access icon openaccess Radio-frequency energy harvesting for wearable sensors

The use of wearable biomedical sensors for the continuous monitoring of physiological signals will facilitate the involvement of the patients in the prevention and management of chronic diseases. The fabrication of small biomedical sensors transmitting physiological data wirelessly is possible as a result of the tremendous advances in ultra-low power electronics and radio communications. However, the widespread adoption of these devices depends very much on their ability to operate for long periods of time without the need to frequently change, recharge or even use batteries. In this context, energy harvesting (EH) is the disruptive technology that can pave the road towards the massive utilisation of wireless wearable sensors for patient self-monitoring and daily healthcare. Radio-frequency (RF) transmissions from commercial telecommunication networks represent reliable ambient energy that can be harvested as they are ubiquitous in urban and suburban areas. The state-of-the-art in RF EH for wearable biomedical sensors specifically targeting the global system of mobile 900/1800 cellular and 700 MHz digital terrestrial television networks as ambient RF energy sources are showcased. Furthermore, guidelines for the choice of the number of stages for the RF energy harvester are presented, depending on the requirements from the embedded system to power supply, which is useful for other researchers that work in the same area. The present authors' recent advances towards the development of an efficient RF energy harvester and storing system are presented and thoroughly discussed too.

Inspec keywords: medical signal processing; embedded systems; patient monitoring; diseases; energy harvesting; biomedical telemetry; health care; digital television; body sensor networks; biomedical equipment

Other keywords: wireless wearable sensors; reliable ambient energy; radiofrequency energy harvesting; patient self-monitoring; daily healthcare; physiological signals; frequency 700 MHz; embedded system; suburban areas; digital terrestrial television networks; wirelessly physiological data transmission; continuous monitoring; RF energy harvester; chronic disease prevention; chronic disease management; commercial telecommunication networks; wearable biomedical sensors; disruptive technology; ambient RF energy sources; mobile 900/1800 cellular; power supply

Subjects: Sensing devices and transducers; Microwaves and other electromagnetic waves (biomedical imaging/measurement); Microwaves and other electromagnetic waves (medical uses); Biology and medical computing; Patient diagnostic methods and instrumentation; Signal processing and detection; Telemetry; Sensing and detecting devices; Biomedical communication; Energy harvesting; Wireless sensor networks; Digital signal processing; Energy harvesting

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