Ultra-Low-Power Wireless Transceivers Powered by Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting

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The main objective of this research project is to develop self-powered wireless communication system platforms capable of data conversion, processing and wireless transmission/reception of the data without requiring an internal energy source. Use of energy stored in batteries or supplied by the grid through wired connections for powering wireless communication systems is either impossible or prohibitively costly in many emerging applications such as Internet of Things where maintaining and replacing batteries for a large number of portable nodes is not practical, harsh environment sensors where the required batteries that withstand such conditions are not available and wired connections are extremely expensive, and biomedical implants where replacement of batteries often requires surgery. While energy required for the operation of these low-power wireless nodes can be harvested from a multitude of sources, radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting that scavenges energy from ambient electromagnetic waves is one of the most viable options because of the availability and predictability of RF energy. Recently there have been several reports that describe powering a range of ultra-low-power electronic devices capable of sensing, computing, and communicating by energy harvesting is now feasible, thanks to the low power consumption of modern semiconductor technologies and recent advances in energy harvesting systems. However, these works often suffer from limited operation range and functionality and unreliable operation in real-world conditions. To develop reliable self-powered wireless communication platforms with extended ranges of operation, significant research and development are needed to enhance the efficiency of radio frequency energy harvesters and lower the power consumption of wireless communication systems. This research can enable scaling of Internet of Things (IoT) to a significantly larger number of nodes than in the case if the energy required for the operation of these IoT nodes supplied by batteries or the electricity grid. If deployed in harsh environments, these devices reduce the initial deployment and maintenance cost of monitoring of such environments with many impending applications in Alberta's oil and gas industry, Ontario's automotive industry, and Quebec's aerospace industry. The commercialization of the proposed self-powered wireless communication platforms will help Canada's high-tech companies to introduce new lines of products and/or add extra feature/capacity to their current products putting them at a significant economic/technological advantage to the global competitors. The anticipated outcome is not only the creation of new knowledge and technology know-to-how that advances the science and technology in the fields of electromagnetic energy harvesting and wireless communication systems while also training highly-in-demand HQP for future employment in the thriving high-tech sector in Canada.