Fujitsu and Holst Centre Commence Joint Research on Ultra-Low-Power Wireless Transceivers

Through this new research, Fujitsu Laboratories will work to enhance its network front-end technologies and contribute to the further development of Fujitsu's business in areas such as cloud computing.

Overview of the Joint Research

In recent years, attention has been focused on wireless sensor networks that can be autonomously and wirelessly formed from disparate sensors and used to collect a wide variety of information. These networks are being considered for use in fields such as medicine and healthcare, agricultural and farm management, monitoring of social infrastructure and buildings, factory monitoring, and environmental monitoring (See Figure 1). In wireless sensor networks, wireless transceivers are required to transmit sensing data from each sensor device (node) to relay nodes. At the same time, to ensure a high degree of flexibility in positioning, sensor nodes are typically powered using batteries. In consideration of the maintenance requirements when operating a system, there is a demand for sensor nodes that can run over long periods of time, thereby minimizing the need to replace and charge batteries. This has led to an increasing need for technology that can reduce the power consumed by wireless transceivers.


Figure 1: Field applications of ultra-low-power wireless transceivers

Holst Centre and its mother organization imec possess some of the world's leading technologies for wireless transceiver power reduction. Likewise, Fujitsu Laboratories has accumulated and commercialized power reduction technologies for systems other than wireless sensor networks, such as LSIs for UHF RFID tags. By collaborating on the research together, the organizations anticipate being able to quickly commercialize their cutting-edge research results.

Harmke de Groot, Ultra-low power wireless communication Program Director at Holst Centre/imec commented: Fujitsu is a leading name in the Japanese business landscape, and a major player in the global information technology and semiconductor markets. They bring extensive production know-how obtained from their developments of commercial wireless products, and end-user insight that will help us ensure our ongoing research is focused on the industry's needs.