ZEPSOR TECHNOLOGIES INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: HR0011SB20224-14

Description

In this Direct to Phase II project, we propose to develop the first concealable and persistent IR sensors that meet all stringent requirements on size (< 2 cm3), battery lifetime (> 5 years), accuracy (Probability of Detection > 95%, False Alarm Rate < 1/month) for wireless people presence detection in defense and intelligence applications. In particular, this effort will aggressively enhance the capabilities of zero-power IR sensors for people presence detection by focusing on extending the detection range to > 3 m, increasing accuracy (i.e., reducing both false negatives and false positives) and miniaturizing the device formfactor while maintaining a long battery lifetime. The core element of the zero-power IR sensor technology is a micromechanical photoswitch capable of harvesting the IR energy from the target of interest to perform sensing and signal processing functions without consuming any electrical power in standby. The proprietary technology was developed by Zepsor for human body detection at a close distance (~ 1 m) without the need of any bulky optics. All the focused areas in this project are crucial for the technology to be fully utilized in defense and intelligence applications. For example, extended detection range from 1 m to 3 m will allow the sensor to cover most of the points of interest in an indoor environment such as entry way and  hallway. The reduced size (down to a pool cue tip) makes the sensor extremely concealable even for challenging deployment such as inside a door handle or door lock. Moreover, size of the sensor also matters for identified civilian applications such as the touchless interface for hygiene products and smart home devices. We found that a miniaturized IR sensor that occupies less space than existing active IR proximity sensor or passive IR sensor with a Fresnel lens will greatly help aesthetic design of the products for consumer market. The last but not least, increasing the overall accuracy while keeping the key differentiator of near-zero power consumption in standby is critical for all the applications. The high detection probability ensures almost no event of interest will be missed while the low false alarm rate gives high credibility to the sensor reported data, which ultimately leads to valuable intelligence or correctly performed functions. The technical objectives will be achieved through a series of proposed R&D activities including device and system level innovations and engineering work. The table below summarizes the specific objectives of the Phase II work and related technical approaches based on the Phase I results. Each of the approaches and corresponding feasibility study will be detailed in the next section.