LowPowerCircuitsandEnergyHarvestingfor

StructuralHealthMonitoringofBridges
R.RAM PRAKASH (EEE)

A.CYRIL SUSAI (EEE)

ST.JOSEPHS COLLEGE OF ENGG AND TECH

ST.JOSEPHS COLLEGE OF ENGG AND TECH

AbstractInthispaper,wepresentaselfpoweredwireless
sensor system for structural health monitoring of highway
bridges.Thesystemconsistsofanenergyharvestingmaterial,
power conditioning circuitry, a sensor, an analogtodigital
converter, and a wireless transmitter. The energy harvesting
material is a recently discovered NiMnCoIn magnetic shape
memory alloy (MSMA), which converts mechanical vibrations
firstintoamagnetizationchangeandthen,withassistancefrom
apickupcoil,intoanalternatingcurrent(ac)output. Theac
outputoftheMSMAisconvertedtoadirectcurrent(dc)voltage
forpoweringasensorandcircuitry.Measurementresultsfroma
selfpowered rectifier (SPR) and a sixbit successive
approximation register analogtodigital converter (SAR ADC)
arepresented,andimplementationconsiderationsarepresented
forthesensorandwirelesstransmitter. TheSPRproducesdc
outputvoltageslargerthan700mVforloadslargerthan100k _
withpeakinputamplitudes > 400mVpk.Afourstagerectifier
multiplierisalsoimplementedutilizingtheproposedSPRasthe
firststage.TheimplementedSARADCisfunctionalwitha0.9V
dcsupplyvoltage(Vdd)andachievesanimprovedperformance
witha Vdd of1.8V,wheretheSARADCachievesameasured
integralnonlinearityanddifferentialnonlinearityof +1.2/ 1.9
leastsignificantbitand +1.3/0.99LSB,respectively.TheSPR
and SAR ADC are fabricated in a standard 0.5m CMOS
process.Theproposedsensorsystemcanbefullyoptimizeddue
tocodesigncapabilities.Thelackofbatteriesmakesthissystem
idealfordeploymentinbridgemonitoringsystems.

deemedasstructurallydeficient[1].Itisestimatedthatitwill
costmorethan$9billiondollarsandtakemorethan20years
to repair these bridges. These deficiencies pose a threat to
individuals who use bridges for their daily commute. For
example, in late 2007, a portion of I35 in Minnesota
collapsedkilling13peopleandinjuring145.Accordingtothe
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the collapse
wasmainlyattributedtoastructural flawandalargerload
thaninitiallycalledforinthedesign[2].

Index Terms Analogtodigital converter (ADC), energy

harvesting, magnetic shape memory alloy, power scavenging,
rectifier,structuralhealthmonitoring.

I.INTRODUCTION

INTHEU.S.alonetherearemorethan55,000interstatebridgesinuse
todayofwhichapproximately25%are
Manuscript received June 1, 2011; revised January 21, 2012; accepted
October15,2012.DateofpublicationNovember12,2012;dateofcurrent
versionJanuary14,2013.TheworkofI.Karamanwassupportedinpartby
theNationalScienceFoundation,DivisionofMaterialsResearch,Metalsand
MetallicNanostructuresProgram,underGrant0909170,theNationalScience
FoundationInternationalMaterialsInstituteProgramunderGrantDMR08
044082, the Office of Specific Programs, Division of Materials Research,
Arlington,VA,andtheU.S.CivilianResearchandDevelopmentFoundation,
underGrantRUE12940T009.Theassociateeditorcoordinatingthereview
ofthispaperandapprovingitforpublicationwasProf.ElliottR.Brown.
J.L.WardlawwaswithTexasA&MUniversity,CollegeStation,TX77843
USA.HeisnowwithCirrusLogic,Inc.,Austin,TX78701USA.
I. Karaman iswiththe Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M
University,CollegeStation,TX77843USA(email:ikaraman@tamu.edu).

A. I. Karslayan is with the Department of Electrical and Computer

Engineering,TexasA&MUniversity,CollegeStation,TX77843USA(e
mail:karsilay@ece.tamu.edu).
Color versionsofoneormoreofthefiguresinthispaperareavailable
onlineathttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
DigitalObjectIdentifier10.1109/JSEN.2012.2226712

Forover30yearsagrowingtrendinacademicandindustrial
research has been to develop systems and methodologies, i.e.,
structuralhealthmonitoring(SHM),todetectandmitigateissues
in civil infrastructures to avoid incidents such as the I35
collapse. Methods for SHM fall into two categories: 1)
DestructiveEvaluation(DE)and2)NondestructiveEvaluation
(NDE)[3].IdeallyNDEisthedesiredsystemsinceitdoesnot
requirepartial destructionofthe structure,howeverthisisnot
completely possible since technology has not advanced far
enoughtofindanNDEmethodabletodetectallstructuralflaws.
SomeoftheparameterswhichareevaluatedinNDEarestrainor
stress at different points on, or within, the structure,
frequency/modes of vibration, and impedance changes of the
materialorstructure[3].

AlthoughtherearesomeNDEsystemsinplace,theyare
usuallyinefficientorunabletoperformallrequiredtasksfor
proper structural evaluation. The main method of NDE is
visual inspection [4],[5]. However, bythe time cracks are
optically visible in the structure most of the damage has
alreadyoccurredanditmaybetoolate.Instead,utilizinga
systemdesignedtomeasuretheelectricalimpedancechanges
oftheconcretesectioncouldbeemployed[6].In[7],acoil
was placed inside a section of concrete and Eddy currents
were detectedbefore andafter damagingthestructure. The
impedance ofthecoil/concrete segment wasthenmeasured
and it was shown that it changes notably when a damage
occursnearthemeasurementlocation.Itwasalsofoundthat
theimpedancedifferenceisgreaterasthecoilisclosertothe
damage, thus allowing the identification of the damaged
location.Thereareothertechniquesofimpedancebasedmea
surementswhere different sensingmaterialssuchasoptical
fibersandcapacitiveplatesthatareembeddedwithinthecon
crete[8][10].In[11]accelerometersareutilizedtoanalyze
thedifferentvibrationmodesofabridgeatdifferentlocations
todeterminetheoptimumplacementofthesensors.Oncethe
dataiscollecteditisthentransmittedtoacentralprocessing
unit(CPU).In[12][17], theauthorsshowhowthebridge
vibrateswhenavehiclepassesoverabridgeorroadwayat

1530437X/$31.002012IEEE

afrequencyrelatedtothespeedofthepassingvehicle,the
relativeratioofthemassesofthevehicleandthebridgespan,
aswellasthelengthofthebridgesection.Thisinformationis
thenusedtoperformdifferentcharacterizationsonthebridges
to detect damages based on the original vibration tests. In
[14], the bridge natural frequency changes when there is a
damagedsectionofthebridge.Therefore,itcanbeconcluded
thatproperdetectionofthenaturalfrequencycanallowfor
determinationofthehealthofthebridge.
ThemainissuewithmostNDEmethodsistheneedtopower
thecircuitryusedtocharacterizethestructure.Oftentimesitmay
bedifficultandcostlytoruncablestoalllocationswhichmustbe
monitored.Additionally,thecostofmaintainingandreplacing
batteries can become expensive for a large bridge with many
sensors.Instead,energyharvestingcouldbeemployedtoharvest
ambientenergyfromtheenvironmentinwhichthesystemsare
deployed.Effortshavebeenmadetoscavengeenergyfromthe
bridgevibrationtopowersensorsystems[18]sinceallstructures
vibrateandarenotalwayslocatednearlargesourcesofsunlight
or wind. In this paper we present an energy harvesting
methodologybasedonamagneticshapememoryalloy(MSMA)
power harvester. Additionally, a lowpower wireless sensor
systemisdesignedwhichisintendedtobedeployedasanNDE
SHMtechniqueforhighwaybridgesbutcouldbeimplementedin
other civil structures and transportation systems. Key circuit
building blocks of the proposed sensor system are discussed.
Finally,energyharvestingmeasurementresultsonasampleof
NiMnCoIn MSMA sample are presented along with the
measurement results for a selfpowered rectifier (SPR) which
convertsthealternatingoutputfromtheMSMAsampleintoa
usable dc signal. Additionally, a new lowpower successive
approximationregisteranalogtodigitalconverter(SARADC)is
designedandfabricated,andthemeasurementresultsareshown.

