Thomas David Petite
Encyclopedia
Thomas David Petite is an American inventor and is best known for being one of the five early key inventors of Wireless ad hoc network or Wireless Mesh, Technology. He is Native American and a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is an Anishinaabe band located near Cloquet, Minnesota. Their land-base is the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation , located mainly in Carlton and St...

 tribe. He is also a founder of the Native American Intellectual Property Enterprise Council, a non-profit organization helping Native American inventors and communities.

Petite has over 30 US patents pending, dating back to 1995 on adhoc
ADHOC
This article is about the Human Rights Organization, for the Apple Computer Software Convention, see MacHack. ADHOC is a Cambodian human rights organization, founded in 1991...

 networks. A listing of his inventions can found at Patent Genius or by a search at The US Patent Office.
Petite is considered to be a visionary scientist/engineer, with business knowledge skills. His early inventions seem to demonstrate a foresight to see the technology curve with business values.

Biography

Born in 1956, in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, he is the son of Robert Eugene Petite of the Fond du Lac Chippewa tribe and Helen Ruth Byrd.

Thomas David Petite goes by his middle name David. He was brought up in Atlanta by his father who was a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 Chief of the Chippewa tribe in Wisconsin. His father educated David on the cultural heritage of the Chippewa tribe instilling strong values and a great sense of pride.

Inventions

Much of Petite's work revolves around the networking, remote control, activation or monitoring of wireless enabled devices. From his early invention of a personalized security system, in which a portable transmitter can be carried or worn and activated by an individual in need of assistance to transmit data relating specifically to that individual, to his most recent patents covering a site controller adapted to be used in an automated monitoring system for monitoring and controlling a plurality of remote devices via a host computer connected to a first communication network, his work has covered a multitude of industry sectors and applications.

He is perhaps best known for his role in the invention of the necessary components integral to creating remotely monitored and controlled environmental systems within a specific location such as a home This set of inventions was a driving force behind the development of the so called "Smart meter
Smart meter
A smart meter is usually an electrical meter that records consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less and communicates that information at least daily back to the utility for monitoring and billing purposes. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the...

", and thus to what is now known as the "Smart Grid". According to one description “A true Smart Grid enables multiple applications to operate over a shared, interoperable network, similar in concept to the way the Internet works today.” His major contribution was developing the technology to allow a plurality of devices to operate together on one low power or proximity network. This technology allows each device to have single addressable identities and act as individuals or as an infinite and scalable series of devices.

Career

Petite was a founder of StatSignal Systems, Inc. the first company, in the late 1990s, to successfully patent and introduce wireless mesh technology (SMART CLOUD) to the utility industry and health care industry.

Currently he is a key partner in Intus IQ, a brand marketing company that licenses his and other key innovators patents to various industries.

Honors

In 2010 he was honored by the Georgia State Senate in a resolution introduced by Chairman of the Economic Development Committee Senator Chip Pearson. Mr. Petite was recognized for "his innovations in wireless technology and his incredible career in engineering and invention."

In 2010 he was honored as the 4th most successful Native American entrepreneur by Legal Zoom

Petite was invited to attend the presidential signing of The America Invents Act
America Invents Act
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant change to the U.S...

, in September 2011.

In September 2011 Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia appointed Petite to the Georgia Council on American Indian Concerns, a body created by the Georgia Legislature in 1992 to help protect Indian graves and burial objects from accidental and intentional desecration. The Council is the only state entity specifically authorized to address the concerns of Georgia's American Indians.

Sources

  • United States Patent Trademark Office: [www.uspto.gov] Petite, Thomas inventor
  • Energy Central; March 21, 2008 leading developer of wireless mesh David Petite
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