Ultra-Low Cost and Power Communication and Computation Enables Ambient Intelligence

Jan Rabaey

Proceedings Smart Object Conference, Grenoble, May 03

An untapped opportunity in the realm of wireless data lies in low data-rate low-cost wireless transceivers, assembled into distributed networks of computation, sensor and actuator nodes. This enables applications such as smart buildings, innovative user interfaces, everyday computing, and new forms of entertainment, amongst others. These emerging applications are now commonly called "ambient intelligence" (Europe) or "sensor networks" (US).

These ubiquitous networks require that the individual nodes are tiny, easily integratable into the environment, and have negligible cost. Most importantly, the nodes must be self contained in terms of energy via a one-time battery charge or a replenishable supply of energy scavenged from the environment. With the proposed size limitations, battery power alone does not suffice to ensure self-containment. Energy scavenging approaches can deliver up to 100 microWatt. While the continued scaling of silicon technology goes a long way towards reducing the size and power dissipation of electronic components, achieving these ultralow power-dissipation levels and meso-scale component size requires innovations from the system architecture down to the circuit technology. The paper introduces a number of techniques to accomplish this and presents a roadmap towards truly affordable ambient intelligence.