CAREER: Integrated Research and Education in Self-powered Micro-sensing for Embedded and Implantable Structural Health Monitoring

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award is investigating novel battery-less, self-powered micro-sensors that can operate at fundamental limits of energy harvesting (picowatt-nanowatt power consumption) and hence can be used for long-term monitoring of fatigue in civil, mechanical and biomechanical structures. A novel piezoelectricity driven ionized-impact hot electron injection(p-IHEI) principle which exploits the computational primitives inherent in the interface physics between piezoelectric transducers and floating-gate transistors. The p-IHEI principle is being used for self-powered computation of mechanical usage statistics (strain, strain-rate, acceleration, dwell-time and spectral statistics) which are useful to prognosticate fatigue. Also a novel piezoelectricity driven harmonic radar where the piezoelectric element scavenges ambient mechanical noise to amplify and reflect harmonics of any impinging radio-frequency signals. This principle bypasses many of the signal processing steps in a conventional radio-frequency identification technique and has the potential for interrogation distances beyond 100m. Battery-less micro-sensors will be developed which could become an integral part of the next generation of "smart" structures that can self-diagnose damage and fatigue before the occurrence of any catastrophic failure. The outreach component of this project is focused on developing an electrical-civil-engineering forum in the area of electronic sensing systems for structural health monitoring. This forum is being used to train graduate and undergraduate students and students belonging to under-represented communities.