Integration and Testing of an Energy Autonomous, Low Power, Flexible Wireless Sensor Node
Ekanayake, Lakshitha Pasan Geesara (2023)
2023
Master's Programme in Electrical Engineering
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-12-31
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2023112910336
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2023112910336
Tiivistelmä
Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE) are becoming integral parts of our daily lives in this advanced society. With the rapid expansion of IoT and IoE, the number of smart devices that are connected is growing at a staggering pace. According to the regulations of the EU and other nations, the batteries of these IoE devices should also be recycled. Therefore, in the future, an increasing number of IoT and IoE devices will require alternative solutions to batteries. Energy harvesting from light and storage using supercapacitors is thought to be an excellent solution to this problem.
Lightning Sense, a research project funded by the Academy of Finland, aims to develop an "energy-autonomous wireless sensor node powered by light energy harvesting and storage" to resolve this issue. This thesis focuses mainly on the research that was conducted into the designing, fabricating, and testing of an antenna that is capable of to be utilized for the radio transmission of this specific IoT/IoE node. In addition to that, it dives into the topic of supercapacitors, among the components of the sensor node.
The research first fabricates and tests the laminated face-to-face supercapacitors in this wireless sensor node. Laminated face-to-face supercapacitors were made utilizing a graphite ink current collector, activated carbon electrodes, separator paper, and NaCl electrolyte, sealed with 3M adhesive paper. The Maccor 4300 test device was used to measure capacitance, leakage current, and equivalent series resistance (ESR), and the results were similar to those from the Lightening sense project.
The primary objective of this thesis was to design and test a printed flexible antenna that operates at 423 MHz and is compact enough to be integrated into a wireless sensor node. The antenna was developed using the " meander line" design principle and the CST Studio software for design and simulation. After extensive fine-tuning and parameter optimization, a miniature antenna design with acceptable performance at 432 MHz operation frequency was achieved. This design was fabricated using flexography and then measured. The similarity between test and simulation results confirms the functionality of this antenna design. This antenna and supercapacitor have been integrated into the final design of the sensor node.
This thesis demonstrated that it is possible to design a miniature flexible antenna with an operation frequency of 432 MHz and still achieve high performance. Finally, this Energy Autonomous, Low Power, Flexible Wireless Sensor Node can be viewed as a step toward the development of future IoT/ IoE devices that are environmentally friendly.
Lightning Sense, a research project funded by the Academy of Finland, aims to develop an "energy-autonomous wireless sensor node powered by light energy harvesting and storage" to resolve this issue. This thesis focuses mainly on the research that was conducted into the designing, fabricating, and testing of an antenna that is capable of to be utilized for the radio transmission of this specific IoT/IoE node. In addition to that, it dives into the topic of supercapacitors, among the components of the sensor node.
The research first fabricates and tests the laminated face-to-face supercapacitors in this wireless sensor node. Laminated face-to-face supercapacitors were made utilizing a graphite ink current collector, activated carbon electrodes, separator paper, and NaCl electrolyte, sealed with 3M adhesive paper. The Maccor 4300 test device was used to measure capacitance, leakage current, and equivalent series resistance (ESR), and the results were similar to those from the Lightening sense project.
The primary objective of this thesis was to design and test a printed flexible antenna that operates at 423 MHz and is compact enough to be integrated into a wireless sensor node. The antenna was developed using the " meander line" design principle and the CST Studio software for design and simulation. After extensive fine-tuning and parameter optimization, a miniature antenna design with acceptable performance at 432 MHz operation frequency was achieved. This design was fabricated using flexography and then measured. The similarity between test and simulation results confirms the functionality of this antenna design. This antenna and supercapacitor have been integrated into the final design of the sensor node.
This thesis demonstrated that it is possible to design a miniature flexible antenna with an operation frequency of 432 MHz and still achieve high performance. Finally, this Energy Autonomous, Low Power, Flexible Wireless Sensor Node can be viewed as a step toward the development of future IoT/ IoE devices that are environmentally friendly.