SMART DUST

COMMUNICATING
WITH A CUBIC-
MILLIMETER COMPUTER
Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Background
 Basic Idea
 Technologies used
 Current Scenario
 Future Prospects
 Conclusion
Introduction
What is Smart Dust?
 “Smart dust” devices are tiny wireless micro electro mechanical
sensors (MEMS) that can detect everything from light to vibrations.
 Also called “Motes”
 These “motes” could eventually be the size of a grain of sand,
though each would contain sensors, computing circuits, bi-
directional wireless communications technology and a power supply.
 Motes would gather scads of data, run computations and
communicate that information using two-way band radio between
motes at distances approaching 1,000 feet.
 Sensors may include one or more temperature, pressure, vibration,
acceleration, light, magnetic, or acoustic devices. Some of the more
sophisticated sensors also include the ability to perform chemical
analysis to identify airborne or liquid substances.
Continued…

 Smart dust has wide range of applications in almost all fields. For
example, the military can use them to gather information on
battlefields, and engineers can mix them into concrete and use them
to internally monitor the health of buildings and bridges.
Background

 Conceived by Dr. Kris Pister of University of

California Berkeley
 The Defence Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) was among the original patrons
of the mote idea. One of the initial mote ideas
implemented for DARPA allows motes to sense
battlefield conditions.
THE BASIC IDEA
The “mote” concept creates a new way of thinking about computers, but the
basic idea is pretty simple:

 The core of a mote is a small, low-cost, low-power computer.

 The computer monitors one or more sensors , including sensors for

temperature, light, sound, position, acceleration, vibration, etc. Not all mote
applications require sensors, but sensing applications are very common.

 The computer connects to the outside world with a radio link that allows a
mote to transmit at a distance of about 10 to 200 feet. Power consumption,
size and cost are the barriers to longer distances. Since a fundamental
concept with motes is tiny size, small and low-power radios are normal.
Continued…

 Motes can either run on batteries, or they can tap into

the power grid in certain applications. As motes shrink
in size and power consumption solar power or even
vibration power can be used to keep them running.

 All of these parts are packaged together in a container

of the size of a stack of five or six quarters, or the size
of a pack of cigarettes. In the future, people imagine
shrinking motes to fit into something just a few
millimetres on a side. The battery is usually the
biggest part of the package right now.
TECNOLOGIES USED

Smart Dust combines the following three

technologies:
 
 Digital Circuitry

 MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems)

 RF (Radio Frequency) Wireless

Communication Technology
Digital Circuitry

Micro electronic integrated circuits can be thought of as the

“brains” of a system and MEMS augments this decision-
making capability with “eyes” and “arms”, to allow micro-
systems to sense and control the environment. Because
MEMS devices are manufactured using batch fabrication
techniques similar to those used for integrated circuits,
unprecedented levels of functionality, reliability, and
sophistication can be placed on a small silicon chip at a
relatively low cost.
MEMS SENSORS
 Smart Dust devices use MEMS technology sensors. Micro-Electro-
Mechanical Systems (MEMS) is the integration of mechanical elements,
sensors, actuators, and electronics on a common silicon substrate
through micro fabrication technology. The micro mechanical components
are fabricated using compatible “micromachining” processes.

 Sensors gather information from the environment through measuring

mechanical, thermal, biological, chemical, optical or magnetic
phenomena , electronics then processes the information derived from the
sensors and through some decision making capability direct the actuator
to respond by moving, positioning, regulating, pumping and filtering for
some desired outcome or purpose.
 Continued…

 The material used in these sensors is an amorphous ribbon of alloy that is

manufactured softly magnetic by quick cooling. Example, an alloy of
iron, molybdenum, boron and silicon. Magnetically soft materials have
no strong fixed magnetic field even though they contain iron . To use
these strips as temperature and stress sensors, an activator must be
passed near the sensor strips.

