RF Energy Harvesting Techniques for Battery-less Wireless Sensing, Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things: A Review

As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to expand, the demand for the use of energy-efficient circuits and battery-less devices has grown rapidly. Battery-less operation, zero maintenance and sustainability are the desired features of IoT devices in fifth generation (5G) networks and green Industry 4.0 wireless systems. The integration of energy harvesting systems, IoT devices and 5G networks has the potential impact to digitalize and revolutionize various industries such as Industry 4.0, agriculture, food, and healthcare, by enabling real-time data collection and analysis, mitigating maintenance costs, and improving efficiency. Energy harvesting plays a crucial role in envisioning a low-carbon Net Zero future and holds significant political importance. This survey aims at providing a comprehensive review on various energy harvesting techniques including radio frequency (RF), multi-source hybrid and energy harvesting using additive manufacturing technologies. However, special emphasis is given to RF-based energy harvesting methodologies tailored for battery-free wireless sensing, and powering autonomous low-power electronic circuits and IoT devices. The key design challenges and applications of energy harvesting techniques, as well as the future perspective of System on Chip (SoC) implementation, data digitization in Industry 4.0, next-generation IoT devices, and 5G communications are discussed

Monitoring of gas emissions at landfill sites using autonomous gas sensors

Executive Summary This report details the work carried out during the Smart Plant project (2005-AIC-MS-43-M4). As part of this research, an autonomous platform for monitoring greenhouse gases (methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2)) has been developed, prototyped and field validated. The modular design employed means that the platform can be readily adapted for a variety of applications involving these and other target gases such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3) and carbon monoxide (CO) and the authors are in the process of completing several short demonstrator projects to illustrate the potential of the platform for some of these applications. The field validation for the greenhouse gas monitoring platform was carried out at two landfill sites in Ireland. The unit was used to monitor the concentration of CO2 and CH4 gas at perimeter borehole wells. The final prototype was deployed for over 4 months and successfully extracted samples from the assigned perimeter borehole well headspace, measured them and sent the data to a database via a global system for mobile (GSM) communications. The data were represented via an updating graph in a web interface. Sampling was carried out twice per day, giving a 60-fold increase on current monitoring procedures which provide one gas concentration measurement per month. From additional work described in this report, a number of conclusions were drawn regarding lateral landfill gas migration on a landfill site and the management of this migration to the site’s perimeter. To provide frequent, reliable monitoring of landfill gas migration to perimeter borehole wells, the unit needs to: • Be fully autonomous; • Be capable of extracting a gas sample from a borehole well independently of personnel; • Be able to relay the data in near real time to a base station; and • Have sensors with a range capable of adequately monitoring gas events accurately at all times. The authors believe that a unit capable of such monitoring has been developed and validated. This unit provides a powerful tool for effective management of landfill site gases. The effectiveness of this unit has been recognised by the site management team at the long-term deployment trial site, and the data gathered have been used to improve the day-to-day operations and gas management system on-site. The authors make the following recommendations: 1. The dynamics of the landfill gas management system cannot be captured by taking measurements once per month; thus, a minimum sampling rate of once per day is advised. 2. The sampling protocol should be changed: (i) Borehole well samples should not be taken from the top of the well but should be extracted at a depth within the headspace (0.5–1.0 m). The measurement depth will be dependent on the water table and headspace depth within the borehole well. (ii) The sampling time should be increased to 3 min to obtain a steady-state measurement from the headspace and to take a representative sample; and (iii) For continuous monitoring on-site, the extracted sample should be recycled back into the borehole well. However, for compliance monitoring, the sample should not be returned to the borehole well. 3. Devices should be placed at all borehole wells so the balance on the site can be maintained through the gas management system and extraction issues can be quickly recognised and addressed before there are events of high gas migration to the perimeter. 4. A pilot study should be carried out by the EPA using 10 of these autonomous devices over three to five sites to show the need and value for this type of sampling on Irish landfill sites

UAV design for water sampling and monitoring in drinking water sources

Nowadays unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have many applications in very different fields: agriculture, photography, filming, sampling, surveillance... and technology is progressing according to the needs of the market. The use of this technology is increasing due to the ease of adding sensors and mechanical devices to collect data where any other traditional methodology would require more cost, time and waste of resources.The aim of this projectis to develop a system based on UAV technology which main task isto take samples from drinking watersources to analyse them later. Thistask isnecessary to evaluate the water quality, and doing so using UAV technology permit to obtain the results by reducing the cost and time, as well as working in places where it would be difficult to do it in the traditional way. Within in this project ithas been designed a water sampler to take samples of 500 ml volume and the hardware and software necessary to control the sampler remotely from another device, by using a microcontroller attached to the aircraft

