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Low-Cost Inkjet-Printed Wireless Sensor Nodes for Environmental and Health Monitoring Applications

Increase in population and limited resources have created a growing demand for a
futuristic living environment where technology enables the efficient utilization and
management of resources in order to increase quality of life. One characteristic of such
a society, which is often referred to as a ‘Smart City’, is that the people are well
informed about their physiological being as well as the environment around them,
which makes them better equipped to handle crisis situations. There is a need,
therefore, to develop wireless sensors which can provide early warnings and feedback
during calamities such as floods, fires, and industrial leaks, and provide remote health
care facilities.
For these situations, low-cost sensor nodes with small form factors are required. For
this purpose, the use of a low-cost, mass manufacturing technique such as inkjet
printing can be beneficial due to its digitally controlled additive nature of depositing
material on a variety of substrates. Inkjet printing can permit economical use of material
on cheap flexible substrates that allows for the development of miniaturized freeform
electronics.
This thesis describes how low-cost, inkjet-printed, wireless sensors have been
developed for real-time monitoring applications. A 3D buoyant mobile wireless sensor
node has been demonstrated that can provide early warnings as well as real-time data
for flood monitoring. This disposable paper-based module can communicate while
floating in water up to a distance of 50 m, regardless of its orientation in the water.
Moreover, fully inkjet-printed sensors have been developed to monitor temperature,
humidity and gas levels for wireless environmental monitoring. The sensors are
integrated and packaged using 3D inkjet printing technology. Finally, in order to
demonstrate the benefits of such wireless sensor systems for health care applications, a
low-cost, wearable, wireless sensing system has been developed for chronic wound
monitoring. The system called ‘Smart Bandage’ can provide early warnings and long term
data for medical diagnoses. These demonstrations show that inkjet printing can
enable the development of low-cost wireless sensors that can be dispersed in the
environment or worn on the human body to enable an internet of things (IoT), which
can facilitate better and safer living.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:kaust.edu.sa/oai:repository.kaust.edu.sa:10754/621930
Date11 1900
CreatorsFarooqui, Muhammad Fahad
ContributorsShamim, Atif, Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division, Salama, Khaled N., Amassian, Aram, Tentzeris, Manos M.
Source SetsKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation

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