Experimental RF-signal based wireless energy transmission

Abstract

Abstract-The distributed measurement and control systems employing wireless connectivity are commonly seen as the key enablers for many novel industry, retail and consumer applications. Even though, the fast spread of large wireless sensor networks today is obstructed by the absence of solutions, which are at the same time dependable, and can minimize both capital and operational expenditures. In this respect the devices, which are powered with the energy collected from their environment, look very attractive. Among all of them, the systems collecting the energy from a designated wireless (i.e., radio frequency (RF)) channel can often enjoy a more stable energy income, which makes them more dependable than their counterparts. Due to this reason, in the current paper we focus on and discuss the key techniques and design aspects enabling development of a real-Iife RF-powered wireless sensor device. Namely, we address the problems of designing an antenna and the energy harvesting circuit with feasible efficiency. In addition, we detail particular aspects related to the design of a sensor node and optimizing its computing and communication. The developed device is tested in harsh environment as a part of a fast rotating mechanical structure, showing the feasibility of the proposed solutions. The technology discussed in the paper is an important part of the upcoming 5G and loT development and deployment.

Battery-free, Wirelessly Powered and Controlled Concrete Resistivity Sensing Node

“…Indeed, there are few commercially available solutions of radiative WPT to try to recharge the battery of devices or increase their discharge time, and these are limited in terms of distance and of efficiency [19,20]. As well, a few academic works or start-up companies propose battery-free and wirelessly powered SN, which use radiative WPT (respecting the regional regulations, here: [12]) and wireless communication technologies for IoT [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. These latter meet the requirements of the SWIPT paradigm, thanks to frequency and/or spatial multiplexing.…”

Autonomous Industrial IoT for Civil Engineering Structural Health Monitoring

“…Nevertheless, some academic researches or few start-up companies deal with complete battery-free Sensing Nodes wirelessly powered through radiative Wireless Power Transfer and which use Low Power Wide Area Networks or Wireless Personal Area Network wireless communication technologies [101,112,[122][123][124][125][126]. The latter are compared in Table III.…”

A Review of Energy Harvesting Techniques for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs)

“…While such a powering technique requires a limited distance between the Radio Frequency (RF) source and the device to be powered, thus contradicting the wide area operational principle of LPWANs, some LoRa-based systems powered by means of RF harvesting were found in literature. A first solution exploiting the wireless RF channel to power a LoRa node is presented in [64]. In this paper, the architecture of the harvesting circuit is described in detail, focusing on the antenna design as well as on the RF-DC circuit that is required to convert the Alternate Current (AC) signal generated by the receiver antenna to a DC one that can be used to power a sensor node.…”