Aerial Energy Provisioning for Massive Energy-Constrained IoT by UAVs

TL;DR

This paper proposes using UAVs equipped with wireless power transfer to provide energy to remote IoT devices, enhancing their autonomy and reducing battery waste.

Contribution

It introduces a model integrating wireless power transfer and battery technology selection for energy-constrained IoT nodes via UAVs.

Findings

Model enables unlimited device autonomy

Optimized battery technology reduces waste

Feasible upgrade for existing IoT nodes

Abstract

Autonomy of devices is a major challenge in many Internet of Things (IoT) applications, in particular when the nodes are deployed remotely or difficult to assess places. In this paper we present an approach to provide energy to these devices by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Therefore, the two major challenges, finding and charging the node are presented. We propose a model to give the energy constrained node an unlimited autonomy by taken the Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) link and battery capacity into account. Selecting the most suitable battery technology allows a reduction in battery capacity and waste. Moreover, an upgrade of existing IoT nodes is feasible with a limited impact on the design and form factor.