Ultralow Power Wireless Ultrasonic Sensor Tag With ID

In this article, we present a new concept for wireless identification and sensing. Programmable acoustic identification (PAID) uses efficient piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs) for communicating ID and sensor data. PAID tags have an integrated microcontroller and electronic sensor system, allowing dynamic alteration of tag ID and sensor data. This approach differs from existing acoustic identification (AID) systems because the system is both programmable and has low power consumption, operating in air instead of water. The system’s ID may be altered dynamically and it may interface with electronic sensors. Using the system’s microcontroller, it may perform computational tasks and enable the creation of smart PAID tags. A temperature sensor tag and magnetic Hall effect sensor tag were demonstrated as example applications of this new low-power communication method. Current consumption during both interrogation and standby was measured, and energy consumption was calculated. Both the sensor tags were powered by a CR2032 coin cell battery, with a calculated run time of 136 days if interrogated once per hour.