Thèse Capteurs sans Fil et sans Batterie pour une Transition Durable de l'Industrie Aéronautique et Spatiale H/F - Doctorat.Gouv.Fr

Établissement : Université de Toulouse École doctorale : GEETS - Génie Electrique Electronique,Télécommunications et Santé : du système au nanosystème Laboratoire de recherche : LAAS - Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systèmes Direction de la thèse : Alexandru TAKACS ORCID 0000000154857817 Début de la thèse : 2027-09-01 Date limite de candidature : 2026-11-23T23:59:59 Today, deploying wireless sensors on a large scale during industrial manufacturing processes has become a critical necessity for the aeronautics and space industry. Operating on batteries, these sensors present several drawbacks, concerning their lifetime, maintenance, and environmental/recycling footprint.
This thesis focuses on developing beyond-state-of-the-art, eco-friendly, battery-free wireless sensors to support the sustainable transition of industrial processes in the aeronautics and space industry. The sensors will operate without batteries by using energy-harvesting approaches (when environmental energy is available), and/or wireless power transfer techniques, in which case they will be wirelessly powered from a dedicated RF source. This will be achieved through the implementation of simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) technology. The wireless transmission of measured physical data or related identification information will use established protocols (e.g. BLE, LoRaWAN, UWB) or will rely on energy-efficient backscattering techniques. This approach-whether using a capacitor or supercapacitor as a storage element, or operating completely without a battery (in backscattering mode)-will improve sensor lifetime, address environmental and recycling concerns, and drastically reduce maintenance costs. Through these innovative approaches, the thesis will foster the sustainable transition and increase the competitiveness of the European aeronautics and space industry. LAAS-CNRS/University of Toulouse and Polytechnique Montréal have internationally recognized expertise in the development of eco-friendly, battery-free wireless sensors developed for Structural Health Monitoring and Internet of Things applications [1]-[3]. This thesis will propose innovative solutions, beyond the state of the art, tailored to the aeronautics and space industry, thereby fostering a sustainable transition and transformation of this sector.
The battery-free operation can be implemented by harvesting energy from environmental sources (when available) such as solar, mechanical, thermal, or electromagnetic energy. It is the most sustainable solution but presents two major drawbacks: the limited availability of such sources and their fluctuation and intermittence over time, which makes them impractical for many applications. To provide a more reliable solution, an approach based on wireless power transfer [4] in the context of SWIPT [5] will be developed during the thesis, considering the specificities of the aeronautics and space industry.
Methodology: The Ph.D. candidate will benefit from the state-of-the-art expertise of the supervisor's research teams. Strong interaction with aeronautics industrial players from the Occitanie Region in France is expected, through the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster. International collaborations, fostered by the joint participation of the thesis supervisors in the IEEE Wireless Power Technologies Initiative and the IEEE MTT-S TC-25 Wireless Power Transfer and Energy Conversion Committee are also envisaged.
[1]. RF Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer for Energy Autonomous Wireless Devices and RFIDs. IEEE Journal of Microwaves, 3(2), 763-782, 2023
[2]. Autonomous Industrial IoT for Civil Engineering Structural Health Monitoring, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 8921-8944, 1 March, 2024, 10.1109/JIOT.2023.3321958
[3]. Wirelessly Powered Battery-Free Sensing Nodes for Internet of Things Applications, IEEE Microwave Magazine, 2025, 26 (7), pp.26-46, 10.1109/MMM.2024.3488593
[4]. Radiative Wireless Power Transfer: Where We Are and Where We Want to Go, IEEE Microwave Magazine, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 57-79, Feb. 2023, 10.1109/MMM.2022.3210145
[5]. SWIPT Base Stations for Battery-Free, Wirelessly Powered IoT Networks: A Review on Architectures, Circuits and Technologies. IEEE Microwave Magazine, 25(6), 22-40, 2024 LAAS-CNRS/University of Toulouse and Polytechnique Montréal have (already) research concerning sustainable, eco-friendly battery-free wireless sensors for IoT or civil engineering application. The thesis will allow to extend the application field to aeronautics industry. Fostering the sustainable transition in the aeronautics and space industry by proposing a sustainable, eco-friendly solution of battery-free wireless sensors adapted for this industry.
Methodology: The Ph.D. candidate will benefit from the state-of-the-art expertise of the supervisor's research teams. Strong interaction with aeronautics industrial players from the Occitanie Region in France is expected, through the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster. International collaborations, fostered by the joint participation of the thesis supervisors in the IEEE Wireless Power Technologies Initiative (https://wirelesspower.ieee.org/) and the IEEE MTT-S TC-25 Wireless Power Transfer and Energy Conversion Committee (https://mtt.org/technical-committees/tc-25-wireless-power-transfer-and-energy-conversion-committee/ ) are also envisaged.

Master (M2) or engineering diploma in electronics with skills required in the fields of analog and digital electronics, RF circuits and antennas, electromagnetic simulations, embedded systems, embedded software for wireless communications (e.g. BLE, LoraWAN, UWB)

Application link : https://edd-projets.utoulouse.fr/