The Human Keyboard

Most products that implement features for user interactions utilize buttons or switches for the user to command to select actions to perform. Such designs are typically controlled with direct motions, such as touch or voice and are seldom designed in consideration of those unable to utilize direct control. In this project, we designed technology that reads naturally occuring biosignals from the body, which then can be apply those signals with any interface. For our specific application in this project, we decided to implement a keyboard. Instead of teaching the fingers how to type on a mechanical keyboard, the body can designate an action with a more native motion. We aim to take ‘body language’ to the next level. By making the human body the centerpiece, and building the interconnects between people (reading and comprehending EMG signals), we strive to create a more interconnected world. Using our custom implementation of an analog to digital converter, the amplitude of EMG signals at carefully placed muscle probes are collected and translated into a digital signal. The resulting signal values are sent to a remote server where key characteristics are calculated. The backend of the system consists of a mathematical model that continuously uses these calculated characteristics to re-parameterize itself for recognition. After the signals are recognized, they are assigned an appropriate output at the user’s request. This document includes the requirements, design, use cases, risk tables, workflow and the architecture for the device we developed

An Innovative Take on Filtering Carbon Dioxide Through CryoCapture

Overview (Air Mover): Carbon dioxide plays an important role in the earth's ecosystem; the lives of many organisms are based on the balancing of this gas. Plants and animals need it for survival however, an excess of carbon dioxide can also end the organism’s life. The production of the gas mostly comes from the combustion of fossil fuel, power plants, big industries, vehicles, and processes involving natural gasses. One of the most known issues of carbon dioxide pollution is global warming. The greenhouse gas essentially traps heat in the atmosphere, increasing the global temperature. The methodology provided is an innovative solution towards the creation of an environmentally friendly carbon dioxide filter. Current air filtration systems are restricted to industrial environments limiting the ability to filter the air. Due to the large noise and low range of operation of axial fans the filtration systems need controlled environments for longevity. The paper presents a versatile air mover that can be mounted onto multiple surfaces due to its low profile and bracket mounts. Furthermore, the usage of a diagonal fan inside of a PVC pipe allows for a durable system that can operate at high efficiency and low noise. The main challenge in designing the air mover was figuring out how to quantify the scalability of the device and what parameters could be changed in order to make the device more viable. The designs most prominent feature are the inclusion of a modular enclosure that can be adapted to multiple areas and environments while withstanding harsh conditions due to the PVC piping that can be coated with a diagonal fan for high volumetric flow rates and pressure differential for versatility in environments the device is placed in as well as efficiency. Overview (Carbon Storer): The Civil and Environmental Engineering team is responsible for finding a cost effective and sustainable way to transport, store and recycle the carbon caught in the air from the Carbon Catcher designed by the other engineering teams. In the team’s design, the Carbon Catcher will reduce the harmful emissions in the air by capturing CO2, store it and then utilize it in another industry which will reduce the need to mine for more raw materials which would thus further reduce the pollution emitted into the environment. Our plan is to recycle the carbon emitted from a factory and utilize it in CO2 dry ice. It's the Civil and Environmental Engineers’ job to find a way to connect a sustainable solution with a solution that improves the public’s quality of life. There are many industries that pollute immense amounts from the mining of raw material or the emission of pollutants. The team wants to show industries that the economic solution can also be the sustainable solution. Overview (Membrane) The team’s solution focuses on the use of cryogenic carbon capture, a method in which the selective freezing points of the gaseous components of air are used to separate out carbon dioxide. For this process, the team will be utilizing a 4 step filtration process. First, the flue gas will be run through a particulate filter to catch all macroscopic particles that may be present within the air. Afterwards, the gas is then passed through a dehumidifier where a majority of water content will be extracted. Following this, The gas was then run through a long pipe and progressively cool it down to the freezing point of carbon dioxide. Finally, the filtered gas is extracted, and a bubbler is used to separate the solid carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is then compressed and recycled around the feed pipe to help in the cooling process. Along the process of this design, the team encountered problems finding the optimum materials for temperatures this low. As well, coming up with a way to eliminate heat transfer from the outside posed a huge problem. Through the experience, the team was able to gain a greater view of what benefits and drawbacks must be balanced, along with the economic interest that comes with designing an efficient process. Unlike how most designs are focused, It was understood that using a membrane only provided so much creativity when it came to filtration. As a result, the team researched other successful methods and arrived at utilizing cryogenics to filter. Goal Research to provide a single solution to remove levels of carbon dioxide in the immediate atmosphere, transport it to a storage mechanism, and find a way to recycle it. Powerful research is required to ensure effective methodologies, material usage, and flexible scalability of the overall device. This particular team seeks to find an alternative separation process to membrane filtration, the efficacy of which has not been demonstrated beyond the scale of a laboratory

