Ambient Energy Harvesting and Management on the Sensor Nodes in a Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

One of the key problems in wireless sensor networks (WSN) represents the energy. During continuous operation at the sensor nodes, the energy level decreases very quickly and it is pivotal to replace or recharge frequently through power sources. But many times, it is very difficult to perform these functions through conventional methods. To overcome the conventional methods, we harvest the energy at the nodes through photovoltaic cells by the help of sunlight (ambient sources).The available energy from the sunlight is random and uncertain. So in this paper, we present various models of photovoltaic cells at different irradiance levels. We mainly focus at solar energy harvesting with appropriate energy management schematically and analytically. Our analysis and simulation results show how power increases with the increase in irradiance and graph have been plotted for different irradiance levels. Finally, we focus at the voltage and power of the storage devices at different times of the day. These modules not only manage the connectivity of the network but