A self-sustaining, autonomous, wireless-sensor beacon powered from long-range, ambient, RF energy

Author

Vyas, Raul ; Cook, Byron ; Kawahara, Yuki ; Tentzeris, Manos

fYear

2013

fDate

2-7 June 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

A novel embedded sensing and wireless relay mote that powers itself from long range digital TV signals is presented. With an improved antenna, RF-DC circuit, and an energy-aware embedded-firmware design, enough wireless power from a distributed TV tower network can be harnessed for wireless sensor telemetry. A microcontroller and 900 MHz transmitter for the telemetry has been powered on and sustained from ambient TV signals at previously unreported range of 6.5 km from a TV broadcast source.

Keywords

UHF antennas; digital television; energy harvesting; relay networks (telecommunication); telecommunication power supplies; RF energy; RF-DC circuit; TV broadcast source; TV tower network; energy-aware embedded-firmware design; frequency 900 MHz; improved antenna; long range digital TV signals; microcontroller; novel embedded sensing; wireless relay mote; wireless sensor telemetry; Antenna measurements; Digital TV; Energy harvesting; Poles and towers; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks; PIC; antenna; energy harvesting; microcontroller; rectifier; sensors; transmitter; wireless power transfer;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (IMS), 2013 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-6177-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2013.6697786

Filename

6697786