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Adaptive system for efficient transmission of power and data through acoustic media

  • US 9,054,826 B2
  • Filed: 03/28/2012
  • Issued: 06/09/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2011
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for transmitting data and power through a barrier using ultrasonic waves, the barrier having a delay spread that is a function of acoustic properties of the barrier, an inverse of the delay spread being a coherence bandwidth of the barrier, the apparatus comprising:

  • at least two ultrasonic channels through the barrier, each channel comprising at least one ultrasonic transducer acoustically coupled to the barrier on each of a transmission side of the barrier and a receiving side of the barrier;

    a power transmitter for sending a power signal at a power delivery frequency (fpower) over one of the channels via one of the ultrasonic transducers on the transmission side of the barrier, there being a plurality of power harmonic frequencies that are each at an integer multiple of the power delivery frequency;

    a forward data transmitter for sending a forward transmitted data signal over one of the channels via one of the ultrasonic transducers on the transmission side of the barrier;

    a forward data receiver for receiving the forward transmission data signal over the one channel and at one of the ultrasonic transducers on the receiving side of the barrier, the data receiver including a demodulator for recreating the forward transmitted data signal on the receiving side of the barrier;

    a power receiver for receiving the power signal over the one channel and at one of the ultrasonic transducers on the receiving side of the barrier, the power receiver including a power converter for harvesting power at the receiving side of the barrier;

    a reverse data transmitter having an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulator for receiving the demodulated forward transmitted data signal and a reverse transmitted data signal, the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulator creating and sending a reverse data signal over one of the channels and via one of the ultrasonic transducers on the receiving side of the barrier;

    the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulator sending the reverse data signal as a signal that is made up of a multiplicity of sub-carriers at a multiplicity of different sub-carrier frequencies (fsubcarrier) that are each spaced from each other by a subcarrier frequency spacing (fsubcarrier spacing), each sub-carrier having a bandwidth that is smaller than the coherence bandwidth of the channel;

    the power delivery frequency (fpower) being selected to be an integer multiple (N) of the frequency spacing (fsubcarrier spacing) and at least some of the sub-carrier frequencies (fsubcarrier) being selected to be an integer multiple (M) of the power delivery frequency (fpower),the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulator using none of the at least some sub-carrier frequencies that are integer multiples of the power delivery frequency; and

    a reverse data receiver for receiving the reverse data signal, the reverse data receiver including a demultiplexer and a demodulator for recreating the reverse data signal on the transmission side of the barrier.

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