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

本研究项目的主要目标是开发能够在不需要内部能源的情况下进行数据转换、处理和无线传输/接收的自供电无线通信系统平台。在许多新兴应用中，使用存储在电池中或通过有线连接由电网提供的能量为无线通信系统供电要么是不可能的，要么是昂贵得令人望而却步，例如物联网，在这些应用中，维护和更换大量便携式节点的电池是不切实际的；在恶劣的环境传感器中，无法获得所需的电池，并且有线连接极其昂贵；以及在生物医学植入物中，更换电池通常需要手术。虽然这些低功率无线节点运行所需的能量可以从多种来源获取，但由于射频能量的可用性和可预测性，从环境电磁波中收集能量的射频(RF)能量收集是最可行的选择之一。最近有几份报告描述了通过能量收集为一系列能够传感、计算和通信的超低功率电子设备供电现在是可行的，这要归功于现代半导体技术的低功耗和能量收集系统的最新进展。然而，这些作品往往存在操作范围和功能有限以及在现实世界条件下操作不可靠的问题。为了开发可靠的自供电无线通信平台，扩大工作范围，需要进行大量的研究和开发，以提高射频能量收集器的效率，降低无线通信系统的功耗。这项研究可以将物联网(IoT)扩展到更多节点，而不是由电池或电网提供这些IoT节点运行所需的能量。如果在恶劣的环境中部署，这些设备可以降低此类环境监测的初始部署和维护成本，在艾伯塔省的石油和天然气行业、安大略省的汽车行业和魁北克的航空航天行业都有许多即将应用的应用。拟议的自供电无线通信平台的商业化将有助于加拿大的高科技公司推出新的产品线和/或为其现有产品增加额外的功能/容量，使它们在经济/技术上相对于全球竞争对手具有显着优势。预期的结果不仅是创造新的知识和技术诀窍，促进电磁能量收集和无线通信系统领域的科学和技术，同时还培训高需求的HQP，以便将来在加拿大蓬勃发展的高科技部门就业。

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.