Remaining Energy-Level-Based Transmission Power Control for Energy-Harvesting WSNs. (22nd May 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dai, Guojun; Qiu, Jian; Liu, Peng; Lin, Bing; Zhang, Song
• Other Names: Chen Jiming Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of distributed sensor networks. (2012)
• Publication Date: 2012-05-22
• Subjects: Sensor networks -- Periodicals; Intelligent agents (Computer software) -- Periodicals; Multisensor data fusion -- Periodicals; 681.2
• DOI: 10.1155/2012/934240
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1550-1329

Abstract

Abstract : The purpose of this paper is to introduce a transmission power control scheme based on the remaining energy level and the energy-harvesting status of individual sensor nodes to extend the overall lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and balance the energy usage. Ambient energy harvesting has been introduced as a promising technique to solve the energy constraint problem of WSNs. However, considering the tiny equipment and the inherent low and unbalanced harvesting capability due to environmental issues, there is still a long distance from perfectly solving the problem. In this paper, a wind and solar power joint-harvested WSN system has been demonstrated, which uses ultracapacitor as energy storage. By analyzing the power recharging, leakage, and energy consumption rate, a novel energy-level-based transmission power control scheme (EL-TPC) is produced. In EL-TPC scheme, the transmission power is classified into various levels according to the remaining energy level. By adapting the nodes' operation pattern, hierarchical network architecture can be formed, which prioritizes the use of high energy level, fast charging nodes to save the energy of uncharged nodes. The simulation and demonstration results show that EL-TPC scheme can significantly balance the energy consumption and extend the entire network lifetime.