RF Self-Powered Sensor to Design Fully Autonomous IoT Devices

Amiri, Majid

RF Self-Powered Sensor to Design Fully Autonomous IoT Devices

Amiri, Majid

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2022

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Amiri, Majid
dc.date.accessioned	2022-12-18T22:56:14Z
dc.date.available	2022-12-18T22:56:14Z
dc.date.issued	2022
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164463
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	The need for continuous, accurate and autonomous sensors has increased significantly given the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Sensors collect data for a specific measurable phenomenon. Data may then be transmitted to a controller or cloud service for processing. Alternatively, data may be (pre)processed on the sensor device prior to transmission. Sensors are a necessary element of IoT devices. Sensors are designed to detect specific phenomenon and covert this into digital data that can be leveraged for analytics and machine learning to determine future actions. The energy consumed by a sensor has a direct impact upon the IoT device and its application and requirements. Depending upon the phenomenon being sensed, supporting continuous operation may be critical as discontinuities in sensing may result in the sensing of a phenomenon missing vital data points thereby limiting accuracy. Further continuous sensing increases the overall energy consumption of the IoT device, reducing overall lifetime of operation of the IoT device or the need for frequent battery replacements. Self-powered sensors provide a promising solution to produce autonomous sensors that can operate both indefinitely and free from energy source limitations. Self-powered sensors can acquire energy using varying types of ambient energy. Recently, various ambient energy sources have been used to implement self-powered sensors. However, these structures require specific requirement to provide electricity. Alternatively, ambient electromagnetic (EM) waves in the environment can be used as a new power source due to the ubiquitous wide spread modern use of wireless communication. However, the available energy levels of ambient EM signals is low. Therefore, to harness EM signals, a highly efficient receiver is required. The use of a rectenna is a common solution to convert EM signals to electricity, however there is still need for EM energy harvesting to be significantly improved. Metamaterials are a promising solution to address this problem. Metamaterials are well-known artificial structures with exciting features such as negative permittivity, and negative permeability. Metamaterial perfect absorbers (MPAs) are able to absorb incident EM signals with near 100% efficiency. This capability makes MPAs advantageous for both sensing and EM energy harvesting. Small changes in metamaterial structures cause significant variation in absorption characteristics - a desirable feature to design highly accurate sensors. Furthermore, MPAs are able to absorb extremely low-power ambient EM waves. This thesis focuses upon the dual use of MPAs for highly efficient EM harvesting and passive sensing of phenomenon.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/164463/2/02whole.pdf
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/ppc
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	RF Self-Powered Sensor to Design Fully Autonomous IoT Devices	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

The need for continuous, accurate and autonomous sensors has increased significantly given the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Sensors collect data for a specific measurable phenomenon. Data may then be transmitted to a controller or cloud service for processing. Alternatively, data may be (pre)processed on the sensor device prior to transmission. Sensors are a necessary element of IoT devices. Sensors are designed to detect specific phenomenon and covert this into digital data that can be leveraged for analytics and machine learning to determine future actions. The energy consumed by a sensor has a direct impact upon the IoT device and its application and requirements. Depending upon the phenomenon being sensed, supporting continuous operation may be critical as discontinuities in sensing may result in the sensing of a phenomenon missing vital data points thereby limiting accuracy. Further continuous sensing increases the overall energy consumption of the IoT device, reducing overall lifetime of operation of the IoT device or the need for frequent battery replacements. Self-powered sensors provide a promising solution to produce autonomous sensors that can operate both indefinitely and free from energy source limitations. Self-powered sensors can acquire energy using varying types of ambient energy. Recently, various ambient energy sources have been used to implement self-powered sensors. However, these structures require specific requirement to provide electricity. Alternatively, ambient electromagnetic (EM) waves in the environment can be used as a new power source due to the ubiquitous wide spread modern use of wireless communication. However, the available energy levels of ambient EM signals is low. Therefore, to harness EM signals, a highly efficient receiver is required. The use of a rectenna is a common solution to convert EM signals to electricity, however there is still need for EM energy harvesting to be significantly improved. Metamaterials are a promising solution to address this problem. Metamaterials are well-known artificial structures with exciting features such as negative permittivity, and negative permeability. Metamaterial perfect absorbers (MPAs) are able to absorb incident EM signals with near 100% efficiency. This capability makes MPAs advantageous for both sensing and EM energy harvesting. Small changes in metamaterial structures cause significant variation in absorption characteristics - a desirable feature to design highly accurate sensors. Furthermore, MPAs are able to absorb extremely low-power ambient EM waves. This thesis focuses upon the dual use of MPAs for highly efficient EM harvesting and passive sensing of phenomenon.

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