MISSION
The piezoelectric floor tile will be used in a sensing application for security purposes. The design will utilize Zigbee wireless transmission for communication between the tile and a remote computer. The tile will work in two different ways. During times in which security monitoring is not needed and people will be walking on the floor continuously, the tile will harvest the energy created by the piezoelectric strips. When being used as a security sensor, any step on the tile will create energy that is sent to a microprocessor and the microprocessor will send a short message to the remote computer noting that there was movement in the floor. The capacitor network in the energy harvesting circuitry is crucial as it will be used continuously power the microprocessor and the Zigbee transmitter. The circuitry must not only be efficient in charging, but cannot lose its charge too fast as it will need to power the circuitry for potentially long periods of time without recharge.
