Energy-harvesting-based WSNs
- (Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications)
- Overview
Energy harvesting-based WSNs (EHWSNs) are wireless sensor networks that can extract energy from their environment. The harvested energy is converted to electrical energy and stored in a storage device to power the sensor nodes.
Energy harvesting can use a variety of sources of energy, including:
- Solar power
- Wind
- Mechanical vibrations
- Temperature variations
- Magnetic fields
- Radio Frequency (RF)
- Ambient light
- RF signals broadcast by wireless transmitters
EHWSNs can help eliminate the need to replace or replenish batteries for sensor nodes. A WSN should be self-powering, long-lasting, and almost maintenance-free.
Each sensor node on a wireless network has an energy-harvesting unit, energy storage unit, and sensors. The energy-harvesting systems also store the energy that is generated, which can be used later when the energy source is passive.
The key mission of energy harvesting is to effectively utilize small amounts of energy.
[More to come ...]
