Sensor leader Microstrain chooses Decawave's ScenSor

DecaWave, the Dublin-based pioneering fabless semiconductor company, has announced that US sensor innovator MicroStrain, Inc. has chosen to implement DecaWave's ScenSor wireless radio chips.

The combination of DecaWave ScenSor's ultra wide band (UWB) radio technology with MicroStrain's energy harvesting wireless sensor networks will lead to significant breakthroughs towards the realization of widespread sensing networks. The machines and structures of the future will be loaded with a rich network of tiny wireless sensing nodes – that automatically monitor and report on structural and operational health – without the need for battery maintenance.

MicroStrain's sensors are used in a wide range of applications, including knee/spine implants, bridges, unmanned vehicles, heavy machinery, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters. The wireless nature of many of these applications necessitates ultra low power and energy harvesting. DecaWave's ScenSor offers an ultra-low complexity coherent receiver, simultaneously giving MicroStrain the benefits of superior range at ultra-low power consumption. The two firms connected during a November 2008 trade mission spearheaded by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

"We are delighted that MicroStrain will be one of the first companies to receive DecaWave's ultra wideband (UWB) radio chips, which represent a breakthrough for wireless sensors", says Steve Arms, President and CEO, MicroStrain. "DecaWave's ScenSor operates at 10X lower energy levels and communicates at rates 20X faster than our current radio chips, resulting in an overall energy savings of 200 fold.  This will enable MicroStrain's energy harvesting wireless sensors to be smaller, faster, and even more versatile."

"DecaWave is delighted that such a proven and successful innovator as MicroStrain has chosen ScenSor," says Ciaran Connell, DecaWave CEO. "ScenSor's ultra low power capability is unrivalled, and is highly suited to the energy requirements of MicroStrain's portfolio of sensor applications, and opens up enormous potential in the wireless sensor sector."

DecaWave's flagship product ScenSor is a complete, single chip CMOS ultra-wideband IC based on the IEEE 802.15.4a standard. The resulting silicon has a wide range of standards-based applications for both Ultra Low Power Wireless Transceivers and Real Time Location Systems (RTLS).