A Survey on Mobile Charging Techniques in Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks

The recent breakthrough in wireless power transfer (WPT) technology has empowered wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs) by facilitating stable and continuous energy supply to sensors through mobile chargers (MCs). A plethora of studies have been carried out over the last decade in this regard. However, no comprehensive survey exists to compile the state-of-the-art literature and provide insight into future research directions. To fill this gap, we put forward a detailed survey on mobile charging techniques (MCTs) in WRSNs. In particular, we first describe the network model, various WPT techniques with empirical models, system design issues and performance metrics concerning the MCTs. Next, we introduce an exhaustive taxonomy of the MCTs based on various design attributes and then review the literature by categorizing it into periodic and on-demand charging techniques. In addition, we compare the state-of-the-art MCTs in terms of objectives, constraints, solution approaches, charging options, design issues, performance metrics, evaluation methods, and limitations. Finally, we highlight some potential directions for future research

Enhancing the Performance of Energy Harvesting Sensor Networks for Environmental Monitoring Applications

Fast development in hardware miniaturization and massive production of sensors make them cost efficient and vastly available to be used in various applications in our daily life more specially in environment monitoring applications. However, energy consumption is still one of the barriers slowing down the development of several applications. Slow development in battery technology, makes energy harvesting (EH) as a prime candidate to eliminate the sensor’s energy barrier. EH sensors can be the solution to enabling future applications that would be extremely costly using conventional battery-powered sensors. In this paper, we analyze the performance improvement and evaluation of EH sensors in various situations. A network model is developed to allow us to examine different scenarios. We borrow a clustering concept, as a proven method to improve energy efficiency in conventional sensor network and brought it to EH sensor networks to study its effect on the performance of the network in different scenarios. Moreover, a dynamic and distributed transmission power management for sensors is proposed and evaluated in both networks, with and without clustering, to study the effect of power balancing on the network end-to-end performance. The simulation results indicate that, by using clustering and transmission power adjustment, the power consumption can be distributed in the network more efficiently, which result in improving the network performance in terms of a packet delivery ratio by 20%, 10% higher network lifetime by having more alive nodes and also achieving lower delay by reducing the hop-count

Wireless-powered cooperative communications: protocol design, performance analysis and resource allocation

Radio frequency (RF) energy transfer technique has attracted much attention and has recently been regarded as a key enabling technique for wireless-powered communications. However, the high attenuation of RF energy transfer over distance has greatly limited the performance and applications of WPCNs in practical scenarios. To overcome this essential hurdle, in this thesis we propose to combat the propagation attenuation by incorporating cooperative communication techniques in WPCNs. This opens a new paradigm named wireless-powered cooperative communication and raises many new research opportunities with promising applications. In this thesis, we focus on the novel protocol design, performance analysis and resource allocation of wireless-powered cooperative communication networks (WPCCNs). We first propose a harvest-then-cooperate (HTC) protocol for WPCCNs, where the wireless-powered source and relay(s) harvest energy from the AP in the downlink (DL) and work cooperatively in the uplink (UL) for transmitting source information. The average throughput performance of the HTC protocol with two single relay selection schemes is analyzed. We then design two novel protocols and study the optimal resource allocation for another setup of WPCCNs with a hybrid relay that has a constant power supply. Besides cooperating with the source for UL information transmission, the hybrid relay also transmits RF energy concurrently with the AP during the DL energy transfer phase. Subsequently, we adopt the Stackelberg game to model the strategic interactions in power beacon (PB)-assisted WPCCNs, where PBs are deployed to provide wireless charging services to wireless-powered users via RF energy transfer and are installed by different operators with the AP. Finally, we develop a distributed power splitting framework using non-cooperative game theory for a large-scale WPCCN, where multiple source-destination pairs communicate through their dedicated wireless-powered relays

Energy-Sustainable IoT Connectivity: Vision, Technological Enablers, Challenges, and Future Directions

