Thursday, June 7

10:10 AM - 10:50 AM
Fundamentals of Antenna Design
John Lienau, RF/EMC Engineer, LS Research
Ryan Plach, Director of Central Sales, LS Research

Antenna design is one of the most important parts of any RF design. Hear the fundamentals of antenna design for short-range devices, as well as the trade-offs between size, cost and performance. An antenna that is properly designed and optimized will enhance the overall performance of any radio.
Learn:
● The key factors involved when choosing an antenna topology.
● What tools are needed for design, simulation and characterization.
● The effects of the enclosure material, the available space, the required radiation patterns, EMC compliance rules and regulations.

11:00 AM - 11:40 AM
Combining Sensors with RFID: Choosing the Most Efficient Non-Volatile Memory Solution
Craig Zajac, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Synopsys

As sensor based systems integrate RFID capabilities to transmit and receive data, there is a renewed need to optimize the overall system to continue to increase efficiency and lower power and cost without sacrificing performance. This session reviews how to most effectively combine the non-volatile memory (NVM) needs of sensor- and RFID-based systems to provide the highest performance, most cost effective solution.
● A comparison of historical uses of NVM in both sensor and RFID systems.
● Overview of NVM technologies available today.
● Understand options for combining / consolidating NVM requirements in sensor-based RFID systems to provide the best performance/cost solution.

1:40 PM - 2:20 PM
PAVVET: Pavement Analysis Via Vehicle Electronic Telemetry
Raj Bridgelall, Program Director - ATAC, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University

Transportation agencies spend trillions of dollars maintaining roads using a fix-worst-first approach. Studies show that moving to a preserve-first approach will cut pavement preservation cost by a factor of three and save the nation hundreds of billions of dollars. However, the latter approach requires regular pavement condition monitoring to forecast the optimum maintenance times. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) expects that the connected vehicle initiative will catalyze full adoption of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications in the near future. In this presentation we will:
● Understand the big picture of how pervasive wireless sensing can support energy-efficient people and freight movement to sustain economic growth with safer and smoother roads.
● Examine how existing wireless sensor technologies (in vehicles and smart phones) can deliver the required functionality today.
● Review a cost-effective implementation that integrates GPS, MEMS accelerometer, and energy-harvesting with standards-based RFID such as existing vehicle identification tags and commercial vehicle electronic-on-board-recorders (EOBR).

2:30 PM - 3:10 PM 
Integrating RFID Tags and Sensors to GSM Networks
Joe Jesson, CTO, XACT Technology

Reading local RFID tags and integrated sensors and communicating over the wireless wide-area network presents many challenges today, especially with regards to power management and RF coverage. Often, the need is present when mobile assets are involved and in the remote locations where local WiFi and wired Ethernet communications links are simply not available. This session presents practical and reliable solutions to moving sensor and RFID information anywhere in the world.

Both low-cost passive and active RFID tag integration along with wireless (802.15.4) temperature & radiation sensor integration with a ARM9-based GSM/GPS M2M module will be illustrated in a open architecture framework.

Don’t Forget to Check Out the Wireless Pavilion on the Expo Floor featuring leading wireless technology vendors – NEW for 2012! Register today for a Main Conference Pass and gain access to the Wireless-focused Conference sessions AND the Expo Floor Pavilion.