II.PREVIOUSSELFPOWEREDSHMSENSORS
Inrecentyearstherehasbeenagreatemphasisplacedon
environmental/public safety as well as renewable and
sustainableenergy.Acombinationofbothissueshasledto
increasedresearchinsensorsystemsandnetworksthatrequire
minimal stored electrical energy and use of batteries. This
means that the sensors and their supporting circuitry either
extract energy from an electrical power source in order to
transmitthedesiredinformation[19]orfindawaytogenerate
electricalenergyfromamechanicalexcitation[18].
Theauthorsin[18]developedanenergyharvester,convert
ingmechanicalenergyintoelectricalenergyviaamassona
springsysteminthepresenceofapickupcoiltosensethe
magnetization change upon the motion of the mass. The
authorswere abletoextract alarge amount ofpower, >12
mW, at the expense of using a fairly large pickup coil,
>10,000turns.Intheirwork,severalsensorswereplacedona
bridgeandtemperatureinformationwascollected.Themain
focusoftheirworkwasondevelopinganenergyharvester
and used commercially available sensor circuitry for
transmissionanddatacollection.

In[19]theauthorsdevelopedasensorsystemwhichutilizes
commerciallyavailableradiofrequencyidentification(RFID)

Applied Vibration

Bias
Magnetic
Field

Rectifier
Multiplier
V

MSMA

GND

dd

Pickup Coil
V

dd

dd

ADC
R

dd

IRUWB TX

R+ R

Strain

Gage or

Other

Sensor

Fig.1.Proposedselfpoweredwirelesssensorsystem.

tagsandreaderstotransmitinformationobtainedfromcustom
designedstraingages.TheRFIDtagsare embeddedwithin
thestructureandareonlyinusewhenpoweredup.TheRFID
tagsarepassive,i.e.,nobattery,andtheyextracttheirenergy
fromtheRFIDreaderasitispassedwithin1to3feetofthe
embeddedtag.Thereadertransmitsaradiofrequency(RF)
signalataspecifiedfrequency(915MHz,2.4GHz,among
others)andthetagthenusestheRFpowertransmittedfrom
thereader togenerate adcvoltageandturnonall thetag
circuitry.TheinformationfromtheRFIDtagssensoristhen
transmittedbacktothereaderforprocessing.Inthiswork,the
information sent back to the reader is obtained from a
temperaturesensor.Themaindrawbackofthistechniqueisits
necessityforaUSBconnectiontopowerthereaderwhileits
locationisbetween1and3feetfromthetag.
Additionally, attempts at using vibrationbased energy har
vestinghavebeenimplementedinelectric powersystems[20]
andusingunconventionalmaterials[21].However,mostofthese
systemssufferfromthenecessityofneedinglargevibrational
frequencies to generate enough power and/or requiring large
outputvoltageamplitudestoproperlypowerthecircuitry.

A system level diagram of the proposed selfpowered sensor system is shown in Fig. 1. The
system consists of a magnetic shape memory alloy
(MSMA) for converting the mechanical vibrations
from the bridge into a magnetic flux change and
then utilizes a pick-up coil to convert this flux
change into an electric field change, an ac-dc
rectifier to convert the ac output from the coil into a
dc voltage, a sensor (a strain gage is shown but
another sensor could be implemented), an analogto-digital converter (ADC), and an impulse radio
ultra-wideband transmitter (IR-UWB TX). Below,

we describe individual system components in detail

and special emphasis will be given to those building
blocks which have been implemented, namely the
MSMA energy harvester and pick-up coil, the ac-dc
converter, and the ADC.

NiMnGa

c rc

NiMnCoIn

Mechanical

Mechanical

Vibrations

Vibrations

lc

H
Bias

Fig.3.PickupcoilusedtocapturemagneticfluxchangeintheMSMA
device.

pick-up
coil

Magnetic
Field
no
load

load

H
Bias
load
Magnetic
Field

no
load

pick-up
coil

inductionchangeuponmartensitevariant
Fig.2.DifferentmethodsoffluxchangeinNiMnGaandNiMnCoInMSMAs
uponmechanicalloading/unloadinginthepresenceofabiasmagneticfield.

A. EnergyHarvesting

1) Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys as Energy Harvesting

Materials: Previous work onenergy harvesting using MSMAs
hasbeenperformedutilizingNiMnGaMSMAsinglecrystalline
samples [22]. MSMAs can convert mechanical work, such as
from mechanical vibrations, first into a magnetic induction
changeinthematerialinthepresenceofaconstantbiasmagnetic
field,whichcanthenbeconvertedintoelectricalenergythrough
pickup coils. There are two major mechanicallyinduced
microstructural changes that manifest themselves as large
magnetization changes in MSMAs. The first one is the
stress/straininduced rotation of martensite variants (the
microstructuralchange)withinthematerial[22][24].Magnetic
domains are strongly coupled with martensite variants in the
materialexhibitingthismechanismsuchthatmartensitevariant
rotation leads to magnetic domain rotation, and thus magnetic
fluxchange.NiMnGaMSMAsutilizethismechanismtoharvest
energy from mechanical vibrations or otherwise waste
mechanical work [22]. The level of current which can be
generated in the pickup coils, and thus the amount of power
which may be delivered to a load, depends on the magnetic

rotation,whichismeasuredtobeontheorderof0.15to0.2
Tesla in near stoichiometric Ni2MnGa MSMAs [22], [24].
We have recently demonstrated in these materials that the
poweroutputlevelsontheorderofaWattarewithinreach,
upontheconversionofrelativelylargeamplitudemechanical
vibrationsunder200Hzfrequency[22].
The second mechanism of mechanicallyinduced
microstructural and magnetic changes in MSMAs is the
stressinduced martensitic phase transformation from a
ferromagnetic toapara/antiferromagnetic phase [25],[26],
which is fully reversible upon unloading the stress. This
mechanism can cause a large magnetic flux change in the
presence of a bias field due to large differences in the
saturationmagnetizationsofthetransformingphases.Typical
MSMAsexhibitingthislargechangeareNiMnCo(In,Sn,Sb)
alloys.TheyarealsocalledmetamagneticSMAsbecauseof
the simultaneous magnetic and structural phase transitions
[26][33]. As compared to the magnetic induction change
associatedwiththemechanicallyinducedmartensitevariant