Technology solutions must effectively balance economic growth, social equity, and environmental integrity to achieve a sustainable society. Notably, although the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm constitutes a key sustainability enabler, critical issues such as the increasing maintenance operations, energy consumption, and manufacturing/disposal of IoT devices have long-term negative economic, societal, and environmental impacts and must be efficiently addressed. This calls for self-sustainable IoT ecosystems requiring minimal external resources and intervention, effectively utilizing renewable energy sources, and recycling materials whenever possible, thus encompassing energy sustainability. In this work, we focus on energy-sustainable IoT during the operation phase, although our discussions sometimes extend to other sustainability aspects and IoT lifecycle phases. Specifically, we provide a fresh look at energy-sustainable IoT and identify energy provision, transfer, and energy efficiency as the three main energy-related processes whose harmonious coexistence pushes toward realizing self-sustainable IoT systems. Their main related technologies, recent advances, challenges, and research directions are also discussed. Moreover, we overview relevant performance metrics to assess the energy-sustainability potential of a certain technique, technology, device, or network and list some target values for the next generation of wireless systems. Overall, this paper offers insights that are valuable for advancing sustainability goals for present and future generations.Comment: 25 figures, 12 tables, submitted to IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Societ

Design and stochastic analysis of emerging large-scale wireless-powered sensor networks

Premi Extraordinari de Doctorat, promoció 2016-2017. Àmbit d’Enginyeria de les TICUndeniably, the progress in wireless networks during the last two decades is extraordinary. However, the ever-increasing upward trend in the numbers of wireless devices that will overwhelm every field of our everyday life, e.g., building automation, traffic management, health-care, etc., will introduce several issues in terms of communication and energy provision that need to be handled in advance. Regarding the communication issues, it is imperative to ensure the correct operation of the vast collection of nodes, especially for life-critical applications. Two well-known metrics that can characterize sufficiently the network reliability are the coverage and the connectivity probability that are derived by taking into account the network topology, the channel conditions between every transmitter-receiver pair, and the interference from other nodes. Nevertheless, considering all those factors is not straightforward. Lately, stochastic geometry has come into prominence, which is a mathematical tool to study the average network performance over many spatial realizations, while considering all aforementioned factors. Moreover, the other crucial issue for the large-scale dense network deployments of the future is their energy supply. Traditional battery charging or swapping for the wireless devices is both inconvenient and harms the environment, especially if we take into account the enormous numbers of nodes. Therefore, novel solutions have to be found using renewable energy sources to zero down the significant electricity consumption. Wireless energy harvesting is a convenient and environmentally-friendly approach to prolong the lifetime of networks by harvesting the energy from radio-frequency (RF) signals and converting it to direct current electricity through specialized hardware. The RF energy could be harvested from signals generated in the same or other networks. However, if the amount of harvested energy is not sufficient, solar-powered dedicated transmitters could be employed. In this way, we can achieve a favorable outcome by having both a zero-energy network operation and convenience in the charging of the wireless devices. Still, extensive investigation should be done in order to ensure that the communication performance is not affected. To that end, in this thesis, we study the communication performance in large-scale networks using tools from stochastic geometry. The networks that we study comprise wireless devices that are able to harvest the energy of RF signals. In the first part of the thesis, we present the effects of wireless energy harvesting from the transmissions of the cooperative network on the coverage probability and the network lifetime. In the second part of the thesis, we first employ batteryless nodes that are powered by dedicated RF energy transmitters to study the connectivity probability. Then, we assume that the dedicated transmitters are powered by solar energy to study the connectivity in a clustered network and investigate, for the first time, the reliability of zero-energy networks. Finally, we conclude the thesis by providing insightful research challenges for future works.Innegablemente, el progreso en las redes inalámbricas durante las últimas dos décadas es extraordinario. Sin embargo, la creciente tendencia al alza en el número de dispositivos inalámbricos que abarcarán todos los ámbitos de nuestra vida cotidiana, como la automatización de edificios, la gestión del tráfico, la atención sanitaria, etc., introducirá varias cuestiones en términos de comunicación y suministro de energía que se debe tener en cuenta con antelación. Respecto a los problemas de comunicación, es imprescindible asegurar el correcto funcionamiento de la vasta colección de nodos, especialmente para las aplicaciones vitales. Dos métricas bien conocidas que pueden caracterizar suficientemente la fiabilidad de la red son la probabilidad de cobertura y la de conectividad, que se derivan teniendo en cuenta la topología de la red, las condiciones del canal entre cada par transmisor-receptor y la interferencia de otros nodos. Sin embargo, considerar todos esos factores no es sencillo. Últimamente, la geometría estocástica ha llegado a la prominencia como un metodo de análisis, que es una herramienta matemática para estudiar el rendimiento promedio de la red sobre muchas realizaciones espaciales, teniendo en cuenta todos los factores mencionados. Además, la otra cuestión crucial para los despliegues de alta densidad de las redes futuras es su suministro de energía. La carga o el intercambio de baterías para los dispositivos inalámbricos es inconveniente y daña el medio ambiente, especialmente si tenemos en cuenta el enorme número de nodos utilizados. Por lo tanto, se deben encontrar nuevas soluciones utilizando fuentes de energía renovables para reducir el consumo de electricidad. La recolección de energía inalámbrica es un método conveniente y respetuoso con el medio ambiente para prolongar la vida útil de las redes recolectando la energía de las señales de radiofrecuencia (RF) y convirtiéndola en electricidad de corriente continua mediante un hardware especializado. La energía de RF podría ser obtenida a partir de señales generadas en la misma o en otras redes. Sin embargo, si la cantidad de energía obtenida no es suficiente, podrían emplearse transmisores de energía inalambricos que la obtuvieran mediante paneles fotovoltaicos. De esta manera, podemos lograr un resultado favorable teniendo tanto una operación de red de energía cero como una conveniencia en la carga de los dispositivos inalámbricos. Por lo tanto, una investigación exhaustiva debe hacerse con el fin de garantizar que el rendimiento de la comunicación no se ve afectada. En esta tesis se estudia el rendimiento de la comunicación en redes de gran escala utilizando técnicas de geometría estocástica. Las redes que se estudian comprenden dispositivos inalámbricos capaces de recoger la energía de las señales RF. En la primera parte de la tesis, presentamos los efectos de la recolección de energía inalámbrica de las transmisiones de la red cooperativa sobre la probabilidad de cobertura y la vida útil de la red. En la segunda parte de la tesis, primero empleamos nodos sin baterías que son alimentados por transmisores de energía de RF para estudiar la probabilidad de conectividad. A continuación, asumimos que los transmisores dedicados son alimentados por energía solar para estudiar la conectividad en una red agrupada (clustered network) e investigar, por primera vez, la fiabilidad de las redes de energía cero. Finalmente, concluimos la tesis aportando nuevas lineas de investigación para trabajos futurosAward-winningPostprint (published version

