Previous Research
National Science Foundation funded projects on Design for Internet-Based Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CyberCut, MOSIS++, Agent Based Manufacturing, and Design for Manufacturability Metrics) successfully concluded in ~ 2002 with archival publications and with implementation of the design software methods by Ford Motor Company (in their auto-lighting and gear-analysis divisions) and by Intel (for design and prototyping of the Personal Server). Some publications are still in progress.
Current Research
Over the next 3-5 years our research will focus on permanently-powered micro-energy supplies for the next generation of "micro-scale motes" in Wireless Sensor Nets. We have already discovered, demonstrated and published how to do this at the meso-scale. We also have the beginnings of micro-scale energy scavengers. Rapid prototyping by pneumatic dispensing of millimeter-scale lithium polymer ion rechargeable batteries is being developed in joint work with Professor Evans in MSE. The next steps are to refine the models and analyses for both the micro-scale scavengers and micro-scale storage systems. Also, over the next 3-5 years the goals are to integrate these micro-power-sources with the sensing, actuating, and communications. This is needed from both a cost and miniaturization perspective, not only for future deployments in our Demand Response project- future applications in healthcare especially demand this level of miniaturization of devices.
'Use-inspired' applications of WSNs will also need to be supported by system design tools and design-flows. The philosophy will be to equip the high level system designer with the constraints of the available sub-components (especially power availability in relation to the expected duty- cycle) and downstream assembly processes. Basing this future work on the successfully developed DUCADE/CyberCut project, this will be able to be done through an environment of databases that contain information on: sensors; energy scavenging sources; power storage systems; communication platforms; and ancillary components. These will be displayed to the designer at the system design level in order to direct knowledge about processes etc. At the same time, the new methods that are being invented by my students - especially in energy scavenging and printable batteries - will enter the databases to inform the designer of processes or components that the designer did not know existed.
