Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Wireless Sensor Networks

• Published in: IEEE solid state circuits magazine Vol. 2; no. 2; pp. 29 - 38
• Main Authors: Vullers, Rudd J.M., Schaijk, Rob van, Visser, Hubregt J., Penders, Julien, Hoof, Chris Van
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.04.2010; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Automotive components; Batteries; Biomedical monitoring; Biosensors; Body sensor networks; Circuits; Communication standards; Devices; Intelligent sensors; Maintenance; Networks; Sensors; Smart buildings; Tags; Tutorials; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks
• ISSN: 1943-0582; 1943-0590
• DOI: 10.1109/MSSC.2010.936667

Wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) are employed today in many different application areas, ranging from health and lifestyle to automotive, smart building, predictive maintenance (e.g., of machines and infrastructure), and active RFID tags. Currently these devices have limited lifetimes, however, since they require significant operating power. The typical power requirements of some current portable devices, including a body sensor network, are shown in Figure 1.