Flexible Wireless Antenna Sensor: A Review

Author

Haiying Huang

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. & Aerosp. Eng., Univ. of Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

Volume

13

Issue

10

fYear

2013

fDate

Oct. 2013

Firstpage

3865

Lastpage

3872

Abstract

This review paper summarizes a new flexible sensor concept based on the microstrip patch antenna technology. The principle of the patch antenna as a sensing element and the wireless interrogation of the antenna sensors are presented first, followed by the description of the antenna design and fabrication using flexible film components. The applications of the flexible antenna sensor for wireless strain sensing and crack detection are presented. The design and testing of inserting a flexible layer to improve the reliability of the flexible antenna sensor is also discussed. Because the flexible antenna sensors can be wirelessly interrogated with ultra-low power consumption and can be frequency division multiplexed, the complexity of implementing a large sensor array is greatly reduced.

Keywords

crack detection; microstrip antennas; reliability; strain measurement; strain sensors; thin film sensors; wireless sensor networks; crack detection; flexible film component; flexible layer insertion testing; flexible wireless antenna sensor array; frequency division multiplexing; microstrip patch antenna technology; ultralow power consumption; wireless interrogation; wireless strain sensor; Antennas; Backscatter; Frequency modulation; Resonant frequency; Robot sensing systems; Strain; Wireless sensor networks; Flexible sensor skin; frequency division multiplexing; patch antenna; wireless sensor;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2013.2242464

Filename

6419748