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Student Innovation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Transmits Data and Power Wirelessly Through Submarine Hulls
Tristan Lawry Is One of Three Finalists for the
$30,000 2011 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student
Prize
Steel walls are no match for Tristan Lawry. The doctoral
student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed and
demonstrated an innovative new system that uses ultrasound to
simultaneously transmit large quantities of data and power
wirelessly through thick metal walls, like the hulls of ships
and submarines.
Lawry, a student in the Department of Electrical,
Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer, is one of
three finalists for the 2011 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer
Student Prize. A public ceremony announcing this year’s winner
will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9 in the auditorium
of the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and
Interdisciplinary Studies. For more information on the ceremony
visit: http://www.eng.rpi.edu/lemelson/
Lawry’s project is titled “A High-Performance System for
Wireless Transmission of Power and Data Through Solid Metallic
Enclosures,” and his faculty adviser is Gary
Saulnier, professor of electrical, computer, and systems
engineering at Rensselaer.
In our increasingly tetherless world, wires have been all
but replaced by more convenient wireless connections in homes
and offices – everything from phones and accessing the Internet
to keyboards and printers. In the area of defense, a
progression from wired to wireless systems presents an
opportunity to improve the safety of naval vessels. Presently,
to install critical safety sensors on the exterior of ships and
submarines, the U.S. Navy is forced to drill holes in the hull
through which cables for data and power transmission are run.
Each hole increases the risk of potentially serious issues,
including leaks and structural failure. Additionally,
installing these sensors on commissioned vessels requires the
use of a drydock or cofferdam, which can take months and cost
millions of dollars.
Lawry’s invention solves this problem. Unlike conventional
electromagnetic wireless systems, which are ineffective at
transmitting power and data through vessel hulls because of the
“Faraday cage” shielding effects they present, his
patent-pending system uses ultrasound – high-frequency acoustic
waves –to easily propagate signals through thick metals and
other solids. Piezoelectric transducers are used to convert
electrical signals into acoustic signals and vice versa,
allowing his system to form wireless electrical bridges across
these barriers. Lawry’s clever design features separate
non-interfering ultrasonic channels for independent data and
power transmission.
With this new system, Lawry has demonstrated the
simultaneous, continuous delivery of 50 watts of power and 12.4
megabytes per second (Mbps) of data through a 2.5-inch-thick
solid steel block in real time. These results far surpass all
known previously published systems capable of simultaneous data
and power transmission through metal. With only minor
modifications, Lawry said he’s confident his design will have
the capacity to support much higher power levels and data
rates. His invention uses a powerful communication technology
that allows the transmission system to adapt to non-ideal
conditions and mechanical variations over time. This is
critical for ensuring successful operation of the system in
real-world conditions outside of a controlled laboratory
environment.
Lawry’s complex combination of electronic and acoustic
hardware, signal generation and detection technology, and power
generation and collection equipment shares many characteristics
with a state-of-the-art communications system such as a
cellular phone. Using the three main building blocks of
electrical engineering — power, communications, and computing —
Lawry has developed a system that can communicate through a
thick metal wall without the need for a battery or any
supplemental power source. This means sensors on the outer hull
of submarines can be made to work with systems on the other
side of the wall for many years without the need for human
intervention.
In addition to the hulls of ships and submarines, Lawry said
his wireless data and power system could benefit many other
applications where it is necessary or advantageous to
continually power and monitor sensor networks in isolated
environments. For example, his system could be used to power
and communicate with sensors in nuclear reactors, chemical
processing equipment, oil drilling equipment and pipelines,
armored vehicles, un-manned underwater deep-sea exploration
vehicles, or even space shuttles and satellites.
When not in the lab, Lawry enjoys staying active by playing
soccer, hockey, and an exciting round of paintball. At
Rensselaer, the Shrewsbury, Vt., native has founded and
organized a community outreach program with the Eta Kappa
Nu honor society to deliver entertaining science and
engineering presentations to local elementary and high school
students. Lawry was recently married. His wife, Allison, has
provided unwavering support and inspiration throughout his time
as a student at Rensselaer. Lawry’s mother, a kindergarten
teacher back home in Vermont, and his twin older brothers are
rooting for him to win the 2011 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student
Prize.
Lawry received dual bachelor’s degrees in electrical
engineering and computer and systems engineering, as well as
his master’s degree in electrical engineering, from Rensselaer
and has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average over his
eight years at the Institute. He won the Rensselaer Founders
Award of Excellence in 2009, the Rensselaer Academic Award of
Excellence in 2007, and expects to complete his doctorate and
graduate this May.
About the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student
Prize
The $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize is
funded through a partnership with the Lemelson-MIT Program,
which has awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize to
outstanding student inventors at MIT since 1995.
About the Lemelson-Mit Program
Celebrating innovation, inspiring
youth
The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding innovators
and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers
through invention.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history’s most prolific
inventors, and his wife, Dorothy, founded the Lemelson-MIT
Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.
It is funded by the Lemelson Foundation and administered by the
School of Engineering. The Foundation sparks, sustains and
celebrates innovation and the inventive spirit. It supports
projects in the U.S. and developing countries that nurture
innovators and unleash invention to advance economic, social
and environmentally sustainable development. To date the
Lemelson Foundation has donated or committed more than U.S.
$150 million in support of its mission. http://web.mit.edu/invent/
For information on past winners of the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT
Rensselaer Student Prize, visit:
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Published
March 7,
2011 |
Contact: Michael Mullaney
Phone: (518) 276-6161
E-mail: mullam@rpi.edu |
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