Inventors:
James William Evans - Piedmont CA, US
Michael Harris Schneider - Emeryville CA, US
Daniel Artemis Steingart - Berkeley CA, US
Paul K. Wright - Oakland CA, US
Donald P. Ziegler - Lower Burrell PA, US
Assignee:
The Retents of the University of California - Oakland CA
Alcoa Technical Center - Alcoa Center PA
International Classification:
G08C 19/12
US Classification:
34087017, 16625002, 34087016, 136205
Abstract:
A sensing system for sensing conditions or characteristics associated with a process or thing. The sensing system includes one or more energy converters and a sensor, which are coupled to the process or thing. A node is coupled to the sensor and the energy-converter, and the node is powered by output from the energy converter. In a more specific embodiment, the node includes a controller that implements one or more routines for selectively powering a wireless transmitter of the node based on a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition may specify that sensor output values are within a predetermined range or are below or above a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, the predetermined condition may specify that electrical energy output from the energy converter is below a predetermined threshold. A remote computer may be wirelessly connected to node and may include software and/or hardware that is adapted to process information output by the sensor and relayed to the computer via the node.