United States Patent: 7386289

United States Patent: 7386289: "The present invention is a sensor and sensor system comprising radio frequency integrated circuit means adapted as an environmental microsystem for the sensing of environmental stimulus and communication thereof. The system includes a sensor element integrally coupled to the radio frequency integrated circuit to provide functional means to the radio frequency integrated circuit. The sensed data is transmitted through the output port, which is integrally formed as part of the radio frequency integrated circuit. The overall system combines sensor and communication functions as a single integrated function to provide data for the surrounding environment in which the system is employed.

An inherent advantage of providing a system in which sensor and communication functions are integrated as a single function is that circuit manufacturers would be able to integrate sensor elements as part of the communication circuitry, thereby eliminating the need for separate manufacture processes to achieve the same purpose.

This environmentally sensitive telemetry circuit can be applied to wireless sensors in the radio frequency atmosphere and acoustics-underwater spheres. Furthermore, the scaling of the device can be miniaturized to permit access to new environmental phenomena at the micro and nano scale.

The use of a more compact integrated wireless environmental sensor has many applications: as a wireless mechanical sensor, a wireless microphone, a wireless temperature sensor, a wireless pressure sensor, a wireless chemical sensor, and modified with the proper recognition chemistry, a wireless biochemical sensor.

The fundamental operating principle for the microwireless integrated environmental sensor and transmitter system described herein, is that components of a radio frequency circuit can be interfaced to environmental signals resulting in predetermined changes in the transmission characteristics or transmission of data from the radio frequency transmitter circuit. This integration of environmentally sensitive elements within a wireless transceiver circuit permits the fusion of both sensor and communication functions into a single function.

The sensor element may comprise a mechanical means interactively coupled with the surrounding environment and adapted such that changes in the environmental surroundings of the sensor element results in changes in the mechanical parameters or position of the mechanical means. In addition, the mechanical means may be electromagnetically coupled to at least one of the elements the radio frequency integrated circuit, whereby the electromagnetic coupling would substantially modify at least one electrical property of the element for tuning of said radio frequency integrated circuit. The resulting radio frequency integrated circuit may be operable as a communications system, or a building block therefore, which provides a radio frequency output comprising data indicative of a sensed condition.

Additional flexibility may be achieved by modifying the sensor element, or mechanical means thereof, to be operable as a biochemical sensor for sensing environmental data comprised of biochemical stimuli.

The sensor element, or mechanical means thereof, may also be equipped with the required material to permit operation of the sensor element as a probe device to interact with a surface for probe measurements of a surface by the radio frequency integrated circuit.

The sensor element can be scaled to attain a higher or lower frequency of operation, but can also be configured so that the output of the circuit is modulated on top of a higher frequency carrier permitting more flexibility in overall circuit size and construction.

The environmentally sensitive elements can be mixed within a transmitter circuit and can be multiplexed into arrays for expanded sensing and phased array sensing strategies.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a sensor element is integrally coupled to a radio frequency integrated circuit, thereby combining both telemetry function and communications function into one integrated function for providing an output signal indicative of a sensed condition. The output signal is provided by an output port integrally formed to the radio frequency integrated circuit for the wireless communication of sensed data. The sensor system is adapted as an environmental sensor for sensing at least one physical, biological, or biochemical parameter.

The sensing function is facilitated by the sensor element, which comprises a mechanical means interactively coupled to the surrounding environment in which the sensor system is employed. This mechanical means is electromagnetically coupled to at least one element of the radio frequency integrated circuit in such a way as to modify at least one electrical property of at least one element of the radio frequency integrated circuit. The interaction between the mechanical means and the integrated circuit is such that the output signal is indicative of the environmental condition sensed by the sensor element, wherein the output signal of the radio frequency integrated signal was generated by the interaction between the sensor element with the surrounding environment.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the sensor element, or mechanical means thereof, can be equipped with the required material to permit a part of the mechanical means to physically interact with a surface in a probe configuration, the interaction of which results in changes in the electromagnetic interaction between the mechanical means and the radio frequency integrated circuit. As in the preferred embodiment, the mechanical means is electromagnetically coupled to at least one element of the radio frequency integrated circuit in such a way as to modify at least one electrical property of at least one element of said radio frequency integrated circuit."