Design, analysis and implementation of orthogonal frequency coding in SAW devices used for spread spectrum tags and sensors.

摘要

SAW based sensors can offer wireless, passive operation in numerous environments and various device embodiments are employed for retrieval of the sensed data information. Single sensor systems can typically use a single carrier frequency and a simple device embodiment, since tagging is not required. In a multi-sensor environment, it is necessary to both identify the sensor and retrieve the sensed information. This dissertation presents the concept of orthogonal frequency coding (OFC) for applications to SAW sensor technology. OFC offers all advantages inherent to spread spectrum communications including enhanced processing gain and lower interrogation power spectral density (PSD). It is shown that the time ambiguity in the OFC compressed pulse is significantly reduced as compared with a single frequency tag having the same code length and additional coding can be added using a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence. The OFC approach is general and should be applicable to many differing SAW sensors for temperature, pressure, liquid, gases, etc. Device embodiments are shown and a potential transceiver is described. Measured device results are presented and compared with COM model predictions to demonstrate performance. Devices are then used in computer simulations of the proposed transceiver design and the results of an OFC sensor system are discussed.