A state communication and software switching module and thin middleware layer for reconfiguration management in reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

M. Sc. Eng. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2015.Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems are a new area of operations and manufacturing research. The global need for production systems which can react rapidly to dynamic markets has increased in the last decade and will continue to drive changes in the manufacturing industry. The further development of RMS technologies is therefore highly important for future industries. The Reconfiguration Management and Middleware System (RMMS) developed in this research aimed to form a hardware-supported middleware technology which allows for the fast and seamless ramp-up of heterogeneous machine controllers on a newly reconfigured factory floor. The goal was to allow for the autonomous assignment and switching of software routines on machine controllers after a physical reconfiguration, thereby speeding up the ramp-up of the system. The technology was based on a recorded literature review and fits into the paradigm of RMS. The RMMS was developed not as a traditional software-heavy layer, but as a thin layer of software assisted by interactive mechatronic hardware, designed to remove heterogeneity in the control software. The system design was based on research into areas of engineering and operations management and followed the Mechatronic design approach. The literature led to a technology that takes the entire RMS paradigm into account and the development was conducted in conjunction with experiments to verify the individual functionality of each sub-system and ensure the overall system’s success. The RMMS uses hardware to handle heterogeneity and uses a positioning system (developed by the author) along with an intelligent processing system (a clustering algorithm and artificial intelligence engine) to construct data into a factory floor model. The positioning system, when assisted by the intelligence, operates at an accuracy of over 90%, which is comparable to commercial positioning techniques which cost over ten times more. The RMMS used the developed model to, autonomously and wirelessly, assign new programs to machine controllers after a physical reconfiguration, to complete a factory reconfiguration. The system was verified through practical scenarios constructed in the Mechatronics laboratory. Realistic reconfiguration operations were performed and the RMMS was required to detect changes in the factory floor and respond by assigning new, appropriate, software routines to each machine controller in the system. Experiments have proved that the system was capable of re-establishing operations in under half an hour, as opposed to a full day using manual techniques. The system has accurately switched between control routines based on the physical state of the factory floor, which amounts to control reconfiguration. The reconfiguration of factory floor control was successful in four out of four factory layouts tested and therefore successfully does a job no commercially available system can do

