The US Navy announced in December that it has selected MicroStrain, Inc to develop the next generation of self-powered wireless sensor networks.
The Navy award will fund the development of a new class of wireless sensors that eliminates the need for battery maintenance. The sensors rely, instead, on harvesting strain and vibration energies from their working environment to sense information and to wirelessly transmit that information to a central host. This breakthrough will not only reduce the cost of sensor applications by reducing costly wiring and replacement of batteries but it will also expand the types of applications where sensors can be deployed.
The award builds on development initially funded by a Vermont EPSCoR Phase 0 SBIR award and a Department of Defense Phase I SBIR grant to demonstrate prototype energy harvesting systems that employ piezoelectric materials. The new award provides over $700,000 for research and development under the Department of Defense SBIR II program and will lead to new breakthroughs in wireless sensing networks.
Phase I included improvements in efficiency of the piezoelectric energy harvesting circuit, modifications to minimize power consumption, and development of mathematical models to facilitate piezoelectric energy harvesting from a straining structure and vibratory environment. In Phase II, improvements to the piezoelectric energy harvesting wireless sensor nodes and integration with Navy infrastructure for shipboard network communications are planned. The Phase II Option will demonstrate these energy harvesting wireless sensor networks on the Navy''s machines and structures.
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These advances will allow machines and structures to be monitored without the need for a battery maintenance schedule. Truly smart structures and machines will be able to continuously report on their condition throughout their operating life.
These advances will fundamentally change the way sensors are used. "We''re very pleased that our ground-breaking developments will continue at a fast pace," said Steven Arms, MicroStrain''s president. "Eliminating the need to replace batteries in wireless sensor networks will open up new markets in autonomous health monitoring and control of machines, civil structures, medical devices, heavy equipment, trucks, and automobiles."