Wireless Multiplexed SAW Sensors, Year 1

Wireless Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Sensor is a new technology for obtaining multiple, real-time measurements under extreme environmental conditions. The objective for this project is to develop a wireless multiplexed sensor system that uses SAW sensors, with no batteries or semiconductors, that are passive and rugged, can operate down to cryogenic temperatures and up to hundreds of degrees Celsius, and can be used to sense a wide variety of parameters over reasonable distances (meters). This work continues the development of a novel wireless, passive, sensing system that uses surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors. During this effort a new multiplexing concept, coherence multiplexing, was developed and an operational system was constructed and tested. A set of wireless hydrogen sensors was tested and found to work surprisingly well. In addition, magnetic field sensors, temperature sensors, and cryogenic liquid level sensors were demonstrated. Technical progress was made on sensor performance, types of sensors, but primarily on the new coherence multiplexing scheme. Algorithms were developed, new hardware configurations developed, and sensor enhancements achieved.

SAW sensors have been studied for many years, but recent work at University of Central Florida (UCF) and Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has led to multiplexing concepts that allow these sensors to be part of a wireless network. Radio frequency pulses are sent to the sensors, which produce echoes that contain both the identity of the sensor as well as the parameter being measured. These sensors are passive, rugged, small, radiation resistant, and capable of operating over a wide temperature range. To date wireless SAW sensor systems have been demonstrated that monitor temperature, magnetic fields, hydrogen, and liquid presence while work is progressing on strain and pressure sensors. Uses range from monitoring gear temperature in an operational gear box to monitoring the level of cryogenic hydrogen, from measuring strain inside of cement to monitoring the temperature on objects on the surface of the moon. The current emphasis has been on aerospace applications, but the wireless passive SAW radio frequency identification (RFID) and sensor concept will have a wide range of military, industrial and commercial applications. The devices are small, solid state, totally passive with no external power except interrogation energy, are radiation hard, and can be configured for ultra-wide band (UWB) operation.

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