Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting - Sources and Techniques

Energy harvesting technology is attracting huge attention and holds a promising future for generating electrical power. This process offers various environmentally friendly alternative energy sources. Especially, radio frequency (RF) energy has interesting key attributes that make it very attractive for low-power consumer electronics and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Ambient RF energy could be provided by commercial RF broadcasting stations such as TV, GSM, Wi-Fi, or radar. In this study, particular attention is given to radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH) as a green technology, which is very suitable for overcoming problems related to wireless sensor nodes located in harsh environments or inaccessible places. The aim of this paper is to review the progress achievements, the current approaches, and the future directions in the field of RF harvesting energy. Therefore, our aim is to provide RF energy harvesting techniques that open the possibility to power directly electronics or recharge secondary batteries. As a result, this overview is expected to lead to relevant techniques for developing an efficient RF energy harvesting system

A critical analysis of research potential, challenges and future directives in industrial wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have emerged as an important research theme with applications spanning a wide range of industries including automation, monitoring, process control, feedback systems and automotive. Wide scope of IWSNs applications ranging from small production units, large oil and gas industries to nuclear fission control, enables a fast-paced research in this field. Though IWSNs offer advantages of low cost, flexibility, scalability, self-healing, easy deployment and reformation, yet they pose certain limitations on available potential and introduce challenges on multiple fronts due to their susceptibility to highly complex and uncertain industrial environments. In this paper a detailed discussion on design objectives, challenges and solutions, for IWSNs, are presented. A careful evaluation of industrial systems, deadlines and possible hazards in industrial atmosphere are discussed. The paper also presents a thorough review of the existing standards and industrial protocols and gives a critical evaluation of potential of these standards and protocols along with a detailed discussion on available hardware platforms, specific industrial energy harvesting techniques and their capabilities. The paper lists main service providers for IWSNs solutions and gives insight of future trends and research gaps in the field of IWSNs

Resource Allocation in Wireless Networks with RF Energy Harvesting and Transfer

Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and transfer techniques have recently become alternative methods to power the next generation of wireless networks. As this emerging technology enables proactive replenishment of wireless devices, it is advantageous in supporting applications with quality-of-service (QoS) requirement. This article focuses on the resource allocation issues in wireless networks with RF energy harvesting capability, referred to as RF energy harvesting networks (RF-EHNs). First, we present an overview of the RF-EHNs, followed by a review of a variety of issues regarding resource allocation. Then, we present a case study of designing in the receiver operation policy, which is of paramount importance in the RF-EHNs. We focus on QoS support and service differentiation, which have not been addressed by previous literatures. Furthermore, we outline some open research directions.Comment: To appear in IEEE Networ

Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting from airflow in HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems

This study focuses on the design and wind tunnel testing of a high efficiency Energy Harvesting device, based on piezoelectric materials, with possible applications for the sustainability of smart buildings, structures and infrastructures. The development of the device was supported by ESA (the European Space Agency) under a program for the space technology transfer in the period 2014-2016. The EH device harvests the airflow inside Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, using a piezoelectric component and an appropriate customizable aerodynamic appendix or fin that takes advantage of specific airflow phenomena (vortex shedding and galloping), and can be implemented for optimizing the energy consumption inside buildings. Focus is given on several relevant aspects of wind tunnel testing: different configurations for the piezoelectric bender (rectangular, cylindrical and T-shaped) are tested and compared, and the effective energy harvesting potential of a working prototype device is assessed

Energy Harvesting Wireless Communications: A Review of Recent Advances

This article summarizes recent contributions in the broad area of energy harvesting wireless communications. In particular, we provide the current state of the art for wireless networks composed of energy harvesting nodes, starting from the information-theoretic performance limits to transmission scheduling policies and resource allocation, medium access and networking issues. The emerging related area of energy transfer for self-sustaining energy harvesting wireless networks is considered in detail covering both energy cooperation aspects and simultaneous energy and information transfer. Various potential models with energy harvesting nodes at different network scales are reviewed as well as models for energy consumption at the nodes.Comment: To appear in the IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications (Special Issue: Wireless Communications Powered by Energy Harvesting and Wireless Energy Transfer

Optimized Cluster-Based Dynamic Energy-Aware Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks in Agriculture Precision

[EN] Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming one of the demanding platforms, where sensor nodes are sensing and monitoring the physical or environmental conditions and transmit the data to the base station via multihop routing. Agriculture sector also adopted these networks to promote innovations for environmental friendly farming methods, lower the management cost, and achieve scientific cultivation. Due to limited capabilities, the sensor nodes have suffered with energy issues and complex routing processes and lead to data transmission failure and delay in the sensor-based agriculture fields. Due to these limitations, the sensor nodes near the base station are always relaying on it and cause extra burden on base station or going into useless state. To address these issues, this study proposes a Gateway Clustering Energy-Efficient Centroid- (GCEEC-) based routing protocol where cluster head is selected from the centroid position and gateway nodes are selected from each cluster. Gateway node reduces the data load from cluster head nodes and forwards the data towards the base station. Simulation has performed to evaluate the proposed protocol with state-of-the-art protocols. The experimental results indicated the better performance of proposed protocol and provide more feasible WSN-based monitoring for temperature, humidity, and illumination in agriculture sector.This work has also been partially supported by the European Union through the ERANETMED (Euromediterranean Cooperation through ERANET joint activities and beyond) project ERANETMED3-227 SMARTWATIR.Qureshi, KN.; Bashir, MU.; Lloret, J.; León Fernández, A. (2020). Optimized Cluster-Based Dynamic Energy-Aware Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks in Agriculture Precision. Journal of Sensors. 2020:1-19. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/9040395S1192020Sneha, K., Kamath, R., Balachandra, M., & Prabhu, S. (2019). New Gossiping Protocol for Routing Data in Sensor Networks for Precision Agriculture. 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Energy managed reporting for wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we propose a technique to extend the network lifetime of a wireless sensor network, whereby each sensor node decides its individual network involvement based on its own energy resources and the information contained in each packet. The information content is ascertained through a system of rules describing prospective events in the sensed environment, and how important such events are. While the packets deemed most important are propagated by all sensor nodes, low importance packets are handled by only the nodes with high energy reserves. Results obtained from simulations depicting a wireless sensor network used to monitor pump temperature in an industrial environment have shown that a considerable increase in the network lifetime and network connectivity can be obtained. The results also show that when coupled with a form of energy harvesting, our technique can enable perpetual network operatio