Design and stochastic analysis of emerging large-scale wireless-powered sensor networks

Undeniably, the progress in wireless networks during the last two decades is extraordinary. However, the ever-increasing upward trend in the numbers of wireless devices that will overwhelm every field of our everyday life, e.g., building automation, traffic management, health-care, etc., will introduce several issues in terms of communication and energy provision that need to be handled in advance. Regarding the communication issues, it is imperative to ensure the correct operation of the vast collection of nodes, especially for life-critical applications. Two well-known metrics that can characterize sufficiently the network reliability are the coverage and the connectivity probability that are derived by taking into account the network topology, the channel conditions between every transmitter-receiver pair, and the interference from other nodes. Nevertheless, considering all those factors is not straightforward. Lately, stochastic geometry has come into prominence, which is a mathematical tool to study the average network performance over many spatial realizations, while considering all aforementioned factors. Moreover, the other crucial issue for the large-scale dense network deployments of the future is their energy supply. Traditional battery charging or swapping for the wireless devices is both inconvenient and harms the environment, especially if we take into account the enormous numbers of nodes. Therefore, novel solutions have to be found using renewable energy sources to zero down the significant electricity consumption. Wireless energy harvesting is a convenient and environmentally-friendly approach to prolong the lifetime of networks by harvesting the energy from radio-frequency (RF) signals and converting it to direct current electricity through specialized hardware. The RF energy could be harvested from signals generated in the same or other networks. However, if the amount of harvested energy is not sufficient, solar-powered dedicated transmitters could be employed. In this way, we can achieve a favorable outcome by having both a zero-energy network operation and convenience in the charging of the wireless devices. Still, extensive investigation should be done in order to ensure that the communication performance is not affected. To that end, in this thesis, we study the communication performance in large-scale networks using tools from stochastic geometry. The networks that we study comprise wireless devices that are able to harvest the energy of RF signals. In the first part of the thesis, we present the effects of wireless energy harvesting from the transmissions of the cooperative network on the coverage probability and the network lifetime. In the second part of the thesis, we first employ batteryless nodes that are powered by dedicated RF energy transmitters to study the connectivity probability. Then, we assume that the dedicated transmitters are powered by solar energy to study the connectivity in a clustered network and investigate, for the first time, the reliability of zero-energy networks. Finally, we conclude the thesis by providing insightful research challenges for future works.Innegablemente, el progreso en las redes inalámbricas durante las últimas dos décadas es extraordinario. Sin embargo, la creciente tendencia al alza en el número de dispositivos inalámbricos que abarcarán todos los ámbitos de nuestra vida cotidiana, como la automatización de edificios, la gestión del tráfico, la atención sanitaria, etc., introducirá varias cuestiones en términos de comunicación y suministro de energía que se debe tener en cuenta con antelación. Respecto a los problemas de comunicación, es imprescindible asegurar el correcto funcionamiento de la vasta colección de nodos, especialmente para las aplicaciones vitales. Dos métricas bien conocidas que pueden caracterizar suficientemente la fiabilidad de la red son la probabilidad de cobertura y la de conectividad, que se derivan teniendo en cuenta la topología de la red, las condiciones del canal entre cada par transmisor-receptor y la interferencia de otros nodos. Sin embargo, considerar todos esos factores no es sencillo. Últimamente, la geometría estocástica ha llegado a la prominencia como un metodo de análisis, que es una herramienta matemática para estudiar el rendimiento promedio de la red sobre muchas realizaciones espaciales, teniendo en cuenta todos los factores mencionados. Además, la otra cuestión crucial para los despliegues de alta densidad de las redes futuras es su suministro de energía. La carga o el intercambio de baterías para los dispositivos inalámbricos es inconveniente y daña el medio ambiente, especialmente si tenemos en cuenta el enorme número de nodos utilizados. Por lo tanto, se deben encontrar nuevas soluciones utilizando fuentes de energía renovables para reducir el consumo de electricidad. La recolección de energía inalámbrica es un método conveniente y respetuoso con el medio ambiente para prolongar la vida útil de las redes recolectando la energía de las señales de radiofrecuencia (RF) y convirtiéndola en electricidad de corriente continua mediante un hardware especializado. La energía de RF podría ser obtenida a partir de señales generadas en la misma o en otras redes. Sin embargo, si la cantidad de energía obtenida no es suficiente, podrían emplearse transmisores de energía inalambricos que la obtuvieran mediante paneles fotovoltaicos. De esta manera, podemos lograr un resultado favorable teniendo tanto una operación de red de energía cero como una conveniencia en la carga de los dispositivos inalámbricos. Por lo tanto, una investigación exhaustiva debe hacerse con el fin de garantizar que el rendimiento de la comunicación no se ve afectada. En esta tesis se estudia el rendimiento de la comunicación en redes de gran escala utilizando técnicas de geometría estocástica. Las redes que se estudian comprenden dispositivos inalámbricos capaces de recoger la energía de las señales RF. En la primera parte de la tesis, presentamos los efectos de la recolección de energía inalámbrica de las transmisiones de la red cooperativa sobre la probabilidad de cobertura y la vida útil de la red. En la segunda parte de la tesis, primero empleamos nodos sin baterías que son alimentados por transmisores de energía de RF para estudiar la probabilidad de conectividad. A continuación, asumimos que los transmisores dedicados son alimentados por energía solar para estudiar la conectividad en una red agrupada (clustered network) e investigar, por primera vez, la fiabilidad de las redes de energía cero. Finalmente, concluimos la tesis aportando nuevas lineas de investigación para trabajos futuro

