Student İnnovation At Rensselaer Transmits Data and Power Wirelessly Through Submarine Hulls

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. To see a video of Lawry explaining his innovation, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc51vpEgoYA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71IMEYUwGow

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.