One of the world’s leading providers of integrated wireless traffic and parking detection and data systems, Sensys Networks, has announced that it has been awarded two new US patents that will help extend its product portfolio.
The California-based company now has 23 patents in its portfolio, and the two most recent patents improve the security of its wireless sensor networks and Internet of Things (IoT) platform for smart cities, while opening the door for new parking applications.
Founded in 2003 by three graduates from the University of California Berkeley, Dr Pravin Varaiya, Dr Amine Haoui and Dr Robert Kavaler, Sensys Networks started with the development of ultra-low-power, wireless vehicle detection sensors, which now form the basis of the company’s extensive range of traffic and parking management systems.
Patent #9,769,664, ‘Nonce silent and replay resistant encryption and authentication wireless sensor network’, focuses on security for wireless sensor networks and IoT. The patent covers the encryption and authentication of traffic data coming from sensors into Edge Gateways or Access Point (AP). The main advantage of this patented technology is that it protects from replay attacks, while not requiring permanent storage of any state information by either the AP or the sensor.
This eliminates the need to download new keys into the sensors when an AP is replaced, or is tampered with. The method is simple to implement for all IoT sensors and adds only 4 bytes of overhead to each transmitted packet, which has virtually no impact on battery life.
Patent #9,418,551, ‘Position and/or distance measurement, parking and/or vehicle detection, apparatus, networks, operations and/or systems’, enables parking applications to combine in-pavement sensing with onboard devices for enforcement, geofencing and permitting applications. The patent covers next-generation recognition of parked vehicles, enabling a variety of advanced applications benefiting parking operators. The patent covers a method to automatically determine:
• Incorrectly parked vehicles (cars covering two spaces);
• Cars parked in reserved spots that should not be there;
• Cars staying past their reserved time in parking lots with mixed reserved and non-reserved parking spots.
“We pioneered the use of wireless sensors in smart transportation, and continue to lead the industry with new technologies and products,” said Dr Robert Kavaler, Sensys Networks’s CTO.
“These two most recent patents improve security of our wireless sensor networks and IoT platform and open the door for new parking applications and are a testament to our continued commitment to deliver innovative solutions to our customers.”
