Sensor Technology

Power Line Modems for Low-Volume Telemetry

Research areas like in-home monitoring require a robust infrastructure for communicating sensor telemetry. Common, off-the-shelf ISM-band radio communications devices are commonly used in practice to fill this need. However, issues with building architecture or radio interference may cause unexpected data loss and “black spots” that are hard to locate and characterize, and may result in anomalous data loss that stifles research progress. This project is investigating power line communications (“PLC”) as a more consistent alternative to technologies like 802.15.4 and Bluetooth.

Embedded Sensors and Computing Devices for Cost-Sensitive Research Applications

Sensing research often necessitates the development of custom devices to enable the collection of data, but full-custom devices are both expensive and time-consuming to design and manufacture. Minimizing hardware costs is critical to enabling cutting-edge research. This project aims to meet the needs of researchers while also allowing hardware cost reduction via novel modification of off-the-shelf hardware in combination with low-volume custom hardware supplements.

People:

Joseph Taylor (Undergraduate Student).