rotation,themagneticinductionchangeduringthestress
inducedmartensitictransformationinthese materials can
bemultipletimeshigher,dependingon
thebias field
levels [26]. Thus, using metamagnetic SMAs as energy
harvesting materials is more beneficial in terms of power
outputlevelsforagivenvibrationalloading.Inaddition,the
magnetizationrotationsandthenatureofthefluxchangein
thesetwomechanismsarenotablydifferent,asshowninFig.
2foraNiMnGaandaNiMnCoInMSMAs.InNiMnGa,the
magnetization direction usually changes from horizontal to
vertical in the figure upon loading and vice versa upon
unloading (depending on the single crystal orientation), but
this configuration is the best one per [22], [23]. In meta
magneticSMAssuchasNiMnCoInalloys,themagneticflux
canbealignedperpendiculartothepickupcoilatalltimes
and the magnetization can change from almost zero to
maximum (i.e., saturation magnetization) upon
loading/unloading. This implies in NiMnCoIn that the
maximum flux change can be sensed by the coil and then
generate the maximum output voltage. Moreover, since
magneticdomainsarestronglycoupledwithmicrostructurein
NiMnGa,itisnecessarytouseveryexpensivesinglecrystals.
However, in metamagnetic SMAs, because saturation
magnetization levels of the transforming phases dictate the
magneticinductionchangeuponstructural
phase transformation, relativelyinexpensive polycrystals
canbe used.Inthe presentstudy,we,thus, implement
a NiMnCoIn metamagnetic SMA as a potential energy
harvestingmaterialtoconvertthemechanicalvibrationsintoa
usableelectricalsignal.
2)PickUpCoilDesign:Abasicdrawingofthecoilisshown
inFig.3whereNisthenumberofturns,cisthewirediameter,lc
istheheightofthecoil,theouterdiameterofthecoilisequalto
D+2TwhereDistheinnerdiameterandTisthethickness,and
rcmaybedefinedastheeffectiveradiusofthecoilassumingTis
smallenoughwhencomparedtoD[34],[35].Thepickupcoilis
akeydesignparameter.DependingonthevolumeoftheMSMA,
theinnerdimensionsandheightofthecoilarethenfixedsince
theMSMAmustfitinthecenterofthecoiland,tomaintainas
uniformamagneticfieldaspossible,thecoilshouldnotbetaller
than the MSMA sample [34], [35]. Since the equivalent
impedance of the coil determines, in conjunction with the
equivalentinputimpedanceoftherectifier,theamountofpower
whichmay

in

coil

V
V

Rcoil

VL

coil

RL

Fig.4.EquivalentelectricalmodelofMSMAharvestedvoltageandcoil

outputvoltage,obtainable power, and overallrectifier effi

ciencywillvarydependingontheamplitudeofthevoltage
appliedtotherectifieritself.However,inordertoobtain
somebasicinsightsintohowthecoilandrectifierresistances
effecttheoverallperformanceoftheenergyextraction,this
simplemodelgivesagoodstartingpointforsomebasic
insights.Inenergyharvestingsystems,theamountofenergy
scavengedistypicallylowandthereforeanylosseswithinthe
systemimposelimitationsontheoverallsystemperformance.
Therefore,itisnecessarytoachieveahighpowerconversion

resistanceRcoilwithrectifierinputresistanceRL.

efficiencysoastonotwastetheharvestedenergywhile

betransferredfromtheenergyharvestertotheacdcconverter
thepickupcoildesigniscrucial.
Assumingthemagneticfluxchangemaybesensedbythe
coilwithoutanyloss,and the
timevaryingmagneticfield

additionto,itisalsobeneficialtostudythepowerdelivered

withintheMSMAisB=B0rsin(t)theoutputvoltageof
thecoilwithnoloadmaybeexpressedas[22]
N d
2
2
lc TD B0rf
V
A B
(1)

2
2c
.
c dt
coil =
B0
Intheexpressionforthe
timevaryingmagneticfield,
ishalfthereversiblemagneticfluxdensity change,r is
thevolumefractionofthematerialundergoingmechanically
inducedmartensiticvariantreorientationormartensiticphase

deliveredto

obtainingtherequiredamountofenergyforthesystem.In

transformationandisdefinedas_/_max,_istheapplied
strainrange,_maxisthemaximumvariantrotationorphase

transformationstrain,and

2f

PloadtotheloadRloadandhowthispowerleveleffectsthe
peakacvoltage(Vpk)acrossRL.Formaximumpowertransfer
thevalueofRLshouldbesettoRcoilwhichisdefinedbythe
maximumpowertransfertheorem.CallingPmaxthepower
P

whenitisequivalenttoRcoil,theratioof

maynowbetakenintoaccountfortheanalysis.

Therefore,theelectricalefficiencymaybedefinedasthe

powerdeliveredtotheloadRLdividedbythepowerputinto

thesystem.Thispower,Pin,isequaltothepowerdissipated
onRcoilplusthepowerdeliveredtoRL.Usingthesimple
modelinFig.4,(4)and(5)showandtheratioofthepower

deliveredtotheloadtothemaximumdeliverablepowertothe
loadasafunctionofRL/Rcoil.

wherefisthefrequency

ofexcitationofthematerial.In(1),Acistheareaofthecoil

RL

load/ max

asviewedfromaboveandmaybeapproximatedasD /4

V I

load

in

load

4R

=V

L/ coil

R
in

I in

Rcoil

I in

=1+

R
L/ coil
R R
L/ coil

(4)

(5)
(1 + RL / Rcoil )
sinceitisassumedthatthecoilis
max
woundverytightlyaroundtheMSMAsample.
Oneimportantobservationaboutisthatitisequaltotheratio
.Thismeansthelargertheefficiency,thelargerthe
Withtheapproximatedoutputvoltagefromthecoilknown, V V
peakvoltagewhichappearsacrossRL.Thisisanimportant
andassumingtherectifierstagehasaninputresistanceof
RL,itispossibletopredicttheamountofpowerdelivered
observationandwillberevisitedlaterwhendiscussingthe
toandvoltageacrossRLaswellasdeterminetheoverall
acdcconversion.
efficiencyoftheelectricalpowerdelivery.Althoughthe
Sincetheproposedsystemdoesnotcontainanyexternal
efficiencyofconvertingthemechanicalvibrationintoachange batteriesandisintendedtooperatesolelyontheharvested
inmagnetizationandthusavoltageisimportant,thisefficiency energyfromtheMSMA,amethodofconvertingtheacsignal
willbeassumedideal(i.e.,1)andtheonlyefficiencyin
fromthecoilintoadclevelisnecessary.ThevalueofRL
questionwillbetheconversionofthepowerdeliveredfromthe isamodelfortheinputresistanceofapassiverectifier
coiltotheinputoftherectifier.Theresistanceofthecoilmay
multiplier(RM)architecture.AsinglestageRMimplemented
befoundfromRcoil
= L/ A where istheconductivityof withdiodesandcapacitorsisshowninFig.1asthestage
thecoilmaterial,Listhelengthofthecoil,andAisthecross towhichthecoilconnects.Aswillbediscussedinthe
sectionalareaofthewire.Inthiscase,Lmaybeapproximated followingsection,obtainingthelargestvoltageasefficiently
byNDandA=c 2
/4.Usingthesameestimationfor N as aspossiblewhilesimultaneouslyproducingadequatepower
fortheremainingcircuitryiscritical.Therefore,ratherthan
in(1)weobtain
4lcTD
beingconcernedwithmaximumpower,theoverallefficiency
R
coil c4
(2) maybeamorecriticalparameter.Togainaninsight,and
.
P
P
Usingvoltagedivisionontheequivalentmodelshownin theratio
load/ max areplottedinFig.5
asa functionof
V
RL/Rcoil.Itcan
beshownthatthese twofunctions inter
Fig.4,thepeakloadvoltage L maybegivenas
R R
R R
L/ coil = 3 which leadsto
= 0.75and
sect when
L/ coil
V
V
(3)
=
R /R
.
L
= coil1
= 1,leadsto = 0.5and
+ L coil
formaximumpower,i.e.,R /R
assumingTissmall.In

approximatedaslcT/c

this

expression,thevalueofNis

AlthoughRLismodeledasasimpleresistor,arealsystem

willhave animpedance that

istime variant

(e.g.,diodes,

L/

coil

load/Pmax

0.75.Conversely,ifthesystemweredesigned

1.

