Additively manufactured magic cube platforms for fully integrated wireless sensing nodes for Internet of Things applications

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks for environmental monitoring are a key feature in developing the Internet of Things. Although there has been much research in developing components for wireless sensing nodes, advances in creating fully integrated sensing nodes is limited. Furthermore, because most sensing nodes that have been developed are intended to perform a fixed task, each new effort to design an integrated sensing node with different functionality must start from scratch. Here we introduce a broadly applicable platform for the development and production of fully integrated wireless sensing nodes. The platform is an additively manufactured cube that has different subsystems occupying separate faces of the 3D structure. While both additively manufactured sensors and cube-shaped wireless sensing nodes have been previously reported, these two approaches have yet to be combined. A key technology that enables this is the use of additively manufactured, nonplanar bent microstrips. This realization offers a “plug-and-play” approach to sensor node design, as the subsystems are considered modular and can be swapped to alter the function of the device. Implementing this concept enables the rapid development and deployment of wireless sensor networks.