Long-range Millimeter Wave Passive Tags
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “Passive RF tags”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Methods and apparatus for switching a transponder to an active state, and asset management systems employing same
A transponder that may be used as an RFID tag includes a passive circuit to eliminate the need for an "always on" active RF receiving element to anticipate a wake-up signal for the balance of the transponder electronics. This solution allows the entire active transponder to have all circuit elements in a sleep (standby) state, thus drastically extending battery life or other charge storage device life. Also, a wake-up solution that reduces total energy consumption of an active transponder system by allowing all non-addressed transponders to remain in a sleep (standby) state, thereby reducing total system or collection energy. Also, the transponder and wake-up solution are employed in an asset tracking system.
Mickle, Marlin H.↗
Methods and apparatus for switching a transponder to an active state, and asset management systems employing same
A transponder that may be used as an RFID tag includes a passive circuit to eliminate the need for an "always on" active RF receiving element to anticipate a wake-up signal for the balance of the transponder electronics. This solution allows the entire active transponder to have all circuit elements in a sleep (standby) state, thus drastically extending battery life or other charge storage device life. Also, a wake-up solution that reduces total energy consumption of an active transponder system by allowing all non-addressed transponders to remain in a sleep (standby) state, thereby reducing total system or collection energy. Also, the transponder and wake-up solution are employed in an asset tracking system.
Mickle, Marlin H.↗
Methods and apparatus for switching a transponder to an active state, and asset management systems employing same
A transponder that may be used as an RFID tag includes a passive circuit to eliminate the need for an "always on" active RF receiving element to anticipate a wake-up signal for the balance of the transponder electronics. This solution allows the entire active transponder to have all circuit elements in a sleep (standby) state, thus drastically extending battery life or other charge storage device life. Also, a wake-up solution that reduces total energy consumption of an active transponder system by allowing all non-addressed transponders to remain in a sleep (standby) state, thereby reducing total system or collection energy. Also, the transponder and wake-up solution are employed in an asset tracking system.
Mickle, Marlin H.↗
Delay Tolerant, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID )-enabled Sensing
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology offers a completely passive method to transmit fixed data sequences from an RFID tag, which typically doesn’t have its own power supply, to an interrogator. Radio frequency (RF) energy harvested from the interrogator is rectified by the tag and used to charge an integrated circuit (IC). The IC then modulates the received signal with the data stored on the tag and reflects the energy back to the interrogator. RFID has seen great proliferation in terrestrial inventory management applications, and it has recently made the jump to spaceflight applications onboard the International Space Station, augmenting an existing optical bar‐code infrastructure for tracking supplies. A number of advanced automated logistics management (ALM) concepts employing RFID are currently being developed and evaluated, including so‐called “smart” shelves, cubbies, and trash receptacles using low‐power, embeddable RFID interrogators. An infrastructure where both crew members and robotic assistants, such as autonomous free flyers, are similarly equipped with small RFID interrogators seems likely. It therefore behooves us to consider extending this infrastructure beyond ALM to applications such as low power, embedded sensing. Typically, data on an RFID tag can only be written by an RFID interrogator, using interrogator energy. In recent years, however, a few efforts have focused on using that energy to drive data acquisition from the tag IC, allowing the tag to modify its stored data sequence with sensor data before replying to an interrogator. In this way, the tag can act as a completely passive sensing device. One problem exists with this approach, however: the tag cannot gather data when an interrogator is not present. Thus, strictly passive RFID sensing tags cannot gather data at regular intervals, in the manner of a typical wireless sensor network, without careful, and impractical, planning of mobile interrogator movements. To address this shortcoming, we look to a recent advance in RFID technology which allows an external microprocessor to power the tag IC and write directly into its RFID memory using a wired serial interface. In this paradigm, data gathering is driven by a small, on‐board power supply (using batteries or harvested energy), and data transfer is provided passively through the RFID interrogation service. Since communication typically consumes the lion’s share of power in WSNs, such a technique has the potential to enable extremely long‐lived, embedded wireless sensing when used with extremely low‐current microcontrollers. Since the communication channel is only open when an interrogator is present and actively interrogating the RFID sensing tag, transport of periodically‐sampled sensor data presents itself as a delay/disruption‐tolerant networking (DTN) problem. In this paper, we present the design of a DTN‐like overlay on the common EPC Global, Class 1, Generation 2 RFID standard. This overlay allows seamless, guaranteed data transfer using the EPC Global protocol, supporting extremely low‐power, embedded sensing using an infrastructure likely to be already in place for ALM applications. We evaluate a prototype implementation of a complete end‐to‐end system using a robotic RFID interrogation agent, and we present future directions for the development of this sensing technique.
