M3. Millimeter-scale computing.

Pushing the leading edge of technology, M3 seeks to build a modular, composible, general-purpose sensing and computation platform at millimeter-scale.

The goal of the Michigan Micro Mote (M3) project is to finally realize the Smart Dust vision: networks of integrated, autonomous, energy-harvesting nodes that can sense the environment and deliver their data over a wireless mesh network. The concrete goal of the project is to: (1) create sensor nodes that are cubic-mm in size, (2) draw ~10 nW, and (3) deliver data every few minutes over a multihop network. This requires advances in every layer of the system stack -- circuits to memory to processor to timers to radios to interconnects to packaging to software to protocols to programming models. If successful, this represents a 1,000-10,000 fold improvement over the state-of-the-art in size and power.