Smart Dust: The Future of

communication and security

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Discussions:

Definition Features Architecture Prototypes Communication Security Benefits and Concerns Conclusion

What is Smart Dust?

Tiny dust size device that combine sensing, computing, wireless communication capabilities and autonomous power supply within volume of only few millimeters.

Smart Dust Features Useful in monitoring real world

phenomenon without disturbing the original process.

Consists of tiny, wireless sensors or motes.

Each mote is a tiny computer with a power supply, one or more sensors,

and a communication system. Small and light in weight

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Smart Dust project Features:

Being developed at UC Berkeley by Prof. Pister and Prof Kahn.

It explores the limits on size and power consumption in autonomous sensor nodes.

Size reduction is important in order to make the nodes as inexpensive as possible and also easy to deploy.

The researchers believe that these nodes will be of the order of a few cubic millimeters and are called “Smart Dust”.

Technical Features

fusing MEMS (micro electromechanical) and electronics on one chip

Very small in size cost - now about $50 - $100 per sensor,

hopefully down to $1 in five years Autonomous power supply memory is only hundreds KB

Power and Energy

Sources Solar cells Combustion

Storage Batteries Capacitors

Architecture

Components

A single Smart Dust mote contains: MEMS sensors a semiconductor laser diode and MEMS beam

steering mirror for active optical transmission a MEMS corner cube retro-reflector for passive

optical transmission an optical receiver a signal processing and control circuitry a power source based on thick-film batteries and

solar cells.

Components of Smart Dust

Smart Dust Prototypes

Each sensor has incorporated into it… • a microprocessor• mini-battery source • Two way transmitter• Soon will be the size of a grain of sand

named a mote.

Micro Mote - First Attempt

300 um

Communication Technologies

Radio Frequency Transmission Optical transmission technique

a) Passive Communication b) Active Communication

RF communication

RF signals are used to communicate over relatively short distances.

Minimize mote size and power consumption.

In this case, each message is passed to a neighboring mote which is in turn passed to another nearby mote, and so on, until the message reaches the destination – the central monitoring station.

Form robust networks.

Optical Communication

ActiveHigh power laser sourceTransmission of modulated laser beam

Passive Does not have an onboard light sourceMEMS Corner Cube ReflectorEmit modulated ambient light

Corner Cube Retro-reflector(CCR)

Comprises of three mutually perpendicular mirrors of gold-coated poly-silicon.

Has the property that any incident ray of light is reflected back to the source provided that it is incident within a certain range of angles centered about the cube’s body diagonal.

Proves effective in reducing energy consumption.

A CORNER CUBE RETROREFLECTOR

Disadvantages of optical communication

1. Requires an uninterrupted line-of-sight. 2. They also have directional characteristics that

should be considered in system design. 3. Tradeoffs occur between bit rate, energy/bit

and distance.4. Active transmission consumes more power 5. Collision during transmission to base station is

rare, but collision during point to point communication is a potential problem and a current research topic.

Smart Dust Processors

Require microprocessors and microcontrollers for all the required processing.

Microprocessors used are Intel Strong-Arms, Motorola .

Microcontrollers are Atmel, Microchip and Motorola

Communication

Smart dusts will be the future of communication, because its more reliable than the present communication network.

Even when a mote stops functioning, the next mote nearer to it resumes the operation of the destroyed mote.

Providing Security

Having many sensors, smart dust keeps track of environmental changes and alerts the concerned if something unexpected happens.

They are used in sensing forest fires, fires in buildings

Weather reporting would be easy.

APPLICATIONS

FOREST SERVICE

STREET LIGHTING

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  APPLICATIONS contd.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS MILITARY APPLICATIONS BIOTECHNOLOGY REMOTE SENSING ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING STRUCTURAL SOUNDNESS OF

BUILDINGS

ISSUES & Future trends

Issues Privacy Security Environmental ImpactsFuture Motes sold in the future will be smaller

and cheaper Even as the price of smart dust falls,

revenues for the vendors of these devices are expected to increase

Benefits/Concerns

Pros Flexibility Affordability Efficiency

Cons Privacy Security Volume Toxicity

Conclusion Smart Dust technology

provides wireless, remote monitoring solutions.

Is available today in sizes ranging from a few mm to a few cm.

Ultimate goal is to reach micro meter scale.

Due to growing research interest, sizes and cost are fast diminishing.

Privacy is a major concern.

But benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

Dealing with partial disconnections while establishing communication links poses critical research challenges

THIS IS ALL !

This is not the ENDIt is merely the BEGINNING of a

glorious, wireless future!

So, stay connected!!

References

http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu

http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu

 

THANK YOU!