Wireless Channel Disruption Signaling for Low-Power IoT Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless communication systems for IoT devices face challenges in power consumption, as sensors require efficient data transmission over practical distances without sufficient energy generation from existing power harvesting techniques, leading to short battery life.
Innovation Solution
A wireless signal data transmission system that employs channel disruption by changing electrical characteristics of the wireless channel in response to data bits, allowing only decodable sub-frames to be received, thereby reducing power consumption and extending operational life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If power harvesting techniques are used to power wireless transmitters, then energy generation is improved, but transmission distance and reliability deteriorate due to insufficient energy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a receiver as an intermediary device that performs channel estimation and data decoding, relaying information between the low-power sensor and the host device. This mediator enables reliable communication without requiring the sensor to transmit over long distances directly
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical/electrical transmission system with an electromagnetic field-based system. The channel disruptor modifies electromagnetic channel characteristics to encode data, eliminating the need for high-power wireless transmission hardware
2Ease of operation
If sensors transmit data wirelessly over practical distances, then communication capability is improved, but power consumption increases beyond what power harvesting can provide
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional communication approach: instead of the sensor actively transmitting data, the sensor passively modulates the wireless channel to encode data. The host device actively receives and decodes the channel characteristics, reversing who transmits and who receives
Solution Approach 2:
The wireless channel itself serves as the data transmission medium without requiring additional power from the sensor. The channel's natural electromagnetic properties are exploited and modulated by the channel disruptor, making the environment part of the communication system
3Use of energy by moving object
If channel disruption is used to encode data, then power consumption is reduced, but system complexity increases due to channel estimation and decoding requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into the host device: channel estimation, data decoding, and application processing are all performed at the host rather than distributing complexity across multiple devices. The receiver acts as a simple relay that adds minimal processing
Data Source
AI summary
The wireless channel of the wireless communication system is selectively disrupted or interfered with based on the logical states of the data to be transmitted by an electronic device having no wireless data signal transmitting circuitry. A host device transmits a query packet which includes a header and a series of sub-frames to be received by a receiving device. As each sub-frame is transmitted, the electronic device can selectively disrupt the wireless channel by changing its characteristics such that the receiving device can no longer decode that sub-frame based on channel estimation from the header of the frame. Wireless channel disruption occurs in response to a specific state of the bit of data of a message to be communicated by the electronic device. The receiving device then issues a status reply to the host device indicating which sub-frames are decodable and which sub-frames are undecodable based on the initial channel estimation. The host device decodes the status reply to extract the message.