Freely Reaped Electromagnetic Energy (FREE) 2016-2017

The goal of the project is to research and design a circuit to harvest ambient radio waves. This harvested energy will then be applied to a useful application.

Energy In Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic radiation is used in many different devices around us. In order to transmit a wave one must first spend energy to create that wave. Many understand that energy is used in the creation of an electromagnetic wave, but fewer realise that a lot of that energy is still contained in that wave.

Problem Statement
Many of the electronic devices around us communicate in wirelessly. In this process some of the energy in the transmitted wave is collected by the target devices, but much of it just fades out into the background. The issue is that there is energy all around us that could be harvested, yet it fades away, untapped.

Specifications
In order to get the best potential results out of the project, it was split into the following three phases. Each phase progresses both the complexity and capability in a relatively linear manner.

Phase 1: Wall Antenna
The goal of this phase is purely proof of concept. The design holds little limitation on antenna size, and the only device using the power is an energy storage device to collect the harvested energy.

Phase 2: WiFi Tester
This next stage constricts two of the specifications from Phase 1. First, the apparatus will have to be handheld, so there will be limitations on the size of the antenna(s). The other part will be that there will be a microcontroller and an LED to indicate the relative power that will be received.

Phase 3: Remote Sensor
This is the final phase of the project as it is both the most complex and has the highest power requirements. Continuing from Phase 2, the microcontroller will be maintained, while the LED will be replaced by a sensor. The microcontroller will periodically read the data from the sensor and store it in memory to be collected at a later date. Additional work will also be done in order to find radio frequencies to harvest from that will be accessible at the remote location.

Design Development
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Testing
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Project Learning
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Final Design
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Team Bios
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