Self-powered rfid sensing system for structural health monitoring

An RFID-based sensing system comprising:

• a piezoelectric arrangement adapted to be mountable and/or being mounted at least partially on a structure;
• an RFID transponder adapted to be connected and/or being connected to the piezoelectric arrangement;
• and
• an antenna adapted to be connected and/or being connected to the RFID transponder and/or being integrated into the RFID transponder;
• wherein at least one of the piezoelectric arrangement and the RFID transponder is adapted to convert kinetic energy provided by the structure into electrical energy used and/or usable for powering at least one of the RFID transponder and the antenna and to generate sensing information with respect to a state of the structure, and
• wherein the antenna is adapted to transmit the sensing information and/or information derived therefrom to an RFID reader and/or to receive an RF signal from the reader.

An RFID-based sensing and reading system comprising:

• at least one RFID-based sensing system, the at least one RFID-based sensing system including:
• a piezoelectric arrangement mountable at least partially on a structure;
• an RFID transponder connectable to the piezoelectric arrangement;
• and
• an antenna connectable to or integrated with the RFID transponder;
• at least one of the piezoelectric arrangement and the RFID transponder being adapted to convert kinetic energy provided by the structure into electrical energy used and/or usable for powering at least one of the RFID transponder and the antenna and to generate sensing information with respect to a state of the structure, and
• at least one RFID based reader comprising a further antenna and being adapted to receive sensing information and/or information derived therefrom from the at least one RFID based sensing system and/or to transmit an RF signal to the at least one RFID based sensing system.

An RFID-based transmitting and receiving method in which a piezoelectric arrangement is mounted at least partially on a structure, an RFID transponder is connected to the piezoelectric arrangement, and an antenna is connected to the RFID transponder and/or integrated into the RFID transponder, the method comprising:

• converting, via the piezoelectric arrangement and/or the RFID transponder, kinetic energy provided by the structure into electrical energy;
• using the electrical energy to power the RFID transponder and to generate sensing information with respect to a state of the structure;
• transmitting, via the antenna, the sending information and/or information derived therefrom, to an RFID reader;
• and
• receiving the transmitted information via the RFID reader.