5G-enabled, battery-less smart skins for self-monitoring megastructures and digital twin applications.

With the current development of the 5G infrastructure, there presents a unique opportunity for the deployment of battery-less mmWave reflect-array-based sensors. These fully-passive devices benefit from having a larger detectability than alternative battery-less solutions to create self-monitoring megastructures. The presented 'smart' skin sensor uses a Van-Atta array design enabling ubiquitous local strain monitoring for the structural health monitoring of composite materials featuring wide interrogation angles.