coil

load/ max=

Asan example,assumingareasonablevalueofV

coil

switches, etc.).Therefore, unlike withafixedresistor,

the

0.3V[22]maybeobtainedfromanMSMAsample,with

Power Ratio and Efficiency vs. RL/Rcoil

C1

P L/P max and

0.8

0.6

P /P
L

0.4

R /R
L

max

coil

Fig.5.Plotsof(4),,and(5),PL/Pmax,versusratioofloadresistanceRL
andcoilresistanceRcoiltodetermineoptimumvalueofRMinputresistance
and coil resistance to obtain a high efficiency and a reasonable power
deliveredtotheRM.
Rcoil=50_ andRL/Rcoil=10,

0. 273 V, =

0.91,andPload=148.76W.Conversely,ifoneweretousethevalue
RL/Rcoil=1formaximumpowertransfer,

thevalueswouldthenbe

150

V,

50,and

Pload=450W.Althoughroughlythreetimes

asmuch

powerisdeliveredto RL inthemaximumpowercase,thereis
almost half as much voltage swing at the same node. For
operatingsemiconductordevices,whichwillcomprisetheRM
structure, having alarger voltage swing atthe nodewould be
more beneficial than having a larger power. Additionally,
although 148.76 W is not a large power, it is a significant
amount and, with proper design, can be enough to power the
remaining circuitry as long as the rectifier itself performs an
efficient acdc conversion. This is because the amount of dc
poweravailabletotheremainingcircuitryisequaltotheRMsac
dc conversion efficiency multiplied by the amount of power
delivered to the input resistance of the RM, which has been
R

MN

loadingconditions.Additionally,tominimizeoverallsystem
cost,therectifiershouldbeimplementedonthesamedieas
theothercircuitryandshouldnotcontainanyspecial

0.2

out

R
L/ coil

modeledbytheresistorRL.So,assumingthecasewhere

= 10toproducealargerinputvoltageswingtothe
RMandaRMefficiencyof10%,apowerofapproximately
15Wwillbeavailableforthesensor,ADC,transmitterand
any other remaining circuitry. Therefore, lowvoltage and
lowpowercircuitdesigntechniquesmustbeemployed.These
techniquesincludechoosinganappropriateintegratedcircuit
processforcircuitdesign(minimumfeaturelengthofdevices,
thresholdvoltages,bipolarorCMOSdevices,etc.),operating
thedevicesinweakormoderateinversiontosavepowerat
theexpenseofspeed,etc.Manyofthesedesignchoiceswill
beaddressedinthefollowingsections.
3) AcDc Conversion Unit: The ac signal from the coil
mustbeconvertedintoadcsignaltopowerthesensorsystem.
Ideallyonewouldliketodesignarectifierthat,regardlessof
theinputamplitude,wouldbeabletocompletelyconvertthe
acsignalintoadclevelwithoutanyloss.However,thisisnot
possible and the rectification circuitry must be designed
carefullytoprovidethebestoutputforthegiveninputand

C2

in

load

MN

Fig. 6.Typicalsinglestage rectifiermultiplier architecture utilizingdiode

connectedNMOStransistors.

processoptionstoavoidadditionalcostsformasklayersor
processing.
As mentioned previously, it is not necessarily beneficial
from a system level view to match the rectifiers input
resistancetothatoftheenergyharvestingcoil(i.e.,settingRL
inFig.4equaltoRcoil).Thiswasattributedtotheneedfor
optimizing the peak input voltage of the rectifier. With a
typicalsinglestagerectifierconsistingofasingleidealdiode,
aresistorload,andafilteringcapacitor,thedcoutputvoltage
isequaltothepeakinputvoltage
V

out,ideal=

(6)

in

whereVout,idealisthedcoutputvoltageoftheidealrectifierand

V inisthepeakamplitudeoftheacinputvoltage.However,due
to the diodes forward voltage drop, parasitic effects, reverse
conduction losses during the negative half cycle of the input
signal, and loading conditions, the dc voltage at the rectifier
output is limited to a fraction of the peak input voltage [36].
Assumingtheonlylossisequaltothediodevoltagedrop

Vd,thedcoutputvoltageVout,realbecomes

out,real=

in

(7)

d.

This result shows that, for rectification purposes, it may be

necessarytodesignforthelargestinputvoltagetotherectifier.

Inenergyharvestingapplications,theobtaineddcvoltage
levelsaregenerallyontheorderofafewhundredmillivolts
withasinglerectificationstageandarenotsufficienttopower
thesystem.Instead,onemayuseamultistagerectifierwhich
is often called a rectifiermultiplier (RM) [37][39]. Fig. 6
shows a schematic of a RMusingdiodeconnected NMOS
devicesinsteadoftraditionaldiodes.AlthoughNMOStran
sistorsareshown,onemayreplacethesedeviceswithdiodes,
PMOSdevices,orswitchesandobtainasimilarfunction.The
use of devices other than traditional diodes is common in
modernintegratedcircuittechnologyandtheyareusedwhen:
1) thedesignkitdoesnotcontainproperdiodemodels;or
2) theinputamplitudeoftherectifierissignificantlylessthan
theturnonvoltageofthediode.Whilethesearenottheonly
reasons why certain components are utilized within a
specifieddesign,thechoiceoftheimplementeddevicesisone
whichistypicallyleftasadesignparameterandisdependent
on a number of factors (e.g., cost, size, availability,
performance,drift,etc.).
Althoughtherearemanydifferentmethodsofimplementing
anRMarchitecture[36][56],costandfunctionalityaretwo