Wireless Sensor System for Recycling

The motivation of this thesis was to research and design a prototype model of a wireless sensor network application, to be used as an automated detection infrastructure in recycling environment. The initial idea was to measure the level of the surface in a recycling container and transmit the information through a wireless communication system. The prototype is an initial step for recycling companies for building an automated detection network. Background of the research strongly supports the accomplished prototype. Study includes description of wireless environment with its problems and challenges. It proceeds with consideration of suitable wireless standards and considers most convenient sensor methods for recycling environment. Eventually document presents the prototype combining the studied entities. As a result, the prototype has two main operating parts: the wireless communication network and sensors. The network was realized with ZigBee standard by using two radio chips as communication nodes. Second communication node is attached to a recycling container and combined with two ultrasound sensors. This node includes a soft-ware algorithm, which is polling the state of the sensors regularly and deciding if the container is full. The node proceeds to transmission of the information to other communication node. This node is connected to computer and will transmit the information to be used by the recycling organization.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

High frequency of low noise amplifier architecture for WiMAX application: A review

The low noise amplifier (LNA) circuit is exceptionally imperative as it promotes and initializes general execution performance and quality of the mobile communication system. LNA's design in radio frequency (R.F.) circuit requires the trade-off numerous imperative features' including gain, noise figure (N.F.), bandwidth, stability, sensitivity, power consumption, and complexity. Improvements to the LNA's overall performance should be made to fulfil the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) specifications' prerequisites. The development of front-end receiver, particularly the LNA, is genuinely pivotal for long-distance communications up to 50 km for a particular system with particular requirements. The LNA architecture has recently been designed to concentrate on a single transistor, cascode, or cascade constrained in gain, bandwidth, and noise figure

FPGA implementation of bluetooth low energy physical layer with OpenCL

Aquesta dissertació presenta principalment el disseny de processament digital de senyals (DSP) entre la transmissió en Capa Física de Bluetooth de Baixa Energia (BLE PHY), i la seva implementació en dispositius Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) utilitzant Open Computing Language (OpenCL). Durant el disseny de DSP, es basa en l'arquitectura en fase / quadratura-fase (IQ) per construir els processos de modulació i demodulació del senyal mitjançant l'ús d'un esquema de modelador de senyal anomenat Gaussian Frequency-Shift Keying (GFSK), en la comunicació de curt abast que presenta un fort rendiment anti-interferència. Pel que fa a l'OpenCL, és un dels mètodes de síntesi d'alt nivell (HLS) per al disseny de FPGA. No només compta amb una alta productivitat, sinó que també pot realitzar una alta eficiència operativa per FPGA mitjançant l'ús d'arquitectura de programació paral·lela. A més, aquí invoca una plataforma remota anomenada Intel DevCloud per controlar el FPGA per verificar el programa, faria que el disseny fos més còmode i econòmic.Esta disertación presenta principalmente el diseño de Procesamiento Digital de Señales (DSP) entre la transmisión en Bluetooth Low Energy Physical Layer (BLE PHY), y su implementación en Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) con Open Computing Language (OpenCL). Durante el diseño de DSP, se basa en la arquitectura In-Phase/Quadrature-Phase (IQ) para construir los procesos de modulación y demodulación de la señal mediante la utilización de un esquema de modelador de señal llamado Gaussian Frequency-Shift Keying (GFSK), en la comunicación de corto alcance presenta un fuerte rendimiento anti-interferencia. Con respecto al OpenCL, es uno de los métodos de síntesis de alto nivel (HLS) para el diseño de FPGA. No solo presenta una alta productividad, sino que también puede lograr una alta eficiencia operativa para FPGA mediante el uso de la arquitectura de programación paralela. Además, aquí invoca una plataforma remota llamada Intel DevCloud para controlar la FPGA para verificar el programa, lo que haría que el diseño fuera más conveniente y económico.This dissertation is primarily presenting the design of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) between the transmission in Bluetooth Low Energy Physical Layer (BLE PHY), and its implementation in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device with Open Computing Language (OpenCL). During the design of DSP, it bases on the In-Phase/Quadrature-Phase (IQ) architecture to construct the modulation and demodulation processes of signal by utilizing a signal shaper scheme called Gaussian Frequency-Shift Keying (GFSK), in the short-rang communication it features strong anti-interference performance. Regarding with the OpenCL, it's one of High-Level Synthesis (HLS) methodsfor FPGAs design. It not only features high productive, but also can realize high operational efficiency for FPGA by using parallel programming architecture. Moreover, here invokes a remote platform called Intel DevCloud to control the FPGA for verifying the program, it would make the design more convenient and economic