The field of power harvesting has experienced significant growth over the past few years due to the ever-increasing desire to produce portable and wireless electronics with extended lifespans. Current portable and wireless devices must be designed to include electrochemical batteries as the power source. The use of batteries can be troublesome due to their limited lifespan, thus necessitating their periodic replacement. In the case of wireless sensors that are to be placed in remote locations, the sensor must be easily accessible or of a disposable nature to allow the device to function over extended periods of time. Energy scavenging devices are designed to capture the ambient energy surrounding the electronics and convert it into usable electrical energy. The concept of power harvesting works towards developing self-powered devices that do not require replaceable power supplies. A number of sources of harvestable ambient energy exist, including waste heat, vibration, electromagnetic waves, wind, flowing water, and solar energy. While each of these sources of energy can be effectively used to power remote sensors, the structural and biological communities have placed an emphasis on scavenging vibrational energy with piezoelectric materials. This article will review recent literature in the field of power harvesting and present the current state of power harvesting in its drive to create completely self-powered devices.

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A review of power harvesting using piezoelectric materials (2003–2006)

In this paper we discuss a selection of promising and interesting research areas in the design of protocols and systems for wireless industrial communications. We have selected topics that have either emerged as hot topics in the industrial communications community in the last few years (like wireless sensor networks), or which could be worthwhile research topics in the next few years (for example cooperative diversity techniques for error control, cognitive radio/opportunistic spectrum access for mitigation of external interferences).

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Recent and Emerging Topics in Wireless Industrial Communications: A Selection

Mobile communications have been undergoing a generational change every ten years or so. However, the time difference between the so-called “G’s” is also decreasing. While fifth-generation (5G) systems are becoming a commercial reality, there is already significant interest in systems beyond 5G, which we refer to as the sixth generation (6G) of wireless systems. In contrast to the already published papers on the topic, we take a top-down approach to 6G. More precisely, we present a holistic discussion of 6G systems beginning with lifestyle and societal changes driving the need for next-generation networks. This is followed by a discussion into the technical requirements needed to enable 6G applications, based on which we dissect key challenges and possibilities for practically realizable system solutions across all layers of the Open Systems Interconnection stack (i.e., from applications to the physical layer). Since many of the 6G applications will need access to an order-of-magnitude more spectrum, utilization of frequencies between 100 GHz and 1 THz becomes of paramount importance. As such, the 6G ecosystem will feature a diverse range of frequency bands, ranging from below 6 GHz up to 1 THz. We comprehensively characterize the limitations that must be overcome to realize working systems in these bands and provide a unique perspective on the physical and higher layer challenges relating to the design of next-generation core networks, new modulation and coding methods, novel multiple-access techniques, antenna arrays, wave propagation, radio frequency transceiver design, and real-time signal processing. We rigorously discuss the fundamental changes required in the core networks of the future, such as the redesign or significant reduction of the transport architecture that serves as a major source of latency for time-sensitive applications. This is in sharp contrast to the present hierarchical network architectures that are not suitable to realize many of the anticipated 6G services. While evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of key candidate 6G technologies, we differentiate what may be practically achievable over the next decade, relative to what is possible in theory. Keeping this in mind, we present concrete research challenges for each of the discussed system aspects, providing inspiration for what follows.

6G Wireless Systems: Vision, Requirements, Challenges, Insights, and Opportunities

A review of vibration-based MEMS piezoelectric energy harvesters

A MIMO radio transceiver to support processing of multiple signals for simultaneous transmission via corresponding ones of a plurality of antennas and to support receive processing of multiple signals detected by corresponding ones of the plurality of antennas. The radio transceiver provides, on a single semiconductor integrated circuit, a receiver circuit or path for each of a plurality of antennas and a transmit circuit or path for each of the plurality of antennas. Each receiver circuit downconverts the RF signal detected by its associated antenna to a baseband signal. Similarly, each transmit path upconverts a baseband signal to be transmitted by an assigned antenna.

