SMASH: Smarter Flash Memory Storage in Low-Power Devices

Primary Inventors: 

Kevin Fu, Ph.D.
Erik Learned-Miller, Ph.D.
Mastooreh Salajegheh

Description: 

SMASH for Smarter Flash Memory Storage in Low-Power Devices

Today's electronic devices are limited by battery longevity. In order to increase the battery lifetime and reduce manufacturing costs, Dr. Kevin Fu, Dept. of Computer Science, has developed smarter flash storage methods (SMASH), a novel technology to reduce the energy consumption of low-power devices with embedded flash memory. SMASH memory technology reduces the energy consumption of embedded electronic devices by using embedded software to exploit the stochastic behavior of embedded flash memory at low voltages.

Applications: 

Devices that would benefit include high-volume products such as carbon monoxide detectors, medical devices, TV remote controls, calculators, and wireless computer peripherals. All of these devices are battery operated and battery life is important because replacing a battery means spending time and money for device maintenance. For example, the batteries of smoke detectors and electronic hotel door locks (e.g., magstripe, RFID) require periodic battery replacement that is inconvenient and labor intensive at scale. SMASH technology can help to extend this time and reduce costs of hardware components. SMASH technology aims to enable low-power devices to do more work with less energy.

Advantages: 

Features of SMASH memory

  1. SMASH allows removal of expensive, unnecessary hardware components.
  2. SMASH can improve battery life of a product even in the absence of source code.
  3. SMASH can reduce size and weight of battery, or enable a product to instead operate on capacitors or energy harvesting.
  4. SMASH is applicable to any product using a microcontroller or processor with embedded, on-chip flash memory.
  5. SMASH does not require significant changes to a manufacturer's supply chain or respinning of printed circuit boards.
  6. SMASH lets a product's power consumption better match its specific reliability requirements without over provisioning.
Licensing Status: 
Available for Licensing or Sponsored Research
Patent Status: 

Patent pending

Docket: 
UMA 11-15

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For More Information: 

Commercial Ventures & Intellectual Property
Phone: 413-545-3606
E-mail: cvip@research.umass.edu