IoT4Ag researchers at the University of Florida are developing on wireless power technologies to deliver wireless power through metal structures or wet, muddy soil. Current wireless charging technologies generally only work through air. Research in Dr. David Arnold’s group has demonstrated wireless power delivery to wireless power receivers buried 5 cm to 50 cm underground.
The ability to recharge underground sensors and electronics will help accelerate deployment of smart IoT agricultural networks by minimizing the labor of unburying and replacing batteries. This work supports Thrust 2’s goals of powering IoT devices and data communication from heterogeneous platforms of sensors, robots and farming equipment.
A dual transduction (PE and ED) electrodynamic WPT receiver was developed and used to measure power transfer at sub-soil surfaces. Demonstration of wireless power transfer using low frequency devices in a real-world environment with low attenuation has been achieved.
Learn more about this work in recent publications in Micromachines and IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.
