XCXO: An Ultra-low Cost Ultra-high Accuracy Clock System for Wireless Sensor Networks in Harsh Remote Outdoor Environments

In ISSCC/DAC 2008 (Unpublished Student Design Contest Entry, Award Winner) , 0 pages , San Francisco (ISSCC) and Anahei , February 2008.

NESL Technical Report #: TR-UCLA-NESL-200802-02

As the world ecosystem comes under increasing duress from the effects of global warming, volatile organic compounds (and other air pollutants), oil spills, pesticides, stronger coastal storms, and more frequent tornadoes and forest fires, early warning of and effective response to micro, local, and regional ecological problems is critical. Capturing this data is an immense challenge requiring long-term study over very large areas. Further, such a system must operate virtually free of infrastructure (power and hardline communications networks) to reduce the cost and environmental impact of deploying and maintaining it. Such systems, as envisioned by the scientific community, consist of a large quantity of sensors each attached to a small battery operated microprocessor replete with a radio communications transceiver. Each of these sensor terminals is called a node and the entirety of nodes is termed a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). WSN’s are, therefore, emerging as a vital element in humanity’s response to a changing climate.

• Thomas Schmid
• Jonathan Friedman
• Zainul M Charbiwala
• Young H Cho
• Mani B Srivastava

• PDF file of paper

• XCXT : Crystal Compensated Crystal Based Timer

Conference Paper