TRL's Wireless Sensing
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Applications of sprouts span wide range of domains. Sprouts PnP protocol provides a unique customization method using sensor modules, which allows the user to implement custom modules for specific applications. Custom sensor modules can be interchanged, reused, or combined to make new applications as needed.

Application examples:

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Oil and Gas industry



Sprouts sensor nodes can be deployed to monitor equipment integrity in harsh environments, monitor the thickness of excavation shovel teeth while in operation, monitoring for cracks in bridges, etc.

Sprouts is deployed in the harsh operating environments of the Oil-Sands to monitor huge vibration filter screens while utilizing energy harvesting from vibration to extend the lifetime of the sensor node. We apply Sprouts platform to monitor Syncrude's vibration screen and utilize an ultrasound thickness sensor module to monitor the screen.


Currently, Sprouts are being tested for the monitoring of Shovel teeth in Hydraulic excavation machines. The condition/location of each tooth is reported to the sink node. Filtered results are displayed on staff smartphones to facilitate prompt response. more info.

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Vibration screen monitoring project

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Shovel teeth monitoring project


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Power grid monitoring


A customized Sprouts sensor nodes (smartbee nodes) are deployed on power lines to monitor the load on these lines. The customized node is equipped by energy harvesting module that accumulate energy from the electromagnetic filed surrounding the power lines. The communication range of the Smartbee node is over 150m (LOS).

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Smartbee sensor node (EM energy harvesting module) and on board inverted F-antenna


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Intelligent parking solutions



As the demand for car parking space increases, control of car parking lots are getting more sophisticated. Sprouts platform, in addition to RFID,  are utilized to achieve an easy, accessible, and efficient  parking service that include payment services, lot access, and free parking spot notifications. The project is being conducted in Ottawa, Canada, where Sprouts nodes are deployed to detect the presence of a vehicle in a parking spot. The presence/absence detection of the vehicle allows several services to be delivered to customers and vendors.


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