UHF RFID-based Additively Manufactured Passive Wireless Sensor for Detecting Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris Impacts

Abstract

During the last decade, the use of wireless sensor networks (WSN) has grown up exponentially for many applications because of the improvements in deployment processes and ability to sense the events in real-time. The combination of the WSN features with the direct print additive manufacturing process (DPAM), which uses fused deposition modeling (FDM) and microdispensing, enables the fabrication of complex structure with flexible features. By integrating an RFID IC sensor tag and an antenna, a low-cost passive wireless node is shown in this work. In this sense, the design, manufacturing, and testing of a 3D-printed UHF RFID passive wireless sensor that can be used to detect impacts from micrometeoroid and orbital debris are presented. The designed antenna was fabricated using Kapton wrapping and the DPAM process to achieve an antenna gain of 3.92 dBi at 915 MHz, which is dependent on the size and conductivity of the ground plane. The resistance sensing range of the passive wireless node is up 2 MΩ with a range of 1.9 m. The sensor is tested using a micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact sensing element. The manufacturing process and design presented in this work enable future in-space wireless sensor fabrication to support human space exploration.