Open AccessRadio‐frequency energy harvesting for wearable sensors
Author(s) -
Borges Luís M.,
ChávezSantiago Raul,
Barroca Norberto,
Velez Fernando José,
Balasingham Ilangko
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
healthcare technology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.45
H-Index - 19
ISSN - 2053-3713
DOI - 10.1049/htl.2014.0096
Subject(s) - wearable computer , energy harvesting , wireless , computer science , wearable technology , context (archaeology) , radio frequency , wireless sensor network , power management , electronics , telecommunications , energy (signal processing) , electrical engineering , power (physics) , embedded system , engineering , computer network , paleontology , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , biology
The use of wearable biomedical sensors for the continuous monitoring of physiological signals will facilitate the involvement of the patients in the prevention and management of chronic diseases. The fabrication of small biomedical sensors transmitting physiological data wirelessly is possible as a result of the tremendous advances in ultra‐low power electronics and radio communications. However, the widespread adoption of these devices depends very much on their ability to operate for long periods of time without the need to frequently change, recharge or even use batteries. In this context, energy harvesting (EH) is the disruptive technology that can pave the road towards the massive utilisation of wireless wearable sensors for patient self‐monitoring and daily healthcare. Radio‐frequency (RF) transmissions from commercial telecommunication networks represent reliable ambient energy that can be harvested as they are ubiquitous in urban and suburban areas. The state‐of‐the‐art in RF EH for wearable biomedical sensors specifically targeting the global system of mobile 900/1800 cellular and 700 MHz digital terrestrial television networks as ambient RF energy sources are showcased. Furthermore, guidelines for the choice of the number of stages for the RF energy harvester are presented, depending on the requirements from the embedded system to power supply, which is useful for other researchers that work in the same area. The present authors' recent advances towards the development of an efficient RF energy harvester and storing system are presented and thoroughly discussed too.