A Graduate Project on the Development of a Wearable Sensor Platform Powered by Harvested Energy
- Conference
- Location
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New Orleans, Louisiana
- Publication Date
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June 26, 2016
- Start Date
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June 26, 2016
- End Date
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June 29, 2016
- ISBN
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978-0-692-68565-5
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Graduate Studies
- Page Count
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31
- DOI
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10.18260/p.26327
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/26327
- Download Count
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1210
Paper Authors
Sasan Haghani University of the District of Columbia
Sasan Haghani, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of the District of Columbia. His research interests include the application of wireless sensor networks in biomedical and environmental domains and performance analysis of communication systems over fading channels.
Daniel Albano Northrop Grumman Corp.
Daniel Albano is a graduate of the University of the District of Columbia's Electrical Engineering Masters program. He currently works as a Digital Electronics Engineer at Northrop Grumman Corporation.
Wagdy H. Mahmoud University of the District of Columbia
Wagdy H. Mahmoud is an Associate Professor of electrical engineering at the Electrical Engineering Department at UDC. Mahmoud is actively involved in research in the areas of reconfigurable logic, hardware/software co-design of a system on a chip using reconfigurable logic, application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), digital logic design, image compressions, digital signal processing, computer architecture, embedded systems, system on a chip, and renewable energy.
Nian Zhang University of the District of Columbia
Research Interests: Dr. Zhang's research expertise and interests are neural networks, fuzzy logic, computational intelligence methods, and their applications on pattern recognition, signal and image processing, time series prediction, renewable energy, and autonomous robot navigation. Dr. Zhang received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the Wuhan University of Technology, M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Esther T. Ososanya University of the District of Columbia
Dr. Esther T. Ososanya is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of the District of Columbia, and the current BSEE program director. During her career, Dr. Ososanya has worked for private industry as a circuit development engineer and as a software engineer, in addition to her academic activities. She received her education in the United Kingdom, where she achieved her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bradford in 1985, and was a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. She was a Visiting Professor at Michigan Technological University for five years, and an Associate professor at Tennessee Technological University for 7 years prior to arriving at the University of the District of Columbia in the Fall of 2001. Dr. Ososanya's research interests include new applications for VLSI ASIC design, Microcomputer Architecture, Microcontrollers, Nanotechnology, and Renewable Energy Systems. In recent years, she has worked with colleagues to apply these technologies to Biomass research, Solar Cells efficiency capture research, and Renewable Energy Curriculum developments. Dr. Ososanya teaches a myriad of Electrical Engineering courses and labs, including Electric Circuits, Digital Systems courses, VLSI, VHDL, Solar Energy (PV) and Solar Thermal systems, Mechatronics, and Electrical Engineering Senior Project design courses.
Abstract
Session Topics: . Best practices in graduate engineering and technology education; Potpourri; other related Graduate Studies topics;
Wearable technology has rapidly become ubiquitous in modern society thanks to the ever-decreasing size and cost of embedded systems. The consumer market is flooded with smart watches and fitness bands, the medical industry is increasingly transitioning toward wearable and portable diagnostic equipment, and military use has skyrocketed as today’s soldiers are ever more “connected”. This increase in usage and complexity has led to power requirements which often outpace the capability of current battery technology. As a result, new approaches to supplying power for these technologies must be examined to keep up with increasing energy demands. One promising option is the field of harvested energy – energy that is able to be collected externally from solar, thermal, wind, kinetic, and other sources, and leveraged for use in a particular application.
In this paper, we report on the design of a wearable sensor platform powered by harvested energy that was conducted as part of a graduate project. Graduate projects are an excellent platform for students to learn about new technologies and develop skills that will help them with their careers. In this project, an ultra-low power sensor platform powered by harvested body heat and ambient light was developed. Solar cell and thermoelectric generator output is managed by a boost converter IC which provides stable power to the system and maintains charge on a storage capacitor. Skin temperature, accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, and barometer data are collected and periodically transmitted to a base station via the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol. Data collection, processing, and transmission is handled by the MSP-430 microcontroller running the TI-RTOS real-time operating system. Special care is taken in component selection and programming technique to minimize the power consumption of the system. Lessons learned during development, suggestions for future improvement, and potential end products leveraging the technology are discussed.
Haghani, S., & Albano, D., & Mahmoud, W. H., & Zhang, N., & Ososanya, E. T. (2016, June), A Graduate Project on the Development of a Wearable Sensor Platform Powered by Harvested Energy Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26327
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