constraintsonthecircuitdesign.Simplediodesmaybeused
[37][39] to implement the RM structure, however, the
voltagedropwilllikelybetoolargeforanenergyharvesting
application since this drop directly effects the maximum
obtainabledcvoltage.Schottkydiodes[36]orzerothreshold
diodeconnected MOS devices [40] may be used for their
lower ON voltage, but not all integrated circuit processes
supportthesestructures.Additionally,evenifzerothreshold
devicesaresupportedwithinthedesignkit,itispossiblethat
theCMOStransistorsthresholdvoltage(Vth)variation,and
thereforelossassociatedwiththediodeconnecteddevice,is
toolargetoberealizableforanenergyharvestingapplication
[41].Instead,implementingtheRMstructureusingstandard
metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors and either
metalinsulatormetal (MiM) or MOS capacitors is a more
viableoption[41][54].However,thesecircuitsareusually
limitedbythenecessityofimplementingexternaloscillators,
currentsources,implementinglargeresistors,orevenreverse
conductionlossesofthedevicesthemselves.Anothermethod
of rectification is to use switches as the main rectification
devicesinsteadofdiodes.Intheseapplications,diodesmaybe
usedwithinthecircuitry,butareonlyusedforinitialstartup
sequences or for supporting the main rectification path. In
theseapplicationswhereswitchesareimplemented,thegates
oftheswitches,andthereforeONresistances,arecontrolled
byonchiplowpowercircuitry,suchasdiodesorlowpower
comparatorstobiasthegates[55],[56].
InapplicationswheretheRMinputamplitudeislimitedto
afewhundredmillivolts,minimizingconductionlossesand
voltagedropswithintheRMcircuitbecomesthemostcritical
designaspect.Therefore,implementinganarchitecturewhich
performs this task is tantamount. One topology which
achieves this task uses a comparator to control the RM
switches.Althoughthepowerconsumptionofthecomparator
degrades the maximum possible efficiency since it directly
drawspowerfromtheRMoutput,itisanidealsolutionas
longasthepowerconsumptionofthecomparatorisnegligible
compared to the load and is considered during the design
process[56].Thecomparatorin[56]utilizescurrentmirrors
toperformthecomparisonwithafixedvoltageandtherefore
thiscircuitdrawsastaticpowerfromtheRMoutput.
Forsensorapplications,keepingtheoverallsystemcostas
lowaspossibleisdesirable. Therefore, sincethesystem is
implemented using integrated circuit technologies, keeping
thecostperchipdownisakeydesignparameter.Todothis,
the circuits should be implemented using standard
components without any special processing options that
require moremasklayers,andthereforecostincrease.This
places constraints on performing the rectification operation
without using external oscillators and batteries, zeroVth
devices, Schottky or standard diodes. Additionally, the
rectifierandanycircuitrycontrollingtherectificationprocess
should be powered by its own dc output. With these
constraints in place and knowing the input peaktopeak
voltageoftherectifierwillbeontheorderofafewhundred

millivolts,aswitchingrectifierwillpresentthemostefficient
designwhichtranslatestoalargerdcoutputvoltage.

VG
1

MP

in

MN

VG

out

load

Vx
V

out

Comparator Implementation

and

generated from Vin

Fig. 7. Proposed selfpowered rectifier (SPR) [57] for structural health

monitoring(SHM)andtheimplementedgatedrivencomparator[58].

Sinceexternalcircuitryforcontrollingthegatesisavoidedto
keepthecostdown,thesignalusedtocontrolthegatesofthe
rectifiersmustbegeneratedbytheinputsignal.Todothis,alow
voltage, lowpower comparator should be implemented which
consumesminimaldcpower,hasaninputoutputlatencywhich
isnegligiblecomparedtotheperiodoftherectifierinputsignal,
andiscapableofdrivingtheCMOSswitches.Onemethodof
implementingthecomparatorhasalreadybeendiscussedin[56].
Themaindrawbackof[56]isitsconsumptionofstaticdcpower.
To avoid this, a lowvoltage comparator is proposed to
incrementally sample the voltages at Vx and Vout at time
instancesrelatedtotheperiodofthesignalattherectifiersinput.
Since, by definition, dynamic power is only consumed during
switchingevents,thisshouldleadtoamoreefficientsolution.
Therefore,tominimizestaticpowerconsumption,usestandard
components without additional processing options, and to
increasetheoverallsystemefficiency,thecircuitshowninFig.7
illustratestheproposedcomparatorbasedRM[57].Thiscircuit
utilizes a lowvoltage comparator comprised of inverters and
transmission gates [58] to perform the comparison and
amplificationoperations.TominimizetheONresistanceofthe
transmissiongates,whichprovidesafasterdecisiontimeforthe
comparatorandamoreefficientRMtopology,aclockdoubler
[59]isimplementedtoincreasetheamplitudeof,andgenerate,
theantiphasesignals

and .Thecircuitiscalledaselfpoweredrectifier(SPR)

sincetheonlyappliedsignal(acordc)tothecircuitistheac
input from the MSMA coil and the comparator is then
powered bythe rectified signal at the RMoutput.Inother
words,therearenobatteriesandthecircuit generatesadc
voltagefromtheacinputwhichisusedtopowerallother
circuitsaswellasitsownsupportingcircuitry.
B. SensorUnit
1) StrainGage:Awellknownsensorusedfordetermining
themechanicalconditionofastructureisastraingage.

The electrical resistance of the strain gage changes as the

structureisputundermechanicalloading/unloading.Usuallyone
ormorestraingagesareemployedinasensornetworkandare
connected in a Wheatstone Bridge configuration. Fig. 1 has a
representation of a Wheatstone Bridge. Since the reference
voltage(Vdd)forthebridgemaybedirectlysuppliedbytheac
dcconverter,theresistancesusedinthebridgeconfigurationcan
directlyaffectthepowerconsumptionandlimittheamountof
voltage which may be obtained from the rectifiermultiplier
(RM). Since, from the viewpoint of the acdc converter, the
WheatstoneBridgeiseffectivelyaparallelcombinationoftwo
resistors,eachresistor(nominally)mustmaintainahighenough
value(usuallygreaterthan100k_soastonotlimittheoperation
of the RM and to minimize the amount of current in the
WheatstoneBridge.Todothis,propermaterialselectionforthe
strain gage must be done. According to Strain Measurement
Devices[60],thegagemaybemadeusingasputteredthinfilm
processdepositingthestraingagematerialinahighvacuum.The
straingagematerialusedintheirprocesshasanominalresistance
2
of 4 k_/mm . Therefore, as long as the sensor itself has an
2
averagestrainedarea > 25mm ,thenominalresistanceofthe
straingagewillbeover100k_.Thisvalueisbothreasonableto
keepthepowerconsumptionlowaswellasallowingthedevice
tofiteasilyonastrainedareaofabridge.

Itshouldbenotedalsothattheoutputsofthestraingage
sensor will be nominally set at approximately Vdd /2,
assuming equal resistances are used in the configuration.
Therefore,aslongaslargedeflectionsarenotcreateddueto
heavyloading,poorstructuralstability,ordamage,theoutput
ofthestraingagewillbecenteredaroundVdd/2.Thisimplies
theinputtotheanalogtodigitalconverter(ADC)shouldalso
remainrelativelyclosetothissamelevelimplyingtheupper
andlowerextremesoftheADCsdynamicrangemaynotbe
usedunlessthesystemisdamaged.
2) Magnetic Shape Memory Alloy as a Sensor: It has
alreadybeenmentionedthattheMSMAisanidealcandidate
fordeploymentasanenergyharvesterfortheproposedself
powered wireless sensor system. With its harvesting capa
bilitiesknownanditsdesignparametersmentioned,itisalso
worth stating that the MSMA material itself may be
implementedasasensor[22],[24].Thismaybedonesince
themagnetizationislinearlydependentonstraininMSMAs.
Therefore, as the strain increases/decreases on the MSMA,
therewillbeadirectchangeintheoutputvoltagefromthe
pickupcoil.Aslongasacircuitisusedwhichmayaccurately
readanddetectthechangeinoutputfromtheMSMA,this
willthenprovideinformationastothestateofthestructure.
Therefore, the system can be implemented with multiple
MSMAs,ifnecessary.OneMSMAwouldbeplacedandused
asanenergyharvesterwhiletheotherdevicecouldbeusedin
adifferentlocationasasensor.Intheeventthestrainonthe
MSMAislargeenough,asingledevicemaybeusedasan
energyharvesterandasasensor.
C.AnalogtoDigitalConversion
Inordertotransmitthedatafromthesensortoacentral
processingunit,thedatafromthesensorshouldbemodulated

Single

Dual

ref

int

C
V

in

in

int

ref

deint

C
R
1

in

V
V

out

out

ref

ref

Fig.8.SingleanddualslopeintegratingADCarchitectures.

toreducethesizeoftherequiredantennaandaswellaseasing
the design specifications for the receiver [61]. Modulating the
strain gage data with a higher frequency carrier signal, which
reducestherequiredantennasize,fortransmissionispossible,
howeverthetransmitcircuitrymightconsumetheentirepower
budget. Rather than modulating this information directly, an
estimateoftheinformationmaybegoodenoughtodeterminethe
stateofthebridge.Therefore,theinformationisconvertedtoa
digital signal using an analogtodigital converter (ADC).
Typically, the more bits transmitted implies a more accurate
resultatthecostofincreasedpowerandintegratedcircuitdie
area.AlthoughlargeresolutionsmaybeobtainedusingSigma
Delta()andpipelineADCs[62],orusingaFlasharchitecturefor
aspeedimprovement[62],thesearchitecturesaregenerallytoo
complex, occupy too large of an area, and are too power
demanding for deployment in a sensor [63]. For a lowpower
solution,aclassofADCsknownascountingADCsistypically
employed[62],[63].CountingADCsmaybegenerallydivided
intotwogroups:1)integratingADCs;and2)algorithmicADCs.

