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Research in Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks and the Challenges Ahead

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Autonomous Sensor Networks

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors ((SSSENSORS,volume 13))

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are set to form a significant part of the new pervasive Internet, often referred to as the Internet of Things. WSNs have traditionally been powered by limited energy sources, viz. batteries, limiting their operational lifetime. To ensure the sustainability of WSNs, researchers have turned to alternative energy sources for power. Harvesting ambient energy from the environment to power WSNs is a promising approach, but it is currently unable to provide a sustained energy supply to support continuous operation. Sensor nodes therefore need to exploit the sporadic availability of energy to quickly sense and transmit the data. We first review the recent developments in energy harvesting technology and research on networking protocol design for WSNs powered by ambient energy harvesting. Then, we discuss some of the challenges faced by researchers in designing networking protocols and summarize the open research problems.

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Abbreviations

CPU:

Central processing unit

CSMA:

Carrier sense multiple access

EH:

Energy harvesting

EHOR:

Energy harvesting opportunistic routing

ESC:

Energy synchronized communication

LZT:

Lead zirconate titanate

MAC:

Medium access control

MJ:

Mega joules

MTPP:

Multi-tier probabilistic polling

PRT:

Probabilistic retransmission protocol

PZ:

Piezoelectric

RL:

Reinforcement learning

WSN-HEAP:

Wireless sensor networks powered by ambient energy harvesting

WSNs:

Wireless sensor networks

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington, 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Winston K. G. Seah

  2. Energy Research Institute @ Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N), Research Techno Plaza, X-Frontier, Level 5, 50 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637553, Singapore

    Y. K. Tan

  3. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    Alvin T. S. Chan

Authors
  1. Winston K. G. Seah
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  2. Y. K. Tan
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  3. Alvin T. S. Chan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Winston K. G. Seah .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Physics, Chemistry and Bio, IFM - Linköping University, Office M314, Linköping, 58183, Sweden

    Daniel Filippini

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Seah, W.K.G., Tan, Y.K., Chan, A.T.S. (2012). Research in Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks and the Challenges Ahead. In: Filippini, D. (eds) Autonomous Sensor Networks. Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors, vol 13. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/5346_2012_27

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