WIRELESS NETWORK POWER DISTRIBUTION AND DATA AGGREGATION SYSTEM TOPOLOGY

• US 20170230916A1
• Filed: 10/01/2015
• Published: 08/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
• Inventors: STEIN, YOSEF, AN, Wei, TROGAN, Roman
• Application Number:
  US15/515,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20170230916A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/69 Spread spectrum techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/34 TPC management, i.e. sharing limited amount of power among users or channels or data types, e.g. cell loading

Abstract

A wireless network power distribution and data aggregation system, along with associated applications, is disclosed. An exemplary system for wirelessly transmitting power to radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting sensor nodes of a wireless network system includes a pyramid-structured antenna array for wirelessly powering RF energy harvesting sensor nodes within a defined coverage area of the wireless network system. The pyramid-structured antenna array generates a radiation pattern from an orthogonal spread-spectrum signal that minimizes destructive interference between adjacent antennas of the antenna array. Each antenna of the antenna array can wirelessly transmit power to a respective sector of the defined coverage are.

Claims

1. A system for wirelessly transmitting power to radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting sensor nodes of a wireless network system, the system comprising:

a pyramid-structured antenna array for wirelessly powering RF energy harvesting sensor nodes within a defined coverage area of the wireless network system, wherein the pyramid-structured antenna array is configured to generate a radiation pattern from a spread-spectrum signal that minimizes destructive interference between adjacent antennas of the antenna array, and further wherein each antenna of the antenna array is configured to wirelessly transmit power to a respective sector of the defined coverage area.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the spread-spectrum signal is an orthogonal spread-spectrum signal.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each antenna of the antenna array generates a respective radiation pattern from RF signals modulated with different orthogonal spread-spectrum sequences.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the antenna array includes four antennas, and the sector of each antenna has an angle of coverage of about 90 degrees.

5. The system of claim 1, further configured to wirelessly transmit power to the RF energy harvesting sensor nodes without using an uplink communication link from the RF energy harvesting sensor nodes to gather three-dimensional location information associated with the RF energy harvesting sensor nodes.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the pyramid-structured antenna array delivers a uniform radiation pattern, such that a same power is transmitted to a sensor node irrespective of a location of the sensor node within the defined coverage area.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the pyramid-structured antenna array includes:

a pyramid-shaped ground board formed from pyramid-shaped ground planes; and

a patch antenna mounted to each pyramid-shaped ground plane.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a phase modulator for each antenna of the antenna array, wherein each phase modulator modulates an RF signal fed to a respective antenna using a different orthogonal spread-spectrum sequence.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the antenna array is further configured to vary the radiation pattern to selectively power on/off or selectively charge at least one RF energy harvesting sensor node within the defined coverage area.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the antenna array is further configured to selectively switch each antenna in/out of the antenna array to vary the radiation pattern to achieve a defined quality of service.

11. A method for wirelessly transmitting power, the method comprising:

modulating at least two radio frequency (RF) signal components of an RF signal using orthogonal spread-spectrum sequences; and

feeding the at least two, modulated RF signal components to an antenna array for generating a radiation pattern.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising amplifying the at least two modulated, RF signal components before feeding to the antenna array.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating the radio frequency signal; and

dividing the radio frequency signal into the RF signal components.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the orthogonal spread-spectrum sequences are selected to minimize destructive interference in the radiation pattern between adjacent antennas of the antenna array.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising varying the radiation pattern to selectively power on/off or selectively charge at least one RF energy harvesting sensor node within a defined coverage area of a wireless network system

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising selectively switching each antenna in/out of the antenna array to vary the radiation pattern to achieve a defined quality of service.

17. A radio frequency (RF) charging system comprising:

an antenna array configured to generate a radiation pattern; and

a processing stage for feeding each antenna of the antenna array a different spread-spectrum signal, wherein the processing stage includes;

a phase modulator configured to modulate an RF signal component using a spread-spectrum sequence, and

an amplifier configured to amplify the modulated RF signal component.

18. The RF charging system of claim 17, wherein the spread-spectrum signal is an orthogonal spread-spectrum signal.

19. The RF charging system of claim 17, further comprising:

a RF transceiver for generating an RF input signal; and

a power splitter for dividing the RF input signal into respective RF signal components for each antenna of the antenna array.

20. The RF charging system of claim 17, wherein the antenna array is a pyramid-structured antenna array that includes:

a pyramid-shaped ground board formed from pyramid-shaped ground planes; and

a patch antenna mounted to each pyramid-shaped ground plane.