Now, through intensive research and development and cooperation with universities, ICE Company has produced a breakthrough temperature sensor, which can withstand the most extreme radiation exposure. This groundbreaking technology depends on the snow tree cricket organic sensor. The chirp of this cricket changes with the temperature, which is related to Arrhenius equation. Then, the advanced synchronous detection technology is adopted to lock the chirp sound, and at the same time, the advanced nonlinear filter is used to completely shield the impulse noise (for example, it may be caused by the common "pistol shrimp" nearby in marine applications). In addition, the circadian rhythm of the cricket is encoded as the phase component in the chirp; Park transform and Clark transform can be used to decode it, from which the relative time can be inferred, and then the basic real-time clock (RTC) peripheral functions required by 5G applications can be formed.
This kind of cricket can resist strong radiation without losing accuracy. Even multiple crickets can be used to provide average response readings and additional redundancy. Using a single cricket can achieve 8-bit accuracy, while using multiple crickets can achieve up to 2-bit accuracy because the noise source is unique and uncorrelated. However, when it is used in a 5G wireless base station, some calls may experience a "chirp" feedthrough effect during silence.
one of the early problems of this technology is the limited response of crickets at low temperature-at about +4℃, the organic sensor will stop running. However, the operation of the sensor at low temperature can be extended by simple treatment of water and glycol solution (Figure 1), and the resulting nonlinear problem can also be corrected by adding 2% coffee to the mixture as described in the patent application. Doing so can extend its working range to -55℃, so it can meet the military temperature range, but the jitter is slightly increased. This sensor compensation method can be legally used in 49 States in the United States, and it is only banned in California because 2% caffeine solution may cause cancer-however, ICE is also actively lobbying state legislators to exempt organic, non-GMO certified and free-range crickets.
figure 1: extended temperature test of organic sensor.
This kind of organic sensor is truly "green" in terms of color and being recognized as a lead-free product by RoHS/REACH regulations of the European Union. However, the ITAR and trade restrictions strictly prohibit the United States from exporting this technology.
Recently, it was reported that an unauthorized distributor forged organic sensors. X-ray analysis shows that some counterfeit suppliers ship ordinary "wild crickets", and their production cost is cheaper than that of "snow tree crickets" and their accuracy is much lower. Other unscrupulous counterfeiters even tried to use the slug as the real sensor. Therefore, incoming inspection and supplier diligence are very important.