OSWEGO — The SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) is awarding a SUNY Oswego researcher funding of up to $50,000 to advance the commercial “readiness” of a device that will enable “fast and secure” transfer of wireless data.

The goal is to increase new technology’s “attractiveness” to potential investors, SUNY Oswego said in a news release.

Jointly funded by the State University of New York and the Research Foundation for SUNY, TAF investments target research and development milestones — such as feasibility studies, prototyping, and testing — that “demonstrate an idea or innovation has commercial potential.”

Patanjali Parimi, director of SUNY Oswego’s advanced wireless-systems research (ADWISR) center, is one of four SUNY faculty researchers to whom TAF is awarding funding as part of its 2017 cycle. 

SUNY Oswego’s ADWISR includes a communications and radar-research lab in Wilber Hall and a wireless training lab in the Shineman Center, the school said.

In his application for the award, Parimi noted demand is “intense” for more secure, higher-speed wireless data.

If the new device makes it to market, uses “abound” in defense, mobile communications, auto-transportation systems, aircraft, and more, he said.

A user can retrofit the device as a component to existing communication systems at both the transmitter and receiver, Parimi added.

He titled the application, “Secure High Data Rate Communications Employing Orbital Angular Modulation of EM (Electromagnetic) Waves.”

“Competition is high for this award,” said Parimi, who has submitted an application for a preliminary patent for the wireless device. “I am pleased our proposal to advance wireless technology attracted the interest of the Technology Accelerator Fund.”

Besides Parimi, TAF also awarded funding to recipients at Binghamton University, the University at Albany, and the University at Buffalo, three of the system’s large research universities, SUNY Oswego said.

Pursuing benchmarks

William Bowers, SUNY Oswego associate provost for research development and administration, said the amount of the TAF investment is driven by “benchmarks on a technology-development timeline.”

“The investment Dr. Parimi is receiving from TAF is contingent upon his team successfully achieving specific project milestones,” said Bowers.

Among those is development of a prototype device to provide proof of concept. Two Syracuse–area companies — JMA Wireless of Clay and SRC, Inc. of Cicero — submitted letters supporting Parimi’s TAF application and expressing interest in potential co-development opportunities.

Bowers works in SUNY Oswego’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, which serves as the campus liaison for grants and contracts with the Research Foundation.

The Research Foundation has experts in patenting and technology development who can assist college and university researchers with moving their research from lab to market, Bowers said.

“What it [the TAF investment] is meant to do is move along the commercialization path [for] technology that is innovative and has significant market potential,” he added.