1) IntegratingAnalogtoDigitalConverter:Anintegrating
ADC (IADC) is one that, using a number of clock cycles,
obtains a digital estimate of an analog signal. There are
generallytwovariantsofanIADC,asingleslope(SS)anda
dualslope (DS). A basic diagram of each architecture is
showninFig.8.TheSSIADCcomparestheinputsignaltoa
knownreferencevoltageandusesacountertodeterminehow
many clock cycles are required for the output of the
comparatortochange.
A DSIADC integrates the unknown input signal for a
specifiednumberofclockcyclesandthendeintegratesa
known reference voltage for an unknown amount of time.
Therearemanyadvantagesanddisadvantagesofeacharchi
tecture, withthe mainadvantage beingthe relative ease of
implementationcomparedtomorecomplexarchitectures[62].
Themaindrawbacksarethenecessitytogenerateaccurate
voltagereferencesandclocks,withthedominantimpediment
N
beingthepossibilityofaconversiontimeequalto2 clock
cycleswhereNistheresolutionoftheconverter[62].
2) Algorithmic AnalogtoDigital Converter: To alleviate
theconversiontimeissueswiththeIADCarchitectures,the
ADCcancomparetheinputsignaltoanadaptivereference
voltageimplementedbyadigitaltoanalogconverter(DAC)
whosevalueisdependentontherelativevaluesoftheinput

N
2 C

8C

4C

2C

Pulse
Shaping
Circuit

Vdd /2

Antenna
Driver

in
Vref
GND

Switches

SHAPE

Ring
Oscillator

SAR Logic

Nbit

Vdd /2

Data Out
(Serial or Parallel)

Fig.9.ToplevelviewoftheSARADC.

bp

EN2

bn

EN1

signal and the reference voltage from the previous clock

cycles. Onemethodofdoingthisistoimplement abinary
searchalgorithmtocontroltheDACvoltageVDAC[62],[63].
ADCs which utilize a binary search algorithm are often
referredtoassuccessiveapproximationregister(SAR)ADCs.
Beginning with the most significant bit (MSB), this archi
tectureconvergesonadigitalapproximationofthesampled
analoginputsignal.ThevalueofVDACintheSARADCmay
beexpressedas

DAC= dd

bN

i2Ni

(8)

whereVddistheDACreferencevoltageandsupplyvoltageto
th

theoverallADC, bNi isthevalueofthe ( N i ) bitand

takesonavalueof1or0dependingonwhetherornotthebit
iskept,and NisthenumberofbitsintheADC.Thesearch
processcontinuesuntilallNbitshavebeenaccountedforand
theoutputstreamisthenreadout.Themainfeatureofthe
binarysearchalgorithmistheSARADCwilldeterminethe
outputcodestartingwiththeMSBandwillthenworkbackto
the least significant bit (LSB) value, where the MSB is
N

defined as Vdd /2 and the LSB is defined as Vdd /2 . A

generalblockdiagramofaSARADCisshowninFig.9.
Althoughadecisionisnotreachedinasingleclockcycle,
themaximumnumberofclockcyclesisgreatlyreducedinthe
SARADCcomparedtotheIADC.ForaSARADC,ittakes
approximatelyN+1clockcycles,whereNisthenumberof
ADCbits,toevaluatetheanalogsignalandconvertittoits
equivalentdigitaloutput.Forbitcountsgreaterthan3or4
this is a significant power and conversion cycle savings
comparedtoIADCs.Forexample,fora4bitarchitecture,an
4

IADCmaytakeupto2 =16clockcycleswhereastheSAR
ADC willtakeapproximately4 + 1 = 5clockcycles. The
outputdatafromtheSARlogicisparallelinnature.Inthe
event serial data is required, a simple multiplexer may be
implementedtoprovidethedesiredoutputcodes.Duetothe
SARADCsabilitytoconvergeonasolutioninfewerclock
cycles than an IADC, a SAR ADC is chosen for
implementationintheproposedselfpoweredwirelesssensor
system.ThelogicfortheSAR ADC dominatesthesystem
sincemostofthecircuitsinaSARADCareDtypeflipflops
(DFFs)andmaybeimplementedusingpasstransistorlogic

(PTL)toprovidealowpowerandlowvoltagesolution[64].

Fig.10.IRUWBTXof[66],whichmaybeimplementedintheproposed
wirelesssensorsystem.

D.ImpulseRadioUltraWidebandTransmitterand
Modulation
Oncethesensorinformationhasbeendigitized,itisneces
sarytosendthedatatoacentralprocessingunitforfurther
characterization. Choosing the most appropriate methodfor
data transmission is often a tradeoff between power con
sumptionandbiterrorrate(BER),amongotherthings.For
lowpowerandlowdatarateapplicationsmorecomplextrans
mission methods such as multiband orthogonalfrequency
divisionmultiplexing(MBOFDM)shouldbeavoideddueto
the necessity of a frequency synthesizer. In recent years,
impulsebasedsolutionshavebeenusedforlowpowerappli
cationsasaviableandreliablemethodofdatatransmission
witharelativelylowpowerconsumption[65],[66].Sincethe
modulationmethodlimitstheoverallsystemperformance,its
choice is important for the overall system. The main
modulation formats for impulse based designs are usually
phaseshift keying (PSK), frequencyshift keying (FSK), or
amplitudeshiftkeying(ASK).
For the proposed selfpowered wireless sensor system, a
variantofASKcanbeimplemented.Thisvariantisknownas
OnOffKeying(OOK).InFig.1theblockdrivingtheantennais
listedasIRUWBTX.Withinthisblock,anoscillatorisassumed
to be the circuit which is driving the antenna. Unlike other
systemswhereanoscillatorcontinuouslyruns,theoscillatorwill
lower its amplitude, or be completely shut off during a 0
transmission. This will lead to a lower overall power
consumption in the transmit circuitry. However, the main
drawbackisthenecessitytoshutdowntheoscillatorandinsure
its startup within one ADCclockcycle so as to notlose any
information.Althoughthisisanissue,fortheproposedsensor
systemthisisnotalargeproblemsinceduetothelowsampling
rateoftheADC.Therefore,ASK,andmorespecificallyOOK,is
themostoptimumchoiceforproposedimplementationoftheIR
UWB TX. A lowpower implementation of an IRUWB TX
which could be used for the proposed sensor system was
presentedin[66]andisshowninFig.10.Thisworkshowsa
dramaticallyreducedstaticpowerconsumptionwhencompared
to recently reported IRUWB TX designs. The novelty of the
designanditseaseof

havebeenfabricatedandmeasuredtocomparerealworld

Fig.11.MeasuredMSMAoutputvoltageoftheenergyharvestingsampleat
threedifferentfrequenciesofsinusoidalmechanicalexcitation:2.5,5,and7.5
Hz.

