Microstrip patch antenna sensors have been demonstrated for strain, temperature, crack, moisture sensing etc. These antenna sensors are attractive because of their simple configuration, low profile, and conformability. Most of these studies, however, were carried out in lab settings using a specialized microwave instrument, which is expensive and has a low interrogation speed. This paper presents the development of a low cost interrogation system that can dynamically interrogate the antenna sensor and wirelessly transmit the acquired data to a smart device. The hardware implementation of the interrogation system as well as it characterization using a test apparatus imitate a prosthetic socket are presented. We demonstrated that the interrogation system can extract the resonant frequencies of the antenna sensors at real time.
This paper presents a compact, batteryless wireless ultrasound pitch-catch system that wirelessly transmits the excitation signals to the actuator installed on the structure, and acquires the ultrasound sensing signal from the wireless sensor. The principle of frequency conversion is used to transform the ultrasound signals to microwave signals so that it can be wirelessly transmitted without digitization. As such, the power hungry digital-to-analog data conversion at the wireless actuator is eliminated. The wireless sensor node is equipped with a low power amplifier, which can be powered continuously by a microwave energy harvester. In addition, compact microstrip patch antennas are implemented for wireless transmissions, which help to achieve a compact interrogation unit.
This paper presents a novel pressure sensor consisting of a low-cost microstrip patch antenna placed a distance from a metal reflection plate. The pressure applied on the plate changes the distance between the metal plate and the patch antenna, which shifts the resonant frequency of the antenna sensor. The operation principle of the pressure sensor is firstly presented. Subsequently, the design and fabrication of the antenna sensor as well as the electromagnetic (EM) simulations of its response to the applied pressure are described. Finally, static experiments are performed to validate the performance of the pressure sensor and the results are discussed.
In this paper, we studied the microstrip patch antenna for the purpose of temperature sensing. The relationship between the antenna resonant frequency shift and temperature variation is first derived based on the transmission line model. A substrate material was selected to achieve a linear sensor response. Temperature chamber tests on patch antenna sensors bonded to three different test samples were carried out. Preliminary experimental results indicated a linear relation between the normalized antenna resonant frequency changes and temperature variations. However, a large discrepancy between the measured and predicted sensitivities was observed, which indicated that the thermal strain might have a significant influence on the dielectric constant of the substrate. To account for this effect, we introduced a strain coefficient of dielectric constant to quantify the effect of strain on the dielectric constant. With the modified theoretical predictions, the errors between the measurements and predictions were within the systematic error of the reference thermocouple, which validates the feasibility of using a microstrip patch antenna for temperature sensing.
KEYWORDS: Antennas, Sensors, Digital signal processing, Backscatter, Amplitude modulation, Modulation, Demodulation, Oscillators, Linear filtering, Oscilloscopes
This paper presents the dynamic interrogation of a wireless antenna sensor for mechanical vibration monitoring. In order to interrogate the antenna resonant frequency at sufficient high speeds, a wireless interrogator that consists of a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) synthesizer, a signal demodulation unit, and a real-time digital signal processing program was developed. The principle of operation of the dynamic wireless sensing system is first described, followed by the description of the design and implementation of the antenna sensor and the wireless interrogator. After calibrate the antenna sensor response using static tensile tests, dynamic interrogation of the wireless antenna sensor was carried out by subjecting the test specimen to a sinusoidal tensile load. The resonant frequency shifts of the antenna sensor were compared with the strains calculated from the applied loads. A good agreement between the antenna sensor readings and the strain values were achieved. A sampling rate of up to 50 Hz was demonstrated.
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