WIRELESS TEMPERATURE SENSOR NETWORK

• US 20100231382A1
• Filed: 03/12/2009
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Champion, Shaun L., Philip, Ives H., Rosik, Nick J., Nguyen, Tho X., Stading, Mark E., Young, Richard D., Tayrani, Reza
• Granted Patent: US 8,154,402 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.270
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/024 for remote indication
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/026 arrangements for monitoring a plurality of temperatures, e.g. by multiplexing

Abstract

A wireless temperature sensor network includes a base station unit which transmits query signals cyclically addressing a plurality of temperature sensor transponder units. The transponder units are passive and derive operating power from the query signal to encode measured temperature data into a reply signal which is received by the base station. In a dual carrier embodiment, the query signal and reply signals are transmitted on separate frequencies. In a backscattering embodiment, the antennas of the transponder units can be switched between an absorption mode in which the query signal is received and a reflection mode in which the query signal is reflected back to the base station. The transponder antennas are switched in such a manner as to encode temperature data in the reflected signal to form a reply signal. The network embodiments are particularly applicable to space based platforms.

Claims

1. A wireless sensor network comprising:

a plurality of passive wireless transponder units, each transponder unit including wireless communication circuitry, said transponder units being positioned at dispersed locations;

each transponder unit including address decoder circuitry storing a unique identity code and operative to recover an address code from a received wireless query signal and to compare a recovered address code with said unique identity code;

each transponder unit including parameter sensor circuitry adapted to

measure a particular parameter and to cause said communication circuitry to wirelessly transmit a reply signal including parameter data corresponding to a measured parameter value upon reception of said query signal including an address code matching said unique identity code; and

a wireless base station positioned in spaced relation to said transponder units, periodically transmitting said query signal and cyclically addressing each of said transponder units with a corresponding address code, receiving said reply signal from each of said transponder units, and extracting said parameter data from each reply signal for storage in a data file.

2. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein each transponder unit includes:

power circuitry operative to extract operating power from said query signal and to supply said power to circuitry within said transponder unit.

3. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said parameter sensor circuitry includes a temperature sensor.

4. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said communication circuitry includes modulator circuitry communicating with said parameter sensor circuitry and employing said parameter data to modulate said reply signal.

5. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said query signal is transmitted on a first radio frequency and said replay signal is transmitted on a second radio frequency.

6. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

each of said transponder units includes an antenna which is selectively switchable between an absorption mode and a reflection mode to thereby modulate a backscattering reply signal with said digital parameter data incorporated therein from said query signal.

7. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said base station includes modulation circuitry adapted to modulate a carrier signal by on-off keying to form said query signal.

8. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said network is positioned within a space vehicle.

9. A network as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said wireless communication circuitry, said address decoder circuitry, and said parameter sensor circuitry are fabricated into a transponder integrated circuit.

10. A wireless sensor network comprising:

a plurality of passive wireless transponder units positioned at dispersed locations;

each transponder unit including wireless receiver circuitry operative to receive a wireless query signal;

each transponder unit including power circuitry operative to extract operating power from said query signal and to supply said power to circuitry within said transponder unit;

each transponder unit including address decoder circuitry storing a unique identity code and operative to recover an address code from said query signal and to compare a recovered address code with said unique identity code and upon said recovered address code matching said unique identity code generating an enable signal;

each transponder unit including parameter sensor circuitry communicating with said address decoder circuitry and operative to measure a particular parameter and to convert a measured parameter value to digital parameter data upon receiving said enable signal;

each transponder unit including modulator circuitry communicating with said parameter sensor circuitry and employing said digital parameter data to modulate a wireless reply signal; and

a wireless base station positioned in spaced relation to said transponder units and periodically transmitting said query signal and cyclically addressing each of said transponder units with a corresponding address code, receiving said reply signal from each of said transponder units, and extracting said digital parameter data from each reply signal for storage in a data file.

11. A network as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said parameter sensor circuitry includes a temperature sensor.

12. A network as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said query signal is transmitted on a first radio frequency and said reply signal is transmitted on a second radio frequency.

13. A network as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

each of said transponder units includes an antenna which is selectively switchable between an absorption mode and a reflection mode to thereby modulate a backscattering reply signal with said digital parameter data incorporated therein from said query signal.

14. A network as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said base station includes modulation circuitry adapted to modulate a carrier signal by on-off keying to form said query signal.

15. A network as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said network is positioned within a space vehicle.

16. A network as set forth in claim 10 wherein:

said receiver circuitry, said power circuitry, said address decoder circuitry, said parameter circuitry, and said modulator circuitry are fabricated into a transponder integrated circuit.

17. A wireless sensor temperature network for a space vehicle comprising:

a plurality of passive wireless transponder units positioned at dispersed locations within said space vehicle;

each transponder unit including wireless receiver circuitry operative to receive a wireless query signal;

each transponder unit including power circuitry operative to extract operating power from said query signal and to supply said power to circuitry within said transponder unit;

each transponder unit including address decoder circuitry storing a unique identity code and operative to recover an address code from said query signal and to compare a recovered address code with said unique identity code and upon said recovered address code matching said unique identity code generating an enable signal;

each transponder unit including temperature sensor circuitry communicating with said address decoder circuitry and operative to measure an ambient temperature and to convert a measured temperature value to digital temperature data upon receiving said enable signal;

each transponder unit including modulator circuitry communicating with said temperature sensor circuitry and employing said digital temperature data to modulate a wireless reply signal; and

a wireless base station positioned in spaced relation to said transponder units and periodically transmitting said query signal and cyclically addressing each of said transponder units with a corresponding address code, receiving said reply signal from each of said transponder units, and extracting said digital temperature data from each reply signal for storage in a data file.

18. A network as set forth in claim 17 wherein:

said query signal is transmitted on a first radio frequency and said reply signal is transmitted on a second radio frequency.

19. A network as set forth in claim 17 wherein:

each of said transponder units includes an antenna which is selectively switchable between an absorption mode and a reflection mode to thereby modulate a backscattering reply signal with said digital parameter data incorporated therein from said query signal.

20. A network as set forth in claim 19 wherein:

said base station includes modulation circuitry adapted to modulate a carrier signal by on-off keying to form said query signal.