University of Victoria Background
The idea of Internet-of-Things (IoT) holds the promise of billions of smart devices being connected to the Internet and exchanging information for various applications such as smart manufacturing, smart cities, smart power grids, energy management, security and access control, healthcare and entertainment systems. As the number of IoT devices increases, the demand for wireless bandwidth also increases. Many wireless schemes, such as complex modulation schemes and error corrections, have been developed to maximize wireless bandwidth utilization while cognizant of the fact that wireless bandwidth remains a finite resource. However, IoT devices have limited hardware capabilities (e.g. limited energy source and computational power) which limit the practical application of most existing wireless schemes for IoT communication systems. Hence, there is a need for wireless communication technologies that can provide better spectrum efficiency without burdensome hardware requirements for IoT devices.
Technology Overview
Researchers at the University of Victoria have developed and patented a novel encoding and decoding scheme for concurrent wireless transmission of signals. Coined as “Chitchat”, this scheme uses rotation codes to enable superimposed signals from two transmitters to be distinguished and detected by a receiver. The pair of transmitters are allocated two communication slots, with each transmitter transmitting in both the slots, so that a receiver sees the superimposed transmissions. By changing the relative phase of the transmitters between the two slots, both transmitters’ data can be detected during at least one of the slots.
Benefits
Compatibility with IoT devices
Improved bandwidth utilization, better spectrum efficiency
Decoding without any power control
Applications
IoT wireless communication and networking
Cellular communication
Opportunity
Licensing
Collaborative research and development