DUBLIN SEMICONDUCTOR firm DecaWave has signed a deal with US company MicroStrain that will see DecaWave’s ScenSor wireless radio chips built into sensors that will monitor the performance of everything from knee implants to helicopters.
DecaWave has developed low power chips that communicate using ultra wide band on the emerging 802.15.4A standard. The chips have an extremely low power requirement but are capable of reporting their position much more accurately than existing systems such as GPS.
DecaWave claims that, with ScenSor, up to 11,000 devices or tags can be located in a radius of 20 metres and with a precision of within 10cm.
The five-year-old Dublin firm developed the technology with location-based services in mind but, following the launch of ScenSor last September, Micro-Strain got in touch to see whether the low-powered chips could be integrated into its sensors.
“DecaWave’s ScenSor operates at 10 times lower energy levels and communicates at rates 20 times faster than our current radio chips, resulting in overall energy savings of 200-fold,” said Steve Arms, chief executive of Micro-Strain. “This will enable Micro-Strain’s energy-harvesting wireless sensors to be smaller, faster, and even more versatile.”
Unlike RFiD chips, the reader does not have to be within a couple of metres of the tag – chief executive Ciaran Connell says DecaWave’s technology can transmit signals up to 500 metres if there is a direct line of sight and up to 45 metres with obstacles in the way.
Once in production and the price per chip falls, highly accurate location capabilities could be built into everything from mobile phones to Wi-Fi routers. Mr Connell believes the ability to always know where friends and family are can revolutionise our use of technology and will outweigh any privacy concerns. “The technology is there – how people use it is up to them, but all the security is there,” says Mr Connell.
To date, DecaWave has had €3 million in seed funding provided by the founders, Enterprise Ireland and angel investors in the US and Ireland. The company is currently seeking to raise a further €900,000 in seed capital to go with a €600,000 grant being provided under the Eurostarts research programme.
Mr Connell worked for many years in the US with Freescale, Motorola’s semiconductor subsidiary, while co-founder Michael McLaughlin won the Young Scientist Award in 1978 and has held senior positions with Parthus, Cornel Electronics and Lake Datacommunications.
Ireland is building up a cluster of fabless semiconductor firms that are winning customers abroad. Last week RedMere Technologies, also founded by former Parthus executives, announced that Monster Cable was to use its chips to create the world’s lightest and thinnest HDMI cables.
