Chipping away at a tiny fortune

Australians are an inventive mob. We pioneered the ‘black box’ flight recorder, spray-on skin, the pacemaker, polymer bank notes and the bionic ear. There was also wi-fi technology, which lets us stream music and movies on our mobile devices and television, thanks in part to John O’Sullivan, leader of the team of researchers at the CSIRO who made that breakthrough. A critical part of their work was designing the first wi-fi computer chips based on a global standard. Silicon Valley giant Cisco Systems liked the idea so much that it bought the business.

- ALAN DEANS

Some 20 years later, another Australian with a team of scientists has developed a new generation of chips that will radically change the way the world uses wi-fi. Michael de Nil co-founded Morse Micro to exploit a major emerging trend in the market called the internet of things (IoT). IoT allows devices to exchange data directly with each other, meaning they talk and work together over wi-fi in a multitude of ways.

Devices are now learning to interact seamlessly over the airwaves at ever faster speeds. Importantly, they also offer much greater range.

“Wi-fi chip companies for the past 20 years have nearly all been about making things go faster, faster, faster,” explains de Nil. “It’s quite strange for our company to say we are going to do the opposite.

“We are focused on longer-range devices that might not exist today. We are trying to replace existing chips with our ones so that you can start moving devices around. We play in a space where traditional wi-fi can’t operate because it doesn’t reach far enough.

“One market where we are getting a lot of traction is video cameras. Anything from baby monitors to door locks with cameras and sensors. We are developing new products rather than displacing existing chips in existing products.”

Users can stay connected to these devices over much greater distances than traditional wi-fi signals allows. Testing shows that this technology works at a range of up to 15 kilometres. That opens the door to many more uses, from security sensors to pool pumps and mailboxes to connecting a car to the home and managing solar panels.