By Yuuki Nishida, news correspondent
A team of researchers from Northeastern University published a paper Sept. 11 announcing they had created a new infrared energy sensor for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The new smart infrared sensor is capable of turning itself on when information is presented and turning itself off when it is not needed. The sensor is built to detect infrared light waves, invisible to human eyes but produced by all heat sources.
“What is really interesting about the Northeastern IR [infrared] sensor technology is that, unlike conventional sensors, it consumes zero standby power when the IR wavelengths to be detected are not present,” said Troy Olsson, program manager of DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office.
According to the paper published by the team in “Nature Nanotechnology,” while dormant, the sensors consume zero power, but are alert and awake in the presence of infrared light. Since these sensors only consume power when a signal is detected, the technology significantly decreases energy demands and increases the lifetime of battery-powered sensors, making it the first of its kind.
The study was funded by DARPA, an agency funded by the Department of Defense and responsible for the development of technologies for the military, as a part of its Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operation (N-ZERO) plan, a program which aims to develop a sensor that can remain dormant, with near-zero power consumption, until awakened.
The team, led by graduating Northeastern Ph.D. student Zhenyun Qian and electrical and Northeastern computer engineering professor Matteo Rinaldi, developed these sensors as a part of DARPA’s N-ZERO program. They can be used to detect approaching humans or fuel-burning cars and identifying wildfires before they become uncontrollable.
“State-of-the-art sensors are not smart enough to identify targets of interest,” Qian said. “So, they consume power continuously to monitor the environment even when there are no relevant data to be detected.”
To solve this problem, the team came up with a sensor to extract infrared signals from other sources to activate. This led to the design of the zero-power sensor and was later funded by DARPA. The study was launched in 2015 and was completed in 2017.
The sensors could be used to detect approaching sources of infrared light such as human bodies and fuel-burning cars. They could also be used as a disaster alarm system by monitoring the appearance of hot spots, such as fires and explosions, or could be deployed into warzones to scan the environment without consuming power on stand-by.
“Our findings can ultimately enhance quality of life,” Rinaldi said. He hopes that the creation of DARPA’s new sensor will make everyday life safer, simpler and more efficient.
The team, along with DARPA, are actively looking into the possibility of commercializing their new technology for electrical companies and organizations to be used as disaster alarms or motion sensors.
