The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has opened on-campus technology incubator space at the California NanoSystems Institute to WaveConnex, Inc., a start-up that plans to conduct proof-of-concept research on contactless electronic connections that can be used in virtually all electronic systems. WaveConnex, incorporated in August 2009, is leveraging research in millimeter-wave radio technology developed by Frank Chang, PhD, Wintek professor of electrical engineering at UCLA, toward the development of products for contactless connections. The technology, licensed from UCLA, will allow data to be exchanged between electronic devices without physically touching. Contactless connections will potentially enable wide-ranging applications in database transfer, Internet infrastructure, entertainment electronics, and other areas.
WaveConnex expects its products to serve as replacements for metal-to-metal interconnections currently used in nearly all electronic systems, with the potential to overcome current limitations in terms of performance, reliability, and size. Among potential applications are improved pocket-sized “smart cards” with embedded integrated circuits that can store and process large amounts of data without coming into direct contact with another device. “Imagine you have a credit card-sized smart card in your wallet that contains all of your medical history and records in encrypted form, including medications, X-rays, and MRI results,” Chang says. “The technology has the potential to enable any doctor to access, with permission, your accurate medical profile, giving them detailed information for the prescription of treatments and enabling them to update your profile.”
Source: PhysOrg