Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting and Management for Wireless Sensor Networks

TL;DR

This paper explores RF energy harvesting and management in wireless sensor networks, proposing an improved routing algorithm (IEEABR), with practical implementation and performance analysis to enhance energy efficiency and system lifetime.

Contribution

It introduces a novel energy management algorithm (IEEABR) for RF energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks, supported by real-time implementation and comparative performance evaluation.

Findings

IEEABR outperforms traditional energy management techniques.

Practical RF energy harvesting using Powercast harvesters is feasible.

Energy harvesting significantly extends sensor network lifetime.

Abstract

Radio Frequency (RF) Energy Harvesting holds a promising future for generating a small amount of electrical power to drive partial circuits in wirelessly communicating electronics devices. Reducing power consumption has become a major challenge in wireless sensor networks. As a vital factor affecting system cost and lifetime, energy consumption in wireless sensor networks is an emerging and active research area. This chapter presents a practical approach for RF Energy harvesting and management of the harvested and available energy for wireless sensor networks using the Improved Energy Efficient Ant Based Routing Algorithm (IEEABR) as our proposed algorithm. The chapter looks at measurement of the RF power density, calculation of the received power, storage of the harvested power, and management of the power in wireless sensor networks. The routing uses IEEABR technique for energy management. Practical and real-time implementations of the RF Energy using Powercast harvesters and simulations using the energy model of our Libelium Waspmote to verify the approach were performed. The chapter concludes with performance analysis of the harvested energy, comparison of IEEABR and other traditional energy management techniques, while also looking at open research areas of energy harvesting and management for wireless sensor networks.