Supply Chain Frontiers issue #40
Many technologies that are still under development have the potential to redefine supply chains. To help companies keep abreast of these potential breakthroughs, MIT CTL is presenting a number of innovations at its 2011 Crossroads conference this June, and is publishing a series of papers on selected technologies. The first paper looks at the huge potential of ultra-low-power sensing.
Under the leadership of Professor Anantha Chandrakasan – MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) – researchers are developing a new generation of sensors and radio transmitters with groundbreaking capabilities.
These devices began to take shape in 2006 when the MIT research center received federal funding to develop a system small and powerful enough to control the flight of an insect. The idea was to create a means of collecting environmental information using the highly sophisticated flight capabilities of these creatures.
At MTL, the team created a tiny bundle of electronic components that included control circuits, a battery, and a radio receiver that weighed about one gram, and consumed on average less than one milliwatt of power. The unit was attached to a moth, and flight control commands were transmitted to the receiver using ultra-wideband transmissions in short bursts. “Basically, you send a very narrow pulse every time you want to transmit something, using low-cost electronics and low power,” explains Chandrakasan.
Today, MTL is developing an electronic package the size of a skin patch that can be worn by at-risk patients. The device, dubbed the electronic Band-Aid, includes sensors, a battery, computer chips, and a radio transmitter/receiver, and transmits important physiological data to distant healthcare providers.
Work is under way to reduce power consumption levels to a point where the need for batteries with a limited life is eliminated. The researchers are developing personal monitoring devices that scavenge energy from the wearer’s body heat, for instance. Solar power or ambient light could drive future sensing devices.
The combination of inexpensive, miniaturized electronics, long operating range, and miserly energy needs could make ultra-low-power radio technology an attractive option for various supply chain applications including tracking.
As Chandrakasan points out, the rate at which data on the status of shipments needs to be collected and transmitted is low, so the power requirements are relatively modest. These demands can be reduced even further using some of the techniques that MTL has developed.
Of particular interest is the ability to transmit data on the status of tagged units, such as pallets, to external networks without the need for handheld or stationary readers. Eliminating this equipment also would reduce infrastructural costs and remove a primary source of data error.
Another compelling feature of the technology is that it makes tracking data instantly available to authorized users via the Internet. Existing supply chain tracking systems are hampered by delayed data and information gaps.
“Think of the communications network that does not exist today because of the limits on power and the ability to collect data from sensors. If you take away these constraints [based on MTL’s work], a lot of possibilities open up,” says Jim Rice, Deputy Director, MIT CTL.
Jared Schrieber, Vice President, Products and Services, at retail execution management company Retail Solutions, points to the possibilities created by existing tracking applications. “RFID applications that have performed well represent early adoption opportunities for this new technology, because there is already a proven use case with a return on investment for RFID,” he says.
Tracking cargo in transit is one promising area. An example is sensors mounted on container vessels that use wideband transmissions to periodically broadcast updates on cargo status that are relayed to the Internet. The devices could be powered by solar energy or other sources such as the ship’s motion or engine vibrations.
There are a number of potential indoor applications. Consider a network in a retail outlet that automatically transmits regular updates on the status of inventory without the need for scans from readers. Tracking product within stores is still a problem for many retailers.
Beyond tracking, the technology has the potential to take supply chain analytics to higher levels. Reducing the power demands of sensor components frees up analytical capacity that could be used to gather, process, and communicate more detailed information on product movements.
There are a number of difficult challenges to overcome. Schrieber believes that the technology has to address the two major drawbacks that have impeded the adoption of RFID: low accuracy and high cost. “If not, you might get 5–10% more use cases than RFID, but it will be an incremental advance and not a breakthrough,” he says.
Ultra-low-power sensing also has to be viable from a cost standpoint. MTL is confident that for mass-market applications, where the number of tracking devices is high, the cost could be brought down to a few cents per unit.
“There are some amazing advances in what electronics can do, and a lot of the exciting opportunities lie in thinking about applications such as supply chain,” says Chandrakasan.
This article is based on a new MIT CTL white paper about ultra-low-power sensing. To download the paper go to the MIT CTL web site: http://ctl.mit.edu. Disruptive technologies is the theme of MIT CTL’s forthcoming Crossroads conference, June 16, 2011, which will take place on the MIT campus. To register for the Crossroads 2011: Disruptive Innovations That Will Shape the Future of Supply Chains conference, on the MIT campus, go to: http://ctl.mit.edu/events/crossroads-register, or contact Nancy Martin at: nlmartin@mit.edu.