Overview
HiTEAS aimed at developing a High Temperature Energy Autonomous System. The objectives of the project were to study, design and test an embedded system aiming at measuring strain or pressure, storing data in an embedded memory, communicating with RFID protocol when the aircraft is on ground and operating in a large temperature range (from -30°C up to 250°C) within a few tens of centimetre cube limited volume.
The project especially focused on:
- ASIC design, in SOI technology, including pressure, strain sensor interface and power management;
- Energy harvester development;
- Antenna design.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
HiTEAS project has demonstrated it is possible to wirelessly acquire data from an autonomous sensor node withstanding aeronautics temperature and vibrations constraints.
The core of the demonstrator developed in HiTEAS is a Wireless Sensor Node (WSN) compatible with aeronautic environment and wirelessly interrogated by an ISO18000-63 RFID reader. The WSN can be powered either from the RFID Electro-Magnetic field or alternatively, from a wind micro-turbine also developed in the frame of HiTEAS. The sensor node is connected to a standard aeronautic-grade sensing element. A dedicated high temperature Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) insures power conversion, RFID communication and sensor interfacing.
The WSN has been validated and characterised in high temperature environment (180°C and up to 250°C for the wind micro-turbine).
The RFID reader is connected to a dedicated RFID antenna with a 20m cable. Distance between WSN and reader antenna can be up to 2m for communication purpose, and 30cm in case the WSN is RFID remote powered.