Architecture Exploration for a High-Performance and Low-Power Wireless Vibration Analyzer

Vibration based condition monitoring is considered to be the most effective method for analyzing the performance of rotating machinery and for early fault detection. Traditional vibration analyzers used for this purpose provide wired interface(s) to connect sensors with the system that analyzes the vibration data. A wireless vibration analyzer can be useful to monitor and analyze the vibration of rotating as well as inaccessible parts of the machinery. However, for a wireless vibration analyzer, both the performance and power consumption are of major concern, especially for real-time tri-axes (horizontal, vertical, and axial) vibration data processing and analyses at a high sampling rate. To evaluate the performance of such an analyzer, we explore different architectures in order to realize a high-performance and low-power wireless vibration analyzer that can be used in addition to traditional analyzers. For this purpose, four different architectures have been implemented in order to evaluate them in terms of performance, power consumption, cost, and design complexity.