TFWireless Inc

Introduction

TFWireless Inc is a new technology startup solely established to commercialize the physical layer (PHY) rateless codec technology for both space communication and terrestrial wireless networks. The mission of the tech startup is to develop transformative wireless communications technology which provides excellent performance enhancements and dramatic cost savings offering key benefits in terms of latency or processing speeds and power/energy consumption.

PHY rateless codec technology is a forward error correction (FEC) or channel coding and Automatic repeat request (ARQ) technology for the reliable transmission of information bits between the transmitter and receiver in a wireless environment. An initial form of the technology was developed by the founder at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), which is part of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). NASA JPL was the birthplace of digital communications in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The JPL spinoff TFWireless is aiming for a technological breakthrough of similar magnitude in the field of information transmission in communication systems.

TFWireless will be further developing the technology through the execution of NSF SBIR/STTR projects in phases. NASA JPL is interested in the wireless communications technology developed by TFWireless and expressed support as a strategic partner for the SBIR Phase I and Phase II projects. Caltech will be the research institution (RI) partner of TFWireless Inc for the NSF STTR Phase I project. Dr. Dariush Divsalar from NASA JPL and Prof. Babak Hassibi from Caltech will be working with the founder on the NSF STTR Phase I project.

The communications technology is applicable to inter-satellite links, satellite-to-ground and ground-to- satellite links. Customers can be a licensee of TFWireless Inc technology and intellecutal property (IP). Data Link Layer (DLL) IP can include copyrighted software for DLL-ARQ protocols. PHY layer IP can include

1. Patented designs for FEC encoder, decoder, and related baseband blocks of a communication system.
2. VHDL IP core - FPGA: Low volume cases
3. ASIC: High volume cases
4. Copyrighted Software - Matlab/Python, Embedded C code.

Investors

TFWireless Inc is proudly supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF SBIR/STTR program). The startup is a recipient of the NSF STTR Phase I award. The seed project of the founder at NASA JPL was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK.

Strategic Partners

The startup is proud to partner with NASA JPL to develop the transformative wireless communications technology with funding from NSF. Specifically, the startup is working with the JPL Section 332: Communications Architectures and Research Section and few other JPL staff to develop the PHY layer rateless codec technology for proximity space links.

Standards

The startup is working to get the PHY layer rateless codec technology for proximity space links adopted to the CCSDS standards. The startup is periodically presenting its technology developments to two working groups within the CCSDS Space Link Services (SLS) area:
1. SLS Coding and Synchronization
2. SLS Space Link Protocols

Team

Amogh RajannaDavid Mitlyng
Consultants from NASA JPL
Business Advisor

Research

1) A. Rajanna, C. Okino, and K. Andrews, “Proximity Link Throughput Enhancements via Raptor Code Technology,” The Interplanetary Network Progress Report, NASA JPL, vol. 42-224, pp. 1-24, Feb 15, 2021. pdf
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2) A. Rajanna and C. P Dettmann, “Rate Statistics in Cellular Downlink: A Per-User Analysis of Rateless Coded Transmission”, IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 1221-1225, June 2020. pdf

3) A. Rajanna and C. P Dettmann, "Adaptive Transmission in Cellular Networks: Fixed-Rate Codes with Power Control vs Physical Layer Rateless Codes", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 3005-3018, June 2019. pdf

4) A. Rajanna and M. Haenggi, “Enhanced Cellular Coverage and Throughput using Rateless Codes”, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 65, no. 5, pp. 1899-1912, May 2017. pdf

5) A. Rajanna and M. Haenggi, “Downlink Coordinated Joint Transmission for Mutual Information Accumulation”, IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 6, no. 2, pp.198-201, Apr 2017. pdf
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6) A. Rajanna, I. Bergel and M. Kaveh “Performance Analysis of Rateless Codes in an ALOHA Wireless Ad hoc Network”, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 14, no. 11, pp. 6216–6229, Nov 2015. pdf