 A simple loop that generates a magnetic field activates the sensors from
a distance. This magnetic field is not blocked by any material on the road
surface or concrete and is not altered by the presence of iron material.
These simple sensor strips provide a consistent temperature reading.
These sensors can also be immersed in water or other liquids and can
provide not only temperature but also viscosity, liquid density and
surface tension measurements.
 WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
A wireless communication system is
required for sending and receiving
data from distributed sensor network
or smart dust systems.
Available wireless communication
architecture for smart dust satisfies a
number of requirements.
 It supports bi-directional
communication between a central
transceiver and up to 1000 dust
motes. The downlink (central trans-
receiver to dust motes) broadcasts to
all of the dust motes at a bit rate of
several kbps. The uplink (dust motes
to central trans-receiver) permits
dust motes to convey at about 1
kbps, an aggregate throughput of 1
Mbps.
Continued…

 The central transceiver is able to resolve the position of

each dust mote in an angular resolution of the order of
one by hundredth of the field of view.
 The link operates over a range of at least several 100
meters.
 The dust mote transmitter occupies a volume of the
order of one cubic millimetre and consumes an average
power not exceeding one microwatt.
 If possible uplink and downlink should afford a low
probability of interception.
Operation of Motes
 The mote includes sensing, computing, power, and communications
sections . Volume puts a severe constraint on energy since we do not
have much room for batteries or large solar cells. Thus, the motes
must operate efficiently and conserve energy whenever possible.

 Most of the time, the majority of the mote is powered off with only a
clock and a few timers running . When a timer expires, it powers up a
part of the mote to carry out a job, then powers off
 A few of the timers control the sensors. When one of these timers
expires, it powers up the corresponding sensor, takes a sample, and
converts it to a digital word. If the data is interesting, it may either
be stored directly in the SRAM or the micro controller is powered up
to perform more complex operations with it. When this task is
complete, everything is again powered down and the timer begins
counting again.
 Another timer controls the
receiver. When that timer
expires, the receiver powers
up and looks for an incoming
packet. If it doesn’t see one
after a certain length of time,
it is powered down again .
 In response to a message or
to another timer expiring, the
micro controller will
assemble a packet containing
sensor data or a message and
transmit it using either the
corner cube retro reflector or
the laser diode, depending on
which it has.
The communication can be in 3 ways-

 Radio-Frequency Communications
 Optical Communication: active dust mode
transmitters
 Optical Communication: passive dust mode
transmitters
Radio-Frequency
Communications
 Radio frequency communication is one of the
well-developed communication systems.
 It is based on the generation, propagation and
detection of electromagnetic waves with a
frequency range from tens of kHz to hundreds of
GHz.
 It could be used to function as both the uplink
and the downlink.
 Radio-Frequency Communications

 Pros
• Long range
• Line-of-sight path not required
• Not severely affected by rain, fog or atmospheric turbulence

 Cons
• Antenna may be too large for dust motes
• Requires modulator, demodulator, filtering (power consumption)
• Requires complex multiplexing scheme (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA)
Optical Communication
Active Dust Mote Transmitter

•It uses an active steered

onboard laser diode based
transmitter to send a
collimated laser beam to a
station
•It consist of a laser diode,
collimating lens and beam
steering mirrors for the
communication
•With the laser diode and the
set of beam scanning mirrors,
we can transmit data in any
direction desired, allowing the
mote to communicate with
other Smart Dust motes.
 Pros
• Longer range than passive links (up to about 10 km)
• Higher bit rates than passive links (up to about 1 Mbps)
• With multi-hop, avoids need for every dust mote to have line-of-sight
path to base station
• Utilizes space-division multiplexing
• Only baseband electronics are required

 Cons
• Requires protocol to steer directional transmitters
• Requires higher power than passive transmitter
• Affected by rain, fog, atmospheric turbulence
Optical Communication
Passive Dust Mode Transmitters
 Corner Cube Reflector (CCR)

•The base of the retro reflector

is a MEMS flap that modulates
the reflected beam
• One of the three mirrors
mounted on a spring at an
angle slightly a skew from
perpendicularity to the other
mirrors.
•In this position, because the
light entering the CCR does
not return along the same
entry path, little light returns
to the source-a digital 0
•Applying voltage between
this mirror and an electrode
beneath it causes the light
entering the CCR to return to
its source-a digital 1.
Continued…

