Energy Harvesting Powered Wireless Sensor Nodes With Energy Efficient Network Joining Strategies

Abstract

This paper presents strategies for batteryless energy harvesting powered wireless sensor nodes based on IEEE 802.15.4e standard to join the network successfully with minimal attempts, which minimizes energy wastage. This includes using a well-sized capacitor and different duty cycles for the network joining. Experimental results showed a wireless sensor node that uses a 100 mF energy storage capacitor can usually join the network in one attempt but multiple attempts may be needed if it uses smaller capacitances especially when the harvested power is low. With a duty-cycled network joining, the time required to form a network is shorter, which reduces the overall energy usage of the nodes in joining the network. An energy harvesting powered wireless sensor network (WSN) was successfully formed in one attempt by using the proposed methods.