Improving the Energy Efficiency of Wireless Sensors through Smart Antenna Design

Abstract

There is a growing trend in the use of intelligent Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for a wide range of applications. In the early part of the decade the underlying hardware was largely in prototype form and used for small scale demonstration systems, but there is now growing interest in applications which are commercially viable. This work began on the premise that the sensor hardware has gradually become smaller, yet there are still a few peripheral components which are lagging behind; namely the battery and antenna. Here, a novel antenna design is presented; this antenna is of a practical size for use in WSNs, whilst also offering improved energy consumption over commonly used monopole antennas.