iPack striving for a ubiquitous intelligent world

Ubiquitous intelligence will impact our world and how we live by changing the computing landscape enabling new breeds of applications and systems to be developed such as embedding tiny and intelligent systems in almost everything including artifacts, the human body, paper and packaging.

 

In order to tap into these markets a Research Centre has been set up in Sweden funded by the Swedish, government and companies from its major industries in forestry, electronics and biomedical. These industries will work together to develop core technologies for the integration of bio-medical and chemical sensors, energy supplies, computing and wireless communications on fiber-based paper-boards, for innovative products such as smart bio-paper, intelligent pharmaceutical packaging and storage and intelligent patient monitoring devices.

The iPack research and innovation strategy is to bring multidisciplinary competence in to one platform.

 

Long-term future needs are identified and can be initiated in the form of small projects for basic research. In Phase 1, five needs-driven projects and three small projects have been established.

 

These five projects fall into three major research theme areas which combine the expertise of the partners and focuses on modifying their existing technologies under the iPack vision:

 

 

 

The research projects are reviewed and renewed every 1-3 years so they can be steered in the right direction under the10 year time frame.

 

The goal of this project is to understand the physical and chemical mechanisms behind the delamination process, concentrating on epoxy-based ionically conducting adhesives. The methodology is mainly experimental, using DC polarization and AC impedance measurement techniques available at KTH-AEC. Analytical techniques such as mass- and Raman spectroscopy may be useful complements for characterization. Preliminary research results have been obtained for the impact on charging time, voltage, pressure etc on the de-bonding process.

 

 

This project aims to develop integrated electronics for an inter-active package concept which can be opened (E-Open) and locked electronically (E-Lock). Over 30V supply is need-ed in order to electronically open the package in reasonable time. This is preferably supplied through a printed battery with voltage only at 1.5V or below and the solution has clear cost constraints.

 

 

When working at E-Lock mode, an extremely low- power embedded processor is needed and to process external authentication code and control the delaminate process. Research aim is therefore to explore challenges of achieving ultra low power and low cost logic and power electronics integrated in a low cost process such as LDMOS or even CMOS (with floating body) as well as realization of innovative touch-up sensors potentially been integrated on a paper package. A first demonstration of E-open and E-lock systems have been completed and will be improved through the different stages of the project.

 

Basic issues of ultra low power wireless link design in nanometer CMOS technology which is used for communication link between paper package and network intrastate are explored. Power consumption of the tag chip should be very low for sensing and communication such that it could be powered up remotely by incident radio wave or printed paper-battery. An ultra wideband (UWB) radio tag chip with UHF uplink is being developed which can be powered at a minimum power of 14μW while sending signals at 100 MHz.

 

The system also provides accurate position functionality (in ~10 cm accuracy) which can identify for example the exact location of a package. On the reader side, the research focus is on implementation of integrated platform for multiple RFID standards and better sensitivity (hence longer reading distance), as well as internet connections. In addition, the project also explores some core radio blocks such as frequency synthesizers and power amplifiers for the wireless sensor platform.

 

 

 

RFID and sensors are integrated on paper-board as substrate using special low-cost solutions such as printing and inkjet technologies. The work includes design and printing of conductors, antenna structures, innovative sensors, as well as glues/integration of RFID chip on paper substrate. A number of conductive inks, including nano silver, aluminum, copper, as well as composite materials such as carbon nanotubes in polymer, are tested in various printing technologies (ink-jet, flexography, and screen printing).

 

 

This project is the design and implementation of intelligent sensor platforms for fresh food tracking and healthcare monitoring. The platform should be hand-held size, battery powered, mobile internet connected, with the possibility of having a link to e.g. wireless sensor tags on each fresh food package or digital plaster for healthcare applications. User scenario, system specification, sensor network, mobility, low power, software and hardware implementation are key issues to be addressed in this research. The project aims to present a demonstrator with available technologies, which will be upgraded with results/ technologies obtained from P2.1 and P3.1.

 

 

For more attend Printed Electronics Europe 2009.

 

Also read Electronic Smart Packaging.