Multiple-input multiple-output radio transceiver

A method and system for monitoring and controlling a power distribution system is provided. The system includes a plurality of circuit breakers and a plurality of node electronic units. Each node electronic unit is mounted remotely from an associated circuit breaker that is electrically coupled with one of the node electronic units. The system also includes a first digital network, and a first central control unit. The first central control unit and the plurality of node electronic units are communicatively coupled to the first digital network. The method includes receiving digital signals from each node electronic unit at the central control unit, determining an operational state of the power distribution system from the digital signal, and transmitting digital signals to the plurality of node electronic units such that the circuit breakers are operable from the first central control unit.

Integrated protection, monitoring, and control system

This invention provides, inter alia, communication devices for contactless underwater data transmission and reception. In one embodiment the present invention provides a transmitting device comprising (a) a water-tight housing; (b) a radiative element disposed outside of the housing, said radiative element comprising at least two antennae, wherein the radiative element is configured to propagate an electric field signal through water; and (c) a communications section disposed within the housing, said communications section being coupled to said radiative element, said communications section comprising at least one transmitter, wherein the communications section is configured to transmit digitally modulated data as an electric field signal propagated by the radiative element. Also provided are similarly constituted receiving devices, transceiving devices, systems containing such devices and methods of using such devices and systems.

Contactless underwater communication device

Wireless mesh sensor networks are being deployed today in various monitoring and control applications. Some radio network designs, such as ZigBee, presume that radio connectivity is reasonably consistent over time. Others take the opposite approach of presuming that links are entirely unreliable, and build large degrees of physical redundancy into the network in the hope that a collection of redundant but unreliable individual links will result in a reliable overall system. Surprisingly little work has been done in the middle ground, endeavoring to understand the root cause of link failure in real-world factory environments and applying this knowledge in the design of protocols that adoptively detect and use workable radio channels. In collaboration under a Department of Energy grant for the Industries of the Future, General Electric and Sensicast Systems have studied theoretical and actual performance of 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 radio transceivers on the lab bench and on the factory floor, with particular attention to jamming from 802.11 and multipath fading. Temporal and frequency variations in link quality are explored. The implications for network reliability and protocol design are discussed

Radio Channel Quality in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

Semiconducting metal oxides are widely used for gas sensors. The resulting chemiresistor devices, however, suffer from non-linear responses, signal fluctuations and gas cross-sensitivities, which limits their use in demanding applications of air-quality monitoring. Here, we show that conventional semiconducting metal oxide materials can provide high-performance sensors using an impedance measurement technique. Our approach is based on dielectric excitation measurements and yields sensors with a linear gas response (R2 > 0.99), broad dynamic range of gas detection (six decades of concentrations) and high baseline stability, as well as reduced humidity and ambient-temperature effects. We validated the technique using a range of commercial sensing elements and a range of gases in both laboratory and field conditions. Our approach can be applied to both n- and p-type semiconducting metal oxide materials, and we show that it can be used in wireless sensor networks, and drone-based and wearable environmental and industrial gas monitoring. Semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors with a linear response, broad dynamic range and high baseline stability can be created with the help of a dielectric excitation technique.

Extraordinary performance of semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors using dielectric excitation

A method is provided for communicating among a plurality of programmable logic controllers (PLC's) coupled together on a common bus. A master PLC and a plurality of slave PLC's are coupled to the bus. An attach signal is transmitted by the master PLC to address and select the particular slave PLC to which the master PLC desires to transmit a message. The master PLC then transmits a mailbox signal including data and message length information regarding a next message if not all data from the master PLC and intended for the slave PLC could fit in the mailbox message. Additional next messages, each including data and next message length information, are sent by the master PLC to the selected slave PLC as necessary until all of the data intended for the selected slave PLC is transmitted by the master PLC. This communication method permits the data in the mailbox message and the data in any next messages to be transferred directly from the bus to a memory within the slave PLC via a direct memory access (DMA) controller in the slave PLC without the intervention of a CPU in the slave PLC. Since non-selected slave PLC's receive next message length information, such non-selected slave PLC's are substantially free to perform other activities for those periods of time they know will be consumed by next messages.

Daniel White Sexton

Papers

Integrated protection, monitoring, and control system

Contactless underwater communication device

Radio Channel Quality in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

Extraordinary performance of semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors using dielectric excitation

Method for communicating among a plurality of programmable logic controllers each having a dma controller