Wireless Monitoring Systems for Long-Term Reliability Assessment of Bridge Structures based on Compressed Sensing and Data-Driven Interrogation Methods.

The state of the nation’s highway bridges has garnered significant public attention due to large inventories of aging assets and insufficient funds for repair. Current management methods are based on visual inspections that have many known limitations including reliance on surface evidence of deterioration and subjectivity introduced by trained inspectors. To address the limitations of current inspection practice, structural health monitoring (SHM) systems can be used to provide quantitative measures of structural behavior and an objective basis for condition assessment. SHM systems are intended to be a cost effective monitoring technology that also automates the processing of data to characterize damage and provide decision information to asset managers. Unfortunately, this realization of SHM systems does not currently exist. In order for SHM to be realized as a decision support tool for bridge owners engaged in performance- and risk-based asset management, technological hurdles must still be overcome. This thesis focuses on advancing wireless SHM systems. An innovative wireless monitoring system was designed for permanent deployment on bridges in cold northern climates which pose an added challenge as the potential for solar harvesting is reduced and battery charging is slowed. First, efforts advancing energy efficient usage strategies for WSNs were made. With WSN energy consumption proportional to the amount of data transmitted, data reduction strategies are prioritized. A novel data compression paradigm termed compressed sensing is advanced for embedment in a wireless sensor microcontroller. In addition, fatigue monitoring algorithms are embedded for local data processing leading to dramatic data reductions. In the second part of the thesis, a radical top-down design strategy (in contrast to global vibration strategies) for a monitoring system is explored to target specific damage concerns of bridge owners. Data-driven algorithmic approaches are created for statistical performance characterization of long-term bridge response. Statistical process control and reliability index monitoring are advanced as a scalable and autonomous means of transforming data into information relevant to bridge risk management. Validation of the wireless monitoring system architecture is made using the Telegraph Road Bridge (Monroe, Michigan), a multi-girder short-span highway bridge that represents a major fraction of the U.S. national inventory.PhDCivil EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116749/1/ocosean_1.pd

Intelligent Circuits and Systems

ICICS-2020 is the third conference initiated by the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Lovely Professional University that explored recent innovations of researchers working for the development of smart and green technologies in the fields of Energy, Electronics, Communications, Computers, and Control. ICICS provides innovators to identify new opportunities for the social and economic benefits of society.　 This conference bridges the gap between academics and R&D institutions, social visionaries, and experts from all strata of society to present their ongoing research activities and foster research relations between them. It provides opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, applications, and experiences in the field of smart technologies and finding global partners for future collaboration. The ICICS-2020 was conducted in two broad categories, Intelligent Circuits & Intelligent Systems and Emerging Technologies in Electrical Engineering