios will reduce communication failures while maintaining a robust, flexible system for reliable communication.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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