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Antenna Sensors in Passive Wireless Sensing Systems

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Handbook of Antenna Technologies

Abstract

Antenna sensors have received considerable interests in recent years due to their passive wireless operation, simple configuration, compact size, multiplexing capability, and multimodality sensitivity. Based on the principle of antenna backscattering, an antenna sensor can be wirelessly interrogated at middle range distances without an onboard battery. Since the antenna serves the dual function of sensing and communicating, an antenna sensor can be implemented with minimum number of components. As narrowband resonators, antenna sensors can be easily multiplexed based on the principle of frequency division multiplexing. In addition, different types of antenna sensors that are sensitive to a variety of physical measurands have been demonstrated. Due to these unique features, antenna sensor technology could play a vital role in our drive toward ubiquitous sensing. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of this exciting technology with detailed descriptions on the operational principle and wireless interrogation of batteryless antenna sensors. Four application examples of using antenna sensors for moisture, dynamic strain, temperature, and crack sensing are discussed. Future research directions and open problems are suggested.

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Correspondence to Haiying Huang .

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Huang, H. (2015). Antenna Sensors in Passive Wireless Sensing Systems. In: Chen, Z. (eds) Handbook of Antenna Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-75-7_86-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-75-7_86-1

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