PicoRadio:  Berkeley Wireless Research Center
Contact Point: Fred Burghardt

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Wireless Sensor Network research at the Berkeley Wireless Research Center:


For Wireless Sensor Networks to achieve true ubiquitous deployment, the size, cost, and power consumption of the nodes must decrease dramatically while the intelligence of the network increases. The PicoRadio group is dedicated to advancing the field of Wireless Sensor Networks in all areas: RF circuit design, networking, positioning, low voltage digital design, antenna design, and low power analog design. Interdisciplinary collaboration is heavily utilized to bring together MEMS devices, energy scavenging, advanced packaging, advanced networking and communications theory, and environmental building applications.

 

PicoRadio Vision:

"PicoRadio Supports Ad Hoc Ultra-Low Power Wireless Networking" - Article featured in the July, 2000 Issue of Computer Magazine

"Ultra Low-Power Computation and Communication enables Ambient Intelligence" - keynote delivered by Prof. Jan Rabaey at the Smart Objects Conference in Grenoble (April 2003), describing the key tenets of the PicoRadio concept.

PicoRadio News:

A white paper titled "A Service-Based Universal Application Interface for Ad-hoc Wireless Sensor Networks" (Authors:  Marco Sgroi, Adam Wolisz, Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli and Jan M. Rabaey) is now available for comments (posted December 1, 2003). Feedback/inputs to: jan@eecs.berkeley.edu.

The white paper addresses the fundamental issue of defining a standard set of services and interface primitives which should be made available to an application programmer independently on their implementation on any present and future sensor network platform. As the definition of sockets has made the use of communication services in the Internet independent of the underlying protocol stack, communication medium and even operating system, the application interface we propose identifies an abstraction that is offered to any sensor network application and supported by any sensor network platform.

For more information on each of these items, check in the PicoRadio Subgroups.

Picture of PicoBeacon, 
the first fully self-contained wireless transmitter powered solely by solar energy

PicoRadio Charter:

Develop meso-scale low cost (< 50 cents) transceivers for ubiquitous wireless data acquisition that minimizes power/energy dissipation. 

  • Minimize energy (<5nJ/(correct) bit) for energy-limited source
  • Minimize power (<100uW) for power limited source enabling energy scavenging

By using the following strategies:

  • self-configuring networks
  • fluid trade-off between communication and computation
  • Integrated SOC approach, aggressive low-energy architectures and circuits

Sub-elements of a PicoNode include an embedded microprocessor, a dedicated (custom) protocol and digital signal processing block, and an analog block with RF, sensor interfaces, etc . 

PicoRadio Subgroups:

PicoNode3  - The PicoNode3 subgroup focuses on the integration of a complete PicoNode into a single small aspect-ratio package, including antenna, radio, protocol and application processors, sensors and power-train. Key to this effort is the realization of an integrated ultra low-power digital network processor.

PicoRadioRF - The Physical Layer group is focused on creating a reactive, energy-aware RF link that maintains network connectivity and data throughput for dense sensor node applications. State-of-the-Art Analog, Digital, RF, and MEMs knowledge is utilized to achieve these goals.

Network, Application, MAC, Positioning (NAMP) - Develop energy-efficient algorithms and protocols for use in low data-rate, dense, ad-hoc, sensor applications.  Investigate the design methodology for low-power wireless protocols and systems.

Yield Optimization (YODA) - Bringing the power dissipation of the PicoNode even lower requires the adoption of drastic new design approaches, such as very low supply voltages (500 mV and below). This sub-group explores how the resulting loss in reliability and robustness can be compensated for through innovative design techniques.

Some Past PicoRadio Accomplishments:

The PicoRadio project has been subdivided into three phases, each with a specific time horizon and goals.  Phase I and II have been completed, while Phase III is currently underway. 

PicoNode I (a.k.a. Test Bed):

  • Goals: In order to enable real-world investigation into system-level aspects of a PicoRadio network before the SOC devices are available (and also to help determine how a PicoNode should be designed), a prototype environment was built.  This environment is referred to as the PicoRadio Test Bed. This environment has been used extensively to test and analyze the behavior of the wireless links, networking protocols and applications.
  • Completed: Operational nodes January 2002.

PicoNode II (a.k.a. TCI):

  • Goals: Integrate prototypal PicoNode onto two chips (called Two-Chip Intercom or TCI). Develop tool chain for application, protocol, and physical layer implementation and integration.  Explore alternative design-flows for implementation of wireless sensor nodes.  A HW/SW codesign/partitioning approach is used for the control-dominated custom protocol processing chip.  A direct mapping from Simulink to silicon (SSHAFT) is used for the custom baseband processing chip.
  • Completed: Operational chips June 2002.

PicoRadio Collaborations:

PicoRadio Funding:

DARPA PAC-C program
      

National Science Foundation

Gigascale Systems Research Center

The California Energy Commission

Last Update: 09/08/06 05:26:54 PM