IoT Freeway claims leaps in distance and power.

A veteran RF engineering manager claims he can demonstrate a wireless technology with significantly longer range and lower power than what’s available today. His startup, IoT Freeway, is aiming its approach at the emerging Internet of Things (IoT).

Afshin Zand has a demo based on off-the-shelf discrete. He wants US$12 million to build RF chips that implement it. For another US$16 million, he estimates a satellite-based version of the technology could cover the planet.

"US$12 million gets 50 km range; US$28 million covers developing receivers and satellites with 1,000km range, covering the Earth with low-orbit satellites at US$10,000 for IoT -no radio towers would be needed," he said.

Zand shared details of his technology with a wireless engineering manager at a top 100 semiconductor company. He was told the company would fund his chip design if he could show a carrier willing to support it, but that’s an uphill job given carriers’ laser-like focus on their cellular networks and IoT variants such as LTE MTC.

IoT Freeway claims an RF chip using its approach would support a 50-km range at 30-100 microwatts transmit power. It could deliver “location to centimeter accuracy if you want it,” Zand said. “If the update rate from an IoT sensor is a few or several times a day, it needs no [lifetime] battery replacement [because] it can harvest RF energy from environment,” he said.

The device could be packed into a quarter-inch cube and be built for less than a dollar. Data rates could vary with the requirements of apps, ranging from Kbits to Gbits/second and is inherently secure, he said.

The description sounds similar to startup Magnacom, but Zand had not heard of the company. Separately, startup Artemis claims roughly similar wireless breakthroughs.

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