Raymond S. Wagner↗
Individually Identifiable Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors, Tags and Systems
A surface-launched acoustic wave sensor tag system for remotely sensing and/or providing identification information using sets of surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor tag devices is characterized by acoustic wave device embodiments that include coding and other diversity techniques to produce groups of sensors that interact minimally, reducing or alleviating code collision problems typical of prior art coded SAW sensors and tags, and specific device embodiments of said coded SAW sensor tags and systems. These sensor/tag devices operate in a system which consists of one or more uniquely identifiable sensor/tag devices and a wireless interrogator. The sensor device incorporates an antenna for receiving incident RF energy and re-radiating the tag identification information and the sensor measured parameter(s). Since there is no power source in or connected to the sensor, it is a passive sensor. The device is wirelessly interrogated by the interrogator.
Hines, Jacqueline H.↗
Individually identifiable surface acoustic wave sensors, tags and systems
A surface-launched acoustic wave sensor tag system for remotely sensing and/or providing identification information using sets of surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor tag devices is characterized by acoustic wave device embodiments that include coding and other diversity techniques to produce groups of sensors that interact minimally, reducing or alleviating code collision problems typical of prior art coded SAW sensors and tags, and specific device embodiments of said coded SAW sensor tags and systems. These sensor/tag devices operate in a system which consists of one or more uniquely identifiable sensor/tag devices and a wireless interrogator. The sensor device incorporates an antenna for receiving incident RF energy and re-radiating the tag identification information and the sensor measured parameter(s). Since there is no power source in or connected to the sensor, it is a passive sensor. The device is wirelessly interrogated by the interrogator.
Hines, Jacqueline H.↗
Number Codes Readable by Magnetic-Field-Response Recorders
A method of encoding and reading numbers incorporates some of the features of conventional optical bar coding and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging, but overcomes some of the disadvantages of both: (1) Unlike in conventional optical bar coding, numbers can be read without having a line of sight to a tag; and (2) the tag circuitry is simpler than the circuitry used in conventional RFID. The method is based largely on the principles described in Magnetic-Field-Response Measurement-Acquisition System (LAR-16908), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 30, No. 6 (June 2006) page 28. To recapitulate: A noncontact system includes a monitoring unit that acquires measurements from sensors at distances of the order of several meters. Each sensor is a passive radio-frequency (RF) resonant circuit in the form of one or more inductor(s) and capacitor(s). The monitoring unit a handheld unit denoted a magnetic field response recorder (MFRR) generates an RF magnetic field that excites oscillations in the resonant circuits resulting in the sensors responding with their own radiated magnetic field. The resonance frequency of each sensor is made to differ significantly from that of the other sensors to facilitate distinction among the responses of different sensors. The MFRR measures selected aspects of the sensor responses: in a typical application, the sensors are designed so that their resonance frequencies vary somewhat with the sensed physical quantities and, accordingly, the MFRR measures the resonance frequencies and variations thereof as indications of those quantities. In the present method, the resonance circuits are not used as sensors. Instead, the circuits are made to resonate at fixed frequencies that correspond to digits to be encoded. The number-encoding scheme is best explained by means of examples in which each resonant circuit consists of a spiral trace inductor electrically connected to a set of parallel-connected capacitors in the form of interdigitated electrode pairs (see figure). The inductor and capacitor(s) in each resonant circuit can be fabricated as a patterned thin metal film by means of established metal-deposition and -patterning techniques. The capacitance and, hence, the resonance frequency, depends on the number of interdigitated electrodes connected to the inductor. In a similar manner, sets of electrodes could be used.
