Acoustic wave sensor and interrogation of the same

A system for sensing a measurand, comprising:

• an acoustic wave sensor;
• and
• an interrogator comprising a processing means, a transmission antenna and a reception antenna and configured for transmitting an interrogation radiofrequency signal to the acoustic wave sensor by means of the transmission antenna and for receiving a response radiofrequency signal from the acoustic wave sensor by means of the reception antenna;
• wherein the processing means of the interrogator is configured for processing the received response radiofrequency signal to obtain in-phase and quadrature components both in a time domain and a frequency domain;
• detecting perturbations of the obtained in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain;
• determining a value of a measurand based on the detected perturbations;
• and
• wherein the processing means is configured for determining the value of the measurand in the time domain if the perturbations in the frequency domain exceed a first predetermined threshold, and for determining the value of the measurand in the frequency domain if the detected perturbations in the time domain exceed a second predetermined threshold.

A method of interrogating an acoustic wave sensor, comprising:

• transmitting, by an interrogator, an interrogation radiofrequency signal to the acoustic wave sensor by way of a transmission antenna;
• receiving, by the interrogator, a response radiofrequency signal from the acoustic wave sensor by way of a reception antenna;
• and
• processing by a processing means of the interrogator the received response radiofrequency signal to obtain in-phase and quadrature components both in a time domain and a frequency domain;
• detecting by the processing means perturbations of the obtained in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain;
• and
• determining by the processing means a value of a measurand based on the detected perturbations;
• and
• wherein the value of the measurand is determined in the time domain if the perturbations in the frequency domain exceed a first predetermined threshold, and the value of the measurand is determined in the frequency domain if the perturbations in the time domain exceed a second predetermined threshold;
• and
• wherein, if neither the perturbations in the time domain exceed the second predetermined threshold nor the perturbations in the frequency domain exceed the first predetermined threshold, a translational and/or a rotational motion of the acoustic wave sensor with respect to the interrogator is determined based on the obtained in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain.

A system for sensing a measurand, comprising:

• an acoustic wave sensor;
• and
• an interrogator comprising a processing means, a transmission antenna and a reception antenna and configured for transmitting an interrogation radiofrequency signal to the acoustic wave sensor by means of the transmission antenna and for receiving a response radiofrequency signal from the acoustic wave sensor by means of the reception antenna;
• wherein the processing means of the interrogator is configured for processing the received response radiofrequency signal to obtain in-phase and quadrature components both in a time domain and a frequency domain;
• detecting perturbations of the obtained in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain;
• and
• determining a value of a measurand based on the detected perturbations;
• and
• wherein the processing means is configured for determining the value of the measurand in the time domain if the perturbations in the frequency domain exceed a first predetermined threshold, and for determining the value of the measurand in the frequency domain if the detected perturbations in the time domain exceed a second predetermined threshold;
• and
• wherein the processing means is configured for determining a translational and/or a rotational motion of the acoustic wave sensor with respect to the interrogator based on the obtained in-phase and quadrature components both in the time domain and the frequency domain, if neither the perturbations in the time domain exceed the second predetermined threshold nor the perturbations in the frequency domain exceed the first predetermined threshold.