Multi-Level Information Storage Using Engineered Electromechanical Resonances of Piezoelectric Wafers: A Concept Piezoelectric Quick Response (PQR) Code.

Christopher Hakoda,Vamshi Krishna Chillara,Eric S Davis,Cristian Pantea

doi:10.3390/s20216344

Christopher Hakoda, Vamshi Krishna Chillara + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/s20216344

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Abstract

A piezoelectric-based method for information storage is presented. It involves engineering the polarization profiles of multiple piezoelectric wafers to enhance/suppress specific electromechanical resonances. These enhanced/suppressed resonances can be used to represent multiple frequency-dependent bits, thus enabling multi-level information storage. This multi-level information storage is demonstrated by achieving three information states for a ternary encoding. Using the three information states, we present an approach to encode and decode information from a 2-by-3 array of piezoelectric wafers that we refer to as a concept Piezoelectric Quick Response (PQR) code. The scaling relation between the number of wafers used and the cumulative number of information states that can be achieved with the proposed methodology is briefly discussed. Potential applications of this methodology include tamper-evident devices, embedded product tags in manufacturing/inventory tracking, and additional layers of security with existing information storage technologies.

Highlights

We propose an information storage methodology that uses an array of electromechanical resonators, namely piezoelectric wafers, to store information in their engineered, frequency-dependent, electromechanical response characteristics
While traditional methodologies typically use a binary encoding (i.e., a ‘10 or ‘00 bit), the frequency-dependent response of a piezoelectric wafer allows for multiple states by utilizing enhanced/suppressed electromechanical resonances
The methodology does not rely on a line-of-sight access and can be used in scenarios where piezoelectric wafers can be embedded inside objects or enclosures, making it less susceptible to tampering

Summary

Introduction

We propose an information storage methodology that uses an array of electromechanical resonators, namely piezoelectric wafers, to store information in their engineered, frequency-dependent, electromechanical response characteristics. While traditional methodologies typically use a binary encoding (i.e., a ‘10 or ‘00 bit), the frequency-dependent response of a piezoelectric wafer allows for multiple states by utilizing enhanced/suppressed electromechanical resonances. The proposed methodology has strong potential for improved information security when compared to some traditional methods for information storage. In contrast to the above approach, the proposed methodology achieves multi-level information storage by engineering the spatial polarization profiles of piezoelectric wafers [9,10] to enhance/suppress specific electromechanical resonances. We present our approach for achieving multi-level information storage using piezoelectric wafers

Multi-Level Information Storage Using Piezoelectric Wafers

Information Retrieval from the PQR Code