Continuous Volumetric Indoor Temperature Monitoring via PMUTs

This work presents a continuous volumetric indoor air temperature measurement scheme using PMUTs (piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers). Advancements as compared to state-of-art works include: (1) “volumetric” temperature monitoring instead traditional “pointwise” temperature information; (2) accurate temperature readings spanning an operational distance of 5 m as validated by a commercial thermometer for 3 days; and (3) capable of detecting global average temperature and local temperature events by installing networked/grid PMUT pairs. This innovative sensing technique could be applicable for the precision control of future building/living environments.