Apparatus and method for real-time sensing of properties in industrial manufacturing equipment

An apparatus for real-time sensing of properties within industrial manufacturing equipment, comprising:

• first plural sensors and second plural sensors mounted within a wafer in a processing environment of a manufacturing system, each sensor of the first plural sensors and the second plural sensors being assigned to a different region to monitor a physical or chemical property of the assigned region of the system;
• and
• a reader system having componentry configured to simultaneously and wirelessly interrogate the first plural sensors and the second plural sensors using a single high frequency interrogation sequence that includes (1) transmitting a first request pulse signal to the first plural sensors and transmitting a second request pulse to the second plural sensors, the first request pulse signal being associated with a first frequency band, the second request pulse signal being associated with a second frequency band, and (2) receiving uniquely identifiable response signals from the first plural sensors and the second plural sensors that provide real-time monitoring of variations in the physical or chemical property at each assigned region of the system,
• wherein the first plural sensors and the second plural sensors are made operable in the first frequency band and the second frequency band according to design rules that permit the simultaneous interrogation without collision between the response signals echoed from each sensor operating in the first frequency band and the second frequency band.