implementationareattractiveassetsforfutureimplementation
intheproposedsensorsystem.
III.MEASUREMENTRESULTS
Someofthemainblockscomprisingtheproposedsystem

SMA Output Voltage (mV pk)

140
120
Measured
st
1 Order

100
80
60
40
20
0

10
Frequency (Hz)

15

20

Fig.12.MeasuredandfirstorderextrapolatedMSMAoutputvoltagesversus
frequency.

measurements with theoretical concepts. The fabricated

devicesaretheNiMnCoInMSMAenergyharvestingmaterial,
therectificationcircuitry,andthelowpowerSARADC.The
measurement results obtained as well as some projected
valuesfromtheobtaineddataarethenpresented.
A.MagneticShapeMemoryAlloySamples
AningotofNi45Mn36.5Co5In13.5 (atatomic%)waspre
paredusingvacuuminductionmelting.Singlecrystalswere
grownusingtheBridgmantechniqueinaheliumatmosphere.
Theywerecutintorectangularprismswithdimensionsof4
mm4mm16mmusingwireelectrodischargemachining.
Intheaustenitehightemperaturephase,thenormalvectorsof
theprismfaceswerealongthe[100],[011],and

[011]directions.

Thesinglecrystallinesamplewasplacedinabiasmagnetic
fieldof1Teslawhereacoppercoilwith1000turnswasusedto
convertthemagnetic fluxchangewithinthematerialduetoa
sinusoidalmechanicalexcitation,appliedalongthelongaxisof
thesample.Thismechanicalexcitationledtothetransformation
of austenite to martensite upon loading and reverse
transformationbacktoausteniteuponunloading.Thetwoleads
ofthecopperpickupcoilwerethenconnectedtoanoscilloscope
tomonitortheoutputvoltage.Themeasuredcoiloutputsfromthe
materialwith2.5,5and7.5Hzsinusoidalexcitationsareshown
inFig.11.Ascanbeseenfromthemeasurements,thereisan
increased voltage at the output of the coil as the frequency
increases.ThisisasexpectedsincetheoutputvoltageVcoilofthe
MSMAsampleshouldbefrequencydependentasseenin(1).A
typical value of the volume fraction of the martensite after
transformation,r,is1.0forthissample.Assumingthecoilhas
asmallwidthcomparedtothematerial,D+2TD,andanideal
magnetic coupling between the material and the coil, the
predictedoutputvoltagesat2.5,5and7.5Hzareapproximately
20mV,40mVand60mV,respectively,forr=1.Thesevalues
closelymatchthemeasuredvaluesof30mV,40mV,and60mV.

Although these results are promising, it is necessary to

producelargeroutputvoltagesfromtheMSMAmaterial.One

(a)

(b)
Fig.13.(a)ON0.5mCMOSSPRRMand(b)fourstagerectifierwithSPRas
firststageandthreecascadedhighefficiencySVC[44]stages.

methodofdoingthiswouldbetoincreasethenumberofturns
onthe coil N.Assumingthe material canwithstandhigher
loading frequencies (>10 Hz), it could also be possible to
obtain larger output voltages from the coil under slightly
higher loading frequencies as shown in Fig. 12 where the
measureddatawasextrapolatedusingafirstordercurvefit.A
firstorderdependenceonfrequencyiswhatispredictedfrom
(1).Unfortunately,theresponseofNiMnCoInMSMAsunder
relativelyhighloadingfrequencies(> 8Hz)andhighcycle
numbers (> 10,000) is not known and further studies are
needed. However, since NiMnGa MSMAs can survive
8
loadingcyclesupto10 cycles[67],NiMnCoInMSMAsare
alsoexpected toshowsimilarcyclicresistance andsurvive
underhighloadingfrequenciesontheorderoftensofHz.

generatorsimpedanceislistedat50 _ whichisclosetothe
coilimpedanceofroughly56 _at20Hz.Theinputamplitude
ofthesignalwasvariedfrom50mVto1000mV.Alloffchip
capacitorsusedwere1Fand100Fforbotharchitectures.
Themeasurementresultsofthefabricatedrectifiersareshown
inFig.14.Fromtheseresultsitcanbeinferredthatfora20
Hz mechanical vibration, which corresponds to an
extrapolated MSMA pickup coil output voltage of
approximately 300 mVpk, a singlestage rectifiermultiplier
maynotproducealargeenoughdcoutputvoltagetopower
thesubsequentsensorsystem.Thisisbecauseadclevelof
100 mV is not sufficient to power many standard CMOS
circuits. However, for the same input amplitude, the
implementedfourstagerectifiermultiplierisabletogenerate
adclevelover1Vforloadresistanceslargerthan1M _.This
valueisgenerallysufficienttooperatemostCMOScircuits
whicharefabricatedinprocesseswhoseminimumfeaturesize
is less than 1 m. Additionally, for a load of 1 M _, the
implementedfourstagerectifiermultiplierisabletodeliver
between 1 and 14 W of power with input amplitudes
between300and1000mVpk.Forloadsofapproximately100
k_ andinputvoltagesof1000mV pk,thepowerdeliveredto
theloadisapproximately100Wwithadcvoltagenear3V.
Although14W,oreven100W,maynotbesufficientto
powertheproposedADCandothercircuitryinthetechnology
used(0.5mCMOS),ifthethetechnologyweretoscaleto
0.18mCMOS,thisobtainedpowerlevelwillbesufficient
to power the ADC and the other circuitry. This fact is
discussedfurtherinthefollowingsection.Nevertheless,the
results shown are encouraging and indicate the proposed
comparatorbasedRMandtheproposedfourstageRMcan
producelargedclevels.

B.DcPowerExtraction

C.AnalogtoDigitalConverter

The output of the MSMA pickup coil needs to be

connected to the proposed rectifiermultiplier to obtain a
usabledcoutputvoltageforthesubsequentcircuits.Thepick
upcoilwasmeasuredtohaveanequivalentseriesimpedance
of55.16_and9.25mHat120Hz.Theselfpoweredrectifier
circuitshowninFig.7wasfabricatedinONSemiconductor
0.5mCMOSwhereallcomponentswereonchipexcept
forthe1Fand100Felectrolyticcapacitors.Inadditionto
theproposedsinglestageSPRcircuit,afourstagerectifier
multiplierarchitecturewasfabricatedwheretheproposedSPR
RM was implemented as the first stage and the second
through fourth stages are implemented as a known high
efficiency,lowvoltagerectifier[44].Thediemicrographsof
thesecircuitsareshowninFig.13.
The circuits were tested using an HP33120A Function
Generator,anHP34401ADigitalMultimeter,andaTektronix
TDS3054Oscilloscope.Loadresistances of100k _,1M_
and10M_wereusedtoemulatenextstageloadingandpower
deliverycapabilities.TheinputsignaltotheRMarchitectures
wasa20Hzsinewavewithnodccomponent.Thefunction

The proposed 6 bit successive approximation

register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) was
fabricated using ON Semiconductor 0.5-m CMOS
using standard CMOS devices and poly-poly metalinsulator-metal (MiM) capacitors. The chip
micrograph of the fabricated ADC with annotated
sub-blocks is shown in Fig. 15. The circuit was
tested using an Agilent 1673G Logic Analyzer to
measure the serial and parallel output data, an
HP33102A
Function/Arbitrary
Wave-form
Generator for generating the square-wave ADC
clock as well as for generating the input ramp and
sinusoidal signals for characterization, and an
Agilent E3360A Triple Output dc Supply to power
the chip. Functionality of the proposed ADC at
different Vdd levels was tested as well as static
performance with the proposed system. During
testing it was determined that the minimum Vdd to

power the chip was 0.9 V . At this supply level, the

proposed low-power ADC with a dc input level of
513 mV produces a logic output as shown in Fig.
16. The ADC functionally performs at this supply
level and is able to digitize input levels around Vdd /
2, however at the upper and lower extremes of the
supply the ADC fails to operate properly. This is
attributed to the buffer amplifiers used at the input
of the comparator block which have a limited input
common-mode range (ICMR).

