Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)
ViaLogy Offers Aerospace Industry a Highly Scaleable Platform for Integrating Emerging Wireless MEMS and RFID Devices
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- Will potentially accelerate adoption of lightweight composites for aerospace and semiconductor applications
LONDON, April 5 // -- ViaLogy plc (AIM: VIY): ViaLogy presented a network-centric interoperable sensor- signal- processing platform deploying embedded MEMS and RFID sensors at the CANEUS/NASA "Fly-By-Wireless" Workshop held in conjunction with the 5th Annual RFID World Congress in Grapevine, TX.
Lightweight composites are becoming increasingly important in aircraft, aerospace structures, transportation systems and underground oil and gas pipelines. To date, most of the work has focused on deploying and machining composites for control surfaces, skin, structures and cryogenic tanks and vessels. While high stiffness, strength, superior fatigue tolerance to thermal variations and stealthy radar cross section make composites very attractive, their adoption has been rather limited due to high cost, manufacturability, complex failure mechanisms and maintainability. Typically, design-to- reliability challenges can be overcome with additional structure health monitoring circuitry and sensors. However, this is very difficult to achieve for composites with current technology, without surface mounting hundreds of hardwired stress and strain gauges and other sensors to detect incipient micro-fracture which can rapidly degenerate to total structure failure. Thus aerospace and reusable launch vehicle engineering has been limited in exploiting the promise of composites due to weight and power overhead from additional sensors.
ViaLogy's Pulsed Microwave Data Link (PMDL(TM)) platform combines synergistic advances in MEMS sensors, power optimized active radio-frequency (RF) scanning for embedded MEMS/RFID tag interrogation, internet protocol- enabled MEMS interoperability for wireless interconnect switches, smart summarization and weak signal processing to extract diagnostic signatures. ViaLogy has a patent pending on this solution.
PMDL(TM) addresses two challenges unique to embedded wireless MEMS/RFID implementations with inherent requirements for high scalability; namely continuous monitoring for degradation, recalibration and mortality of the devices themselves and resulting uncertainty in signature quality, and ability of proprietary weak signal processing to robustly extract failure-modes and signatures in high clutter RF environments with complex propagation properties intrinsic to molecular constructs seen in composites.
Dr. Sandeep Gulati, ViaLogy CTO and VP for Product Development, commented; "We are focused on broad market applications where our network centric and sensor agnostic weak signal processing platform becomes an enabler. In addition, we see a convergence between our wireless MEMS and RFID solutions and an immediate value proposition in increasing RFID read accuracy for embedded tags in the aerospace industry."
Dr. John Mai, Product Manager for RFID Platforms, recently joined ViaLogy to head this effort. Previously, Dr. Mai was the Special Assistant to the General Director of the RFID Technology Center (RTC) within the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan. There, he was involved with all of the Center's advanced projects ranging from all-printed RFID developments to next-generation, compact UHF RFID readers. He also initiated a polymer-MEMS device R&D program between the RTC and Stanford University.
According to Dr. Mai, an aerospace engineer by training; "Localizing a crack in a epoxy composite cryogenic propellant tank using embedded MEMS sensors or correctly reading a metallic RFID tag embedded within a multilayer composite printed circuit board, buried deep in a loaded pallet present the same clutter rejection challenge. There is an economic penalty which can quickly propagate and escalate for missed detection in both cases." He added, "As the supply-chain industry moves towards item level tagging, fast and accurate read capability enabled by PMDL(TM), will become a market differentiator".
Dr. Mai is leveraging his experience in business with the Asia-Pacific region to position this ViaLogy solution into a market that it is believed could consume 48% of the world's RFID tags by 2010.
About ViaLogy: Network Centric Signal Processing.
ViaLogy is a leading innovator of network-centric, real-time signal processing platforms for sensor applications. ViaLogy is currently deploying and designing computational systems, powered by its patented technologies, for applications in life sciences, public safety and security, surveillance, defense and geoseismology. ViaLogy focuses on market driven problems where automation, timeliness, quality and reliability of information processing are essential. ViaLogy's core competency incorporates rapidly and accurately detecting weak signals buried in high noise background and clutter. This technology can be employed to solve problems involving sensor integration and information overload challenges involving video, telephony and control sensors, as well as for enhancement of numerous signal processing applications. For more information, visit our website at http://www.vialogy.com/.
Except for statements of historical fact, the information presented herein constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied.
Source: ViaLogy plc
CONTACT: Michael Kelly, CEO - US +1-626-296-6337, or Terry Bond, Chairman - UK & Europe, +44-20-2869-7014, both of ViaLogy plc
Web site: http://www.vialogy.com/
