A Passive and Wireless Sensor Based on RFID Antenna for Detecting Mechanical Deformation

Abstract

Sensors are key components in structural health monitoring. Although significant improvements have been made on monitoring technologies by using many advanced smart sensors, the need of cables and power supplies still causes much inconvenience in the practical implementation of these technologies. In this paper, we propose a novel rectangular patch antenna to monitor the structural health in a wireless and passive manner so that the drawback of traditional monitoring methods can be fully overcome. The antenna is used as a sensor and its resonant frequency will change linearly in terms of its size changes in both horizontal and vertical directions. The antenna will transmit an electromagnetic wave with the resonant frequency information to a reader by a long distance and activate the chip in the reader. According to the received information about the resonant frequency, the change of the targeted structure's strain can be measured in real time and its health state can then be evaluated. Simulations and experiments show that the designed antenna is an excellent strain sensor and can be applied to the health detection for many types of structure.

Keywords

• Sensor
• RFID
• antenna
• mechanical deformation
• structural health monitoring