Large Area Sensor Skin based on Two-Dimensional Signal Transmission Technology

In this paper, we propose a stretchable large area sensor skin based on two-dimensional signal transmission (2DST) technology. A small tactile sensor chip with stable non-contact connectors (resonant proximity connector: RPC) to a 2DST sheet is developed. The sensor nodes communicate by microwave that propagates in a two-dimensional sheet. Sensor nodes connect to the 2DST sheet via RPCs without electrical contact anywhere on the sheet and also receive the power for operation from the microwave in the sheet. RPC is a spiral electrode whose total length is a quarter of the electromagnetic wavelength. The induced resonance around the electrode reduces the impedance between the connector and 2DST sheet, which allows sensor chips to connect to the 2DST sheet stably. Simulation results on spiral RPCs show that the concept is effective. We produce an on-off type tactile sensor element which consists of a RFID-tag and RPC, and experimentally confirm that the sensor element works in a stretchable 2DST sheet