Woodard, Stanley E.↗
Indoor Occupant Counting by RF Backscattering
Building HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) consumes approximately 13% of all energy consumption in USA. Motion detectors, cameras and user programmable thermostats have been shown to be ineffective for HVAC controls to save energy, mostly due to the user concerns of comfort, reliability and privacy. A new HVAC control system based on real-time occupant counting that is fully automated, highly accurate, economically sensible and preserving privacy and aesthetics can thus bring forth a disruptive impact to this large energy sector. Our indoor occupant monitoring technology is based on the radio-frequency identification system (RFID), deployed in the room, not on the occupants. One reader with four antennas can be deployed on the ceiling or behind the ceiling panels for every thousand square feet in home, office and assisted living, with or without room partitions. The sticker-like passive tag, 10 cents each and maintenance-free, are profusely hidden on the wall or inside the furniture at arbitrary position, preserving privacy and aesthetics. The large number of tags can realize diverse observation points to accommodate arbitrary room layouts, which is impractical by other active units of camera, infrared, radar or lidar. With 20 tags, the system can reliably detect the number of occupants. For 100 tags, occupant posture and location can be known. The technology has been verified in the research labs and test buildings with very high accuracy. When the real-time occupant number can be accurately known without assuming devices on occupants or occupant motion, the building HVAC system can be automated to achieve building energy saving without sacrificing occupant comfort. According to our limited testing in a few types of building models and the simplified cost calculation, the RFID system has low overall cost in production, deployment, operation and maintenance. The signal processing algorithm based on machine learning requires very small number of training cases as most learning is transferrable for various layouts, and very low computational needs during operation, according to our testing in four different room sizes and layouts. In our preliminary estimate from HVAC saving alone, the RFID system can potentially pay for itself within 1.5 years, in addition to the other enhancement in building automation systems (BAS). Our commercialization strategy and business pitch deck focus on venturing this Cornell occupant monitoring technology into BAS and energy management markets. We have identified three broad BAS market segments of senior living, residential buildings, and office buildings. We have put together the minimum viable product characteristics for these identified segments, including analyses on total cost and competing technologies, as well as the fit and technical gaps for these market segments. We intend to bring the technology to market by licensing or partnering with existing BAS vendors. A list of potential collaborators and licensing partner candidates was assembled for different aspects of integrating our technology into a potential product that can be used with BAS.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Hyperspectral Microwave Atmospheric Sounder (HyMas) - New Capability in the CoSMIR-CoSSIR Scanhead
Lincoln Laboratory and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have teamed to re-use an existing instrument platform, the CoSMIRCoSSIR system for atmospheric sounding, to develop a new capability in hyperspectral filtering, data collection, and display. The volume of the scanhead accomodated an intermediate frequency processor(IFP), that provides the filtering and digitization of the raw data and the interoperable remote component (IRC) adapted to CoSMIR, CoSSIR, and HyMAS that stores and archives the data with time tagged calibration and navigation data.The first element of the work is the demonstration of a hyperspectral microwave receiver subsystem that was recently shown using a comprehensive simulation study to yield performance that substantially exceeds current state-of-the-art. Hyperspectral microwave sounders with 100 channels offer temperature and humidity sounding improvements similar to those obtained when infrared sensors became hyperspectral, but with the relative insensitivity to clouds that characterizes microwave sensors. Hyperspectral microwave operation is achieved using independent RF antennareceiver arrays that sample the same areavolume of the Earths surfaceatmosphere at slightly different frequencies and therefore synthesize a set of dense, finely spaced vertical weighting functions. The second, enabling element of the proposal is the development of a compact 52-channel Intermediate Frequency processor module. A principal challenge in the development of a hyperspectral microwave system is the size of the IF filter bank required for channelization. Large bandwidths are simultaneously processed, thus complicating the use of digital back-ends with associated high complexities, costs, and power requirements. Our approach involves passive filters implemented using low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology to achieve an ultra-compact module that can be easily integrated with existing RF front-end technology. This IF processor is universally applicable to other microwave sensing missions requiring compact IF spectrometry.The data include 52 operational channels with low IF module volume (100cm3) and mass (300g) and linearity better than 0.3 over a 330K dynamic range.
sounding↗
Hyperspectral Microwave Atmospheric Sounder (HyMAS) - New Capability in the CoSMIR-CoSSIR Scanhead
Lincoln Laboratory and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have teamed to re-use an existing instrument platform, the CoSMIR/CoSSIR system for atmospheric sounding, to develop a new capability in hyperspectral filtering, data collection, and display. The volume of the scanhead accomodated an intermediate frequency processor(IFP), that provides the filtering and digitization of the raw data and the interoperable remote component (IRC) adapted to CoSMIR, CoSSIR, and HyMAS that stores and archives the data with time tagged calibration and navigation data. The first element of the work is the demonstration of a hyperspectral microwave receiver subsystem that was recently shown using a comprehensive simulation study to yield performance that substantially exceeds current state-of-the-art. Hyperspectral microwave sounders with approximately 100 channels offer temperature and humidity sounding improvements similar to those obtained when infrared sensors became hyperspectral, but with the relative insensitivity to clouds that characterizes microwave sensors. Hyperspectral microwave operation is achieved using independent RF antenna/receiver arrays that sample the same area/volume of the Earth's surface/atmosphere at slightly different frequencies and therefore synthesize a set of dense, finely spaced vertical weighting functions. The second, enabling element of the proposal is the development of a compact 52-channel Intermediate Frequency processor module. A principal challenge in the development of a hyperspectral microwave system is the size of the IF filter bank required for channelization. Large bandwidths are simultaneously processed, thus complicating the use of digital back-ends with associated high complexities, costs, and power requirements. Our approach involves passive filters implemented using low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology to achieve an ultra-compact module that can be easily integrated with existing radio frequency front-end technology. This IF processor is universally applicable to other microwave sensing missions requiring compact IF spectrometry. The data include 52 operational channels with low IF module volume (less than 100 cubic centimeters) and mass (less than 300 grams) and linearity better than 0.3 percent over a 330,000 dynamic range.
multispectral↗