Operating Wireless Sensor Nodes without Energy Storage: Experimental Results with Transient Computing

Abstract

Abstract:Energy harvesting is increasingly used for powering wireless sensor network nodes. Recently, it has been suggested to combine it with the concept of transient computing whereby the wireless sensor nodes operate without energy storage capabilities. This new combined approach brings benefits, for instance ultra-low power nodes and reduced maintenance, but also raises new challenges, foremost dealing with nodes that may be left without power for various time periods.Although transient computing has been demonstrated on microcontrollers, reports on experiments with wireless sensor nodes are still scarce in the literature. In this paper, we describe our experiments with solar, thermal, and RF energy harvesting sources that are used to power sensor nodes (including wireless ones) without energy storage, but with transient computing capabilities. The results show that the selected solar and thermal energy sources can operate both the wired and wireless nodes without energy storage, whereas in our specific implementation, the developed RF energy source can only be used for the selected nodes without wireless connectivity.

Powering the Environmental Internet of Things

“…This technique utilises only instantaneous energy available from an energy-harvesting system, performing processing tasks when energy is sufficient and turning off when it can no longer sustain operation. A number of studies have investigated the use of this methodology in practice with promising results [9,10]. The largest advantage of this kind of technology is the removal of the need for significant local energy storage onboard a sensor node, paving the way for devices to be smaller and to offer less of a risk of contamination to the environment [11].…”

Dual-Source Linear Energy Prediction (LINE-P) Model in the Context of WSNs

“…In this context, energy harvesting is an increasingly popular approach used for powering wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes. Various energy harvesting methods and techniques have been proposed and developed over the last decade [ 2 ]; such approaches are typically used to complement more traditional energy storage devices such as rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors, or even to replace them all together as in battery-less nodes that operate according to the principles of transient computing [ 3 ].…”

“…Moreover, research shows that, at least as of today, a node’s radio chip consumes the largest amount of energy as compared to computation and sensing operations [ 3 ]. Proper management of radio consumption can be more effective if the microcontroller of a WSN node can be programmed in such a way that it performs the transmission/reception operations in accordance to the predicted energy availability.…”

“…As a solution, a node remains in the idle state and wakes up when the energy is predicted and performs transmission/receiving at that time. Energy prediction can be seen as an alternative solution [ 3 ], which can control the computation and communication operations in the WSN nodes, although energy optimizations techniques can also be applied with modifications, e.g., in the MAC (media access control) protocol [ 6 ].…”

Outage and Throughput of WPCN-SWIPT Networks with Nonlinear EH Model in Nakagami-m Fading

“…In the EH family, solar, wind, thermal, and vibration energy are very popular renewable energy resources. However, because of their unpredictability and uncontrollability, it is difficult for them to support sustainable and reliable communications [9][10][11]. Moreover, there is another kind of 2 of 16 energy source, i.e., radio-frequency (RF) energy, which delivers energy via RF signals.…”