Title
Modular plug-and-play power resources for energy-aware wireless sensor nodes
Abstract
Wireless sensors are normally powered by nonrechargeable batteries, but these must be replaced when depleted. Recent developments in energy harvesting technology allow sensors to be powered by environmental energy where it is present, but the wide range of situations where sensors are deployed means that it is desirable for the energy components of a sensor node (i.e. batteries, supercapacitors, and power generation devices) to be selected and configured at the time of node deployment. Previous energy harvesting-powered systems have been designed for specific energy hardware and been difficult to adapt for different resources. Energy-awareness is useful for state-of-the-art network algorithms, but present systems do not provide a standardized or straightforward way for nodes to monitor and manage their energy hardware. The developments reported in this paper deliver a reconfigurable energy subsystem for wireless autonomous sensors. The new system permits energy modules to be selected and fitted to the sensor node in-situ, in a plug-and-play manner, without the need for reprogramming or the modification of hardware. The node can monitor and intelligently manage its energy resources and assess its overall energy status by analyzing its level of stored energy and rate of power generation. These activities are facilitated by a proposed common hardware interface (which allows multiple energy modules to be connected) and an electronic datasheet structure for the energy modules. The system has been verified through the development and testing of a prototype wireless sensor node which operates from a mix of energy sources.
Year
Venue
Keywords
2009
SECON
energy resource,modular plug-and-play power resource,reconfigurable energy subsystem,multiple energy module,energy module,previous energy,overall energy status,energy component,environmental energy,energy hardware,energy source,power system,power generation,energy management,intelligent sensors,supercapacitors,resource management,wireless sensor networks,transducers,microcontrollers,energy harvesting,multiplexing,hardware
Field
DocType
Citations 
Sensor node,Key distribution in wireless sensor networks,Energy management,Computer science,Intelligent sensor,Energy harvesting,Energy source,Wireless sensor network,Electricity generation,Embedded system
Conference
5
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.94
2
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Alex S. Weddell122525.00
N. J. Grabham2173.25
N. R. Harris350.94
Neil M. White411214.77