Wireless power transfer from unmanned aerial vehicle to low-power wide area network nodes: Performance and business prospects for LoRaWAN

Abstract

Supported by the remarkable progress across many technological domains, the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem demonstrates steady growth over the few past years. This growth enables a number of new exciting applications. Nonetheless, hardly one can say today that the utility of the IoT is used to its full potential. This fact is especially notable for the monitoring applications deployed in remote areas. To address the needs of these use cases, in the article we propose a solution based on the combination of three key technologies: the low-power wide area networks, the unmanned aerial vehicles, and the wireless power transfer. In the article, we first detail the novel concept of a wireless power transfer-enabled unmanned aerial vehicle employed to charge the LoRaWAN sensor nodes. Then, via extensive simulations and analysis of an illustrative LoRaWAN application, we investigate both technical and, notably, business performance indicators, and compare them against the ones for a baseline scenario with no unmanned aerial vehicle. Our results illustratively demonstrate that in the long-term perspective, the inclusion of a wireless power transfer-enabled drone may drastically reduce the system's operating expenses. At the very same time, our results highlight the limits, bottlenecks, and trade-offs related to the proposed concept, thus providing the basis and calling for further investigation.

UAV-Based Servicing of IoT Nodes: Assessment of Ecological Impact

“…Related work. Tiurlikova et al [ 12 ] propose a UAV equipped with an inductive WPT link to charge LoRaWAN-enabled devices. Alternatively, Tiurlikova et al [ 13 ] present a multi-UAV energy harvesting network with multiple UAVs transmitting energy to several nodes through RF links.…”

Data collection from LoRaWAN sensor network by UAV gateway: design, empirical results and dataset

“…energy consumption of the EDs by up to 59% Developed and realized lab tests [5] - [6] as well as an experiment of a flying LoRaWAN Yes 2 GW equipped with a simulated satellite connection Obtained an analytical model that can be used [7] to configure the path of the drone to guarantee No n.a. a given probability of collecting LoRaWAN sensor data Developed a prototype where LoRaWAN [8] is used on a drone to wake up high power Yes 1 5-GHz transmitters on the ground Simulations and financial analysis of a prototype drone tasked with charging LoRaWAN [9] sensors placed in a remote location proved to be No n.a. advantageous compared to manually replacing all sensors' batteries and eliminate packet collisions.…”

“…The results can be used to determine the layout of the sensors on the ground, the type of drone to utilize, and the path shape that needs to be followed together with the battery size of the aircraft. A quite different approach to the use of drones for LoRaWAN networks is proposed in Tiurlikova et al [9], where a drone equipped with wireless power transfer is evaluated as a means to replenish the batteries of all the LoRaWAN sensors of a remote deployment. The paper carries out feasibility and financial sustainability simulations comparing this approach with manual battery servicing.…”