The End of the Sensor as You Know It: EPIC Semiconductors Launches Coreless, Infrastructure-Free Smart Dust

EPIC Semiconductors, a pioneer in energy-autonomous semiconductor systems and embedded edge intelligence, has announced a significant operational milestone in the development of Smart Dust-an advanced platform technology enabling fully autonomous, secure, and maintenance-free sensing in high-risk, infrastructure-constrained environments.

Smart Dust has demonstrated performance in live military and industrial scenarios-delivering real-time intelligence in locations where traditional sensors fail, including GPS-denied zones, RF-restricted areas, and electromagnetically saturated environments. Unlike legacy sensor systems, Smart Dust is a fully integrated system-on-chip: it contains its own embedded processor, energy harvester, sensing functions, and secure communication mechanism-requiring no external batteries, antennas, memory, firmware, or support infrastructure.

Smart Dust: A Fully Autonomous Sensing Platform
Smart Dust is not a component-it is a complete system that operates independently at the edge. Its architecture redefines what is possible for secure, invisible sensing in defense, industrial, and healthcare applications.

Key capabilities include:

Coreless Design
No MCU, no DSP, no external memory. Intelligence is embedded physically into the chip's structure.
"Still using cores at the edge? That's like installing a front door on a sandcastle."
"Smart Dust has no core. No memory. No attack surface. You can't hack what's not there."

On-Chip AI Processing
Real-time sensing, analysis, and decision-making-all performed locally without reliance on the cloud.

Zero Infrastructure Deployment
No antennas. No firmware. No programming required. Smart Dust is deployed as-is, operating in closed-loop systems.
"Legacy sensors fail in the field-batteries die, antennas jam, data delays.
Smart Dust doesn't. Define what's next."

Zero-Power Operation
Continuously powered by ambient energy. No charging. No maintenance.
"Everyone's racing to shrink power. We eliminated it.
Smart Dust isn't low-power-it's zero-power."

Invisible, RF-Free, Bi-Directional Communication
Communicates silently and securely without RF emissions-resistant to detection, jamming, or interference.
"You can't jam it. You can't hack it. You can't even detect it. And yet-it never stops working."

Security Built-In
No stored data. No firmware. No attack surface.
"Adding security after the design isn't security-it's denial.
Smart Dust was built secure by design. It senses, acts, and disappears."

Strategic Value and Market Opportunity
Smart Dust is a platform technology, addressing critical sensing and autonomy needs across multiple industries. Its total addressable market (TAM) spans defense, industrial, aerospace, and healthcare sectors.

In defense and intelligence (estimated at over $50 billion), it enables deep-edge sensing and processing for equipment health monitoring, environmental awareness, system diagnostics, and decision support-particularly in infrastructure-constrained environments such as vessels, airbases, and forward deployments. In the industrial IoT and edge AI sector (estimated at $40 billion), Smart Dust supports predictive maintenance, autonomous infrastructure monitoring, and process optimization-without external power or communication networks. The healthcare sector, valued at over $20 billion, benefits from contactless, continuous monitoring in high-sensitivity settings such as post-operative recovery, eldercare environments, and emergency response systems. In aerospace and avionics, where RF silence is essential, Smart Dust enables onboard diagnostics, long-duration fault detection, and maintenance intelligence-ideal for spacecraft, high-altitude platforms, and next-generation aircraft systems.

EPIC Semiconductors will participate in DSEI UK 2025, the United Kingdom's flagship defence and security event. DSEI provides a strategic forum to engage with allied governments, military leadership, and industry stakeholders on next-generation sensing requirements. Smart Dust's presence reflects growing institutional demand for infrastructure-independent solutions capable of operating in contested and disconnected environments.

Expanding the Boundaries of Electronics and Health
Smart Dust represents more than an advancement in sensing-it marks a fundamental shift in how electronic systems are conceived, deployed, and scaled. By eliminating dependence on batteries, firmware, and supporting infrastructure, Smart Dust opens new innovation pathways in sectors historically limited by power, access, or interference.

This includes in-body diagnostics, biomedical sensing, and cancer monitoring, where ultra-miniaturized sensors must operate reliably within the human body and communicate outward without wiring or RF emissions. Smart Dust's ability to operate autonomously in any environment-whether embedded in biological tissue, infrastructure, or industrial systems-enables a new generation of sensing platforms that are persistent, biocompatible, and inherently intelligent.
With widespread adoption, Smart Dust could catalyze an entirely new class of sensing infrastructure-unlocking economic and strategic value in excess of half a trillion dollars globally.

A History of Deep Innovation and Visionary Leadership
EPIC Semiconductors was founded in 2008, built on decades of pioneering innovation by Wolf Richter and Linda Zãdeh.

Wolf Richter, holder of over 150 international patents, developed the Gestic® chip-a microcontroller capable of recognizing 3D gestures without physical contact. His earlier innovations, created in collaboration with Bosch and Infineon, earned the German Economy Innovation Award for Best Innovation and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. His company was later acquired by Microchip Technology Inc., where Gestic® remains in use.

Richter also developed an antenna-free, radiation-free wireless communication system, validated by the European Space Agency (ESA) for secure biomedical telemetry-technology that now forms the foundation of Smart Dust's communication layer.

Linda Zãdeh, CEO of EPIC Semiconductors, brings a strategic edge to the company and holds significant expertise in intellectual property commercialization, technology law, and government affairs-ensuring that EPIC's inventions are protected and aligned with long-term innovation frameworks.

She is a biomedical engineer with deep expertise in wireless networking, neural signal processing, and noninvasive medical technologies. Before founding EPIC, she invented a radar-based system for contactless monitoring of heart and vascular activity, selected for Wired's NextFest, where it was showcased alongside innovations from NASA, MIT Media Lab, and DARPA.

Under her leadership, EPIC bridges science, engineering, and policy to deliver resilient, infrastructure-free intelligence for both civilian and defense applications.

EPIC at DSEI UK 2025
EPIC Semiconductors will be present at DSEI UK 2025 in London, September 9-12, 2025. As part of the United Kingdom's premier defence and security event, EPIC will engage with global stakeholders on infrastructure-independent sensing platforms. Technical briefings and private meetings are available upon request.

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EPIC Semiconductors is a Canadian fabless semiconductor company developing a new class of coreless, battery-free, infrastructure-independent sensing platforms. Its flagship technology, Smart Dust, delivers autonomous, secure, and maintenance-free operation in GPS-denied, RF-restricted, and contested environments. Built on decades of research and an extensive patent portfolio, EPIC enables next-generation intelligence across defense, aerospace, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

This release was published on openPR.