719

1000

4000
3500
3000

dc Output (mV)

dc Output (mV)

800
10M

600

1M

100k
400

2500
2000

10M
1M

1500
1000

200

100k

500
0

200

400

600

800

1000

200

Input Amplitude (mVpk)

(a)

800

1000

1000

Voltage Conversion Eff. (%)

100
10M
dcOutputPower(W)

600

(b)

120

1M
100k

80
60
40
20
0

400

Input Amplitude (mVpk)

200

400

600

800

1000

Input Amplitude (mVpk)

(c)

10M
1M

800

100k
600

400

200
0

200

400

600

800

1000

Input Amplitude (mVpk)

(d)

Fig.14.Measureddcoutputvoltagesversusloadresistancefor(a)singlestageSPR,(b)fourstagewithSPRasfirststageandthreecascadedSVCstages,
(c)measureddcoutputpowerandvoltageconversionefficiencyforthefourstageRMwithSPSRasfirststage,and(d)threecascadedSVCstages.

Bit6inthefigureistheserialoutputofthemultiplexer

Fig.15.Chipmicrographofthelowpower,sixbitSARADCdesignedinON0.5
mCMOS.

In Fig. 16 the output bits are listed as Bit 0, the least

significantbit(LSB),toBit5,themostsignificantbit(MSB).

Fig.16.MeasuredSARADCoutputbitsandserialoutputforaVddof0.9V
andasampledinputvoltageof513mV.

whichisdesignedtocontroltheIRUWBTX.Theaverage
power consumption of the ADC at this supply level was
measured tobeapproximately 880 W whichwasingood
agreementwiththesimulatedvalueof820W.Althoughthis

Max. INL = +1.2/1.9LSB

2
1.5

INL (LSB)

1
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
0

10

20

30
40
Code Number
Max. DNL = +1.3/0.99LSB

50

60

2
1.5

Fig.18.Measurementresultsoftheproposedfourstagerectifierpoweringthe
lowvoltage, lowpower sixbit SAR ADC. The input to the fourstage
rectifierwasa20Hzsinusoidwitha1.2Vamplitude.Fromtoptobottom,
themeasurementshowstheoutputoftheonchipSARADCclockgenerator,
theserialoutputofthesixbitSARADC,theoutputoftheDACusedinthe
SARADC,andthedcvoltageproducedbythefourstagerectifier.

DNL (LSB)

1
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
0

10

20

30
40
Code Number

50

60

Fig.17.MeasuredINLanddifferentialnonlinearity(DNL)ofthefabricated
SARADC.

islargerthandesired,thelargepowerconsumptionismainly
attributedtolargeparasiticcapacitancesduetotheprocessas
well as requiring a large Vdd and large ON/OFF overlap
within the circuits due to the large Vth of the NMOS and
PMOS devices in this process of approximately 0.7 V and
0.9 V ,respectively.Intheeventaprocesswithasmaller
minimumfeaturesizemaybeutilized,thepowerconsumption
canbedecreased.Toverifythis,theproposedADCwasre
implemented in a commercially available 0.18m CMOS
processwithnominalVthof0.4Vand0.45VforNMOSand
PMOSdevices,respectively.Forthesamepowersupplyand
input level, the simulated average power consumption was
only30nWwhichisslightlylowerthanotherstateoftheart
ADCs with the same minimum feature size and a larger
supplyvoltage[68][70].
ForstatictestingoftheADC,alowfrequencyrampsignalwas
appliedtotheinputoftheADCwithasamplingfrequencyof
approximately800Hz.Thedatafromthelogicanalyzerwasthen
exported into MATLAB for postprocessing. The measured
integral nonlinearity (INL), global variation from ideal input
outputrelationship,anddifferentialnonlinearity(DNL),stepby
stepvariationinidealinputoutputrelationship,ofthefabricated

SARADCwithaVddof1.8VareshowninFig.17.Theresults
wereobtainedusingthehistogrammeasurementtechniquewitha
rampinput.Assumingtypicaloperationofthe

ADC,theINLandDNLlimitsshouldbebetween0.5LSB.
Themeasuredresultsshowndeviatefrom thesevaluesata
fewcodelocationswithintheimplementedADC.However,
thisismainlyattributedtoadesignimplementationerrorwith
voltage buffers employed at the input of the SAR ADC
comparator.TheADCblockleveldiagramshowninFig.9
containsthesamecomparatorasshownintheproposedself
powered rectifier of Fig. 7. The main difference in
implementingthesetwoblocksisthat,fortheADC,voltage
buffers were placed at each input terminal. This was done
since the implemented digitaltoanalog converter (DAC)
within the SAR ADC is capacitive, a circuit needed to be
implemented to isolate the DAC output from its respective
comparator input.Forsymmetry, avoltage buffer wasalso
placedat theoppositeinputofthecomparator. Theoverall
INLandDNLoftheproposedSARADCwereexacerbated
bytheimplementedvoltagebuffers.Thisisbecausetheinput
toeachvoltagebufferwasthegateofanNMOStransistor.
TheNMOSdevicewasnot abletosufficiently turnonfor
inputlevelsbelowapproximately0.3 V whileathighinput
levelsotherdeviceswithinthevoltagebufferwerenotableto
functionproperlyandthedevicessaturated.Simulationsshow
thataslongasthecomparatorinputremainscenteredaround
Vdd /2 and stays above approximately 0.2 V and below
approximatelyVdd0.5V,theoperationoftheADCisfairly
close to ideal. In a future design, an improved comparator
and/orimprovedvoltagebufferswillbeimplemented.
D.RectifierPoweringtheADC

To show the rectifiers ability to power the ADC,

the proposed 4 stage rectifier multiplier was used to
power the proposed 6 bit SAR ADC. An external
clock was used for the ADC and an input amplitude
of 1.2 V at 20 Hz was used to drive the rectifier.
The measurement results are shown in Fig. 18.

IV.CONCLUSION
In this paper we have proposed a magnetic shape memory
alloybased selfpowered sensor system for structural health
monitoring of highway bridges. System level design consid
erations were discussed and circuits were proposed for key
elements of the sensor system. Some of the most important
blocks of the system were designed, fabricated, and charac
terized. Measurement results on the MSMA material were
presentedandshowtheproposedNiMnCoInMSMAisaviable
materialfordeploymentasanenergyharvesterforaselfpowered
system. Additionally, rectification circuitry and a lowpower
ADCweredesigned,fabricatedandcharacterized.Toshowthe
benefitsofimplementingtheADC,andperhapsothercircuitry,in
a smaller technology node, simulations were performed to
characterizethepowerconsumptionoftheADC.Themeasured
resultsforthepresenteddevices wereingoodagreementwith
simulationsandtheory.
.