 A CCD video camera at the BTS sees the CCR

signals as lights blinking on and off. It decodes
these blinking images to yield the uplink data.
 This technique is substantially more energy
efficient than actually generating some
radiation.
 Pros
• Dust motes need not radiate power, nor steer beam
• Exploits asymmetry: powerful base station, low-power dust
motes
• Utilizes space-division multiplexing
• Only baseband electronics are required
 Cons
• Requires line-of-sight path to base station
• Short range (up to about 1 km)
• Bit rate limited to about 10 kbps
• Affected by rain, fog, atmospheric turbulence
Generations of Mote
 Golem Dust is solar powered with bi-directional
communications and sensing (acceleration and
ambient light). Shaped like a cubicle, the mote
is 11.7-cubic millimetres and could fit more than
a dozen on a penny.

 Daft Dust is a little larger. At 63-cmm, it is a bi-

directional communication mote that is shaped
more like an upside-down bowl.

 Flashy Dust is a 138-cmm unidirectional

communication and sensing (ambient light) mote.
Applications
 Environmental monitoring:
A farmer, vineyard owner, or ecologist could equip motes with
sensors that detect temperature, humidity, etc.

 Monitor power consumption of household appliances:

The motes would log power and water consumption for a
customer. When a truck drives by, the motes get a signal from the
truck and they send their data.

 Measuring structural integrity of a building or any other structure:

The mote embedded into the concrete could have a sensor on it
that can detect the salt concentration within the concrete or
vibration, stress, temperature swings, cracking, etc.
Continued…
 Habitat monitoring:
A biologist could equip an endangered animal
with a collar containing a mote that senses
position, temperature, etc.

 Military Application : To detect truck movement

in a remote area thousands of motes are
scattered. When an enemy truck drives through
the area the commander can track the path that
the truck is following through the field of motes.
Continued…

 Out of range vibrations in industrial equipment to

catch manufacturing defects
 Hospital monitoring of patient movements /
monitoring the elderly while allowing freedom of
movement
 Cosmetics company monitoring warehouse
humidity
 Health and Wellness Monitoring (enter human
bodies and check for physiological problems).
 Traffic sensors in urban areas
Continued…

 Environmental protection (identification and

monitoring of pollution).
 Indoor/Outdoor Environmental Monitoring.
Advantages
 Physical attributes:
• Small and lightweight
• Low power consumption

 Ad-hoc networking capabilities:

• Networking functions are seamless and automatic
• Multiple networks can be in use simultaneously

 Data transmission capabilities:

• On-board data acquisition supports many missions
• Software support for many sensor configurations
• Data can be carried through network to command
centres
 Ubiquity and redundancy in use:
• Multiple motes can be available on every device/person
• Motes can be strewn in large numbers
Ad-hoc network

 All of the motes in the area create a giant,

amorphous network that can collect data.
Data funnels through the network and arrives
at a collection node, which has a powerful
radio able to transmit a signal many miles.
 Used for monitoring purposes in military ,
traffic , habitat , environment , power
consumption.
Disadvantages

 Low Throughput ( < 10 Kbps ) :

• Suited for data monitoring, not real-time audio
 Power Source :
 RF communications circuits drain a lot of power
 Need advancement in battery technology
 Size :
• Many components -> difficult to reduce size
 Cost
• Current motes cost between $50 - $100 each
 Intrusive probes
• A number of political, environmental, health and privacy related
questions
Current scenario & future
prospects
 Honeywell International is looking at the motes
for climate control applications.
 San Jose, Calif.-based Digital Sun is receiving
orders for wireless sensors that monitor irrigation.
 Intel & Crossbow has come up with a second-
generation operating system for the smart dust.
 Researches indicate that motes sold in future will
be smaller , cheaper and are likely to have
revolutionary power sources.
Conclusion

There are many ongoing researches on Smart

Dust, the
.
main purpose of these researches is
to make Smart Dust mote as small as possible
and to make it available at as low price as
possible. Soon we will see Smart Dust being
used in varied application from all spans of
life.
References

 http://www.careers-india.com
 http://www.wikipedia.com
 http://www.scribd.com
 http://www.berkeley.edu
 http://www.computerworld.com
Thank You!