Reliable Transiently-Powered Communication

TL;DR

This paper introduces TRAP, a protocol enabling reliable communication among energy-harvesting batteryless sensors by ensuring sufficient energy levels before transmission, thus reducing packet loss during power failures.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel modulator circuit and protocol that enable energy-aware communication without microcontroller intervention in batteryless sensors.

Findings

TRAP reduces failed transmissions caused by power failures.

Experimental results confirm reliable intermittent communication.

The modulator operates with minimal energy overhead.

Abstract

Frequent power failures can introduce significant packet losses during communication among energy harvesting batteryless wireless sensors. Nodes should be aware of the energy level of their neighbors to guarantee the success of communication and avoid wasting energy. This paper presents TRAP (TRAnsiently-powered Protocol) that allows nodes to communicate only if the energy availability on both sides of the communication channel is sufficient before packet transmission. TRAP relies on a novel modulator circuit, which operates without microcontroller intervention and transmits the energy status almost for free over the radiofrequency backscatter channel. Our experimental results showed that TRAP avoids failed transmissions introduced by the power failures and ensures reliable intermittent communication among batteryless sensors.