LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N141-029

Description

Condition-based monitoring has the potential to significantly reduce operating costs for the U.S. Navy through enhanced maintenance scheduling and reduction in unnecessary inspections / overhauls. Embedded sensors provide monitoring capabilities for data acquisition, analysis and transmission when sufficient power is available through hardwired power, battery, or energy harvesting strategies. There has been a recent surge in research for sensor nodes powered by energy harvesters, however most applications are limited to low-frequency, low-bandwidth applications. There is significant interest in developing new sensing concepts that provide continuous monitoring of high-frequency transient events associated with pump cavitation and bearing impacts within the U.S. Navy. Luna proposes to develop a new paradigm in how embedded sensors are designed and deployed with energy harvesting / management as a central design component. The proposed approach re-evaluates how sensor nodes are developed identifying functionalities that require (1) direct power from the harvester, or (2) accumulated power for high energy tasks, and uses the data itself to drive which components are activated from a multi-tiered energy source that is powered by a multi-source energy harvesting subsystem. This comprehensive design approach will target monitoring rates in the tens to hundreds of kilohertz while operating on energy harvested power budgets.