Switched Beam Array Antenna Optimized for Microwave Powering of 3-D Distributed Nodes in Clustered Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

The IoT applications like smart warehouse, smart industry, and smart vertical farming will require microwave power transmission (MPT) to the densely deployed low power sensor nodes in three dimensional (3-D) space. To address this issue, a switched beam array antenna is synthesized as an MPT system to power the proposed 3-D clustered wireless sensor network (WSN). The 3-D space is divided into nine clusters, each illuminated individually with RF power using a dedicated patch antenna subarray. The subarrays can be switched on or off based on the energy requirement of the WSN cluster nodes resulting in efficient power transmission. Moreover, the low complexity of switched beam design reduces the cost and processing overhead as compared to the exiting adaptive beamforming systems in a dense WSN scenario. The subarray size and excitation coefficients are optimized with a constraint over the harvested DC power (Pdc) to enhance the 3-D coverage. In addition, the optimal location of the cluster head is evaluated to minimize the average power consumption of WSN cluster. The subarrays are designed and fabricated with the evaluated excitation coefficients, and Pdc measurements are carried out validating analytical results.