Sun, wind and water flow as energy supply for small stationary data acquisition platforms

  • Authors:

  • Raul Morais;Samuel G. Matos;Miguel A. Fernandes;António L. G. Valente;Salviano F. S. P. Soares;P. J. S. G. Ferreira;M. J. C. S. Reis

  • Affiliations:

  • CITAB, Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal and UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro ...;UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal;UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal;CITAB, Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal and UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro ...;CITAB, Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal and UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro ...;SPL, Signal Processing Laboratory, Dept. Electrónica, Telecomunicaçíes e Informtica/IEETA, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal;CITAB, Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal and UTAD, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro ...

  • Venue:
  • Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

The deployment of large mesh-type wireless networks is a challenge due to the multitude of arising issues. Perpetual operation of a network node is undoubtedly one of the major goals of any energy-aware protocol or power-efficient hardware platform. Energy harvesting has emerged as the natural way to keep small stationary hardware platforms running, even when operating continuously as network routing devices. This paper analyses solar radiation, wind and water flow as feasible energy sources that can be explored to meet the energy needs of a wireless sensor network router within the context of precision agriculture, and presents a multi-powered platform solution for wireless devices. Experimental results prove that our prototype, the MPWiNodeX, can manage simultaneously the three energy sources for charging a NiMH battery pack, resulting in an almost perpetual operation of the evaluated ZigBee network router. In addition to this, the energy scavenging techniques double up as sensors, yielding data on the amount of solar radiation, water flow and wind speed, a capability that avoids the use of specific sensors.