Switch-Beam Antenna Techniques for Bridge Structural Health Monitoring With GaAs-Based Solar Energy Harvesting

The structural health monitoring (SHM) of bridges with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is addressed by leveraging two distinct but interrelated aspects: GaAs-based solar energy harvesting and switched-beam antenna strategies in combination with asynchronous media access control (MAC) protocols. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of electrical and computer engineering 2023, Vol.46 (1), p.90-98
Main Authors: Hoque, Rashedul, Roy, Sébastien, Lavoie, Jean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access control
Antennas
Comparative studies
Directional antennas
Energy budget
Energy harvesting
Microcontrollers
Nodes
Omnidirectional antennas
Optimization
Residual energy
Sensors
Simulation models
Solar energy
Structural health monitoring
Wireless networks
Wireless sensor networks
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Summary:The structural health monitoring (SHM) of bridges with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is addressed by leveraging two distinct but interrelated aspects: GaAs-based solar energy harvesting and switched-beam antenna strategies in combination with asynchronous media access control (MAC) protocols. The joint optimization of solar energy harvesting and switched-beam directional antennas at the nodes is considered and compared with an equivalent omnidirectional antenna network. To address the limited energy budget in battery-based sensor nodes which is a serious limitation in long-lived applications such as bridge SHM, an efficient solar harvesting solution is put forth based on the good performance of GaAs cells even under low-light conditions. Given the current state of the art in GaAs cells, single-junction cells were selected due to the cost of double- or triple-junction versions. The simulation model includes the residual energy capacity with GaAs-based solar energy harvesting of actual selected components (microcontroller, radio interface chip). The model was implemented on top of the Omnet++ and Silvaco Atlas simulator. The comparative study in this article provides insights into realistic bridge SHM sensor networks, leveraging solar energy harvesting and switched-beam antennas.
ISSN:2694-1783
0840-8688
2694-1783
DOI:10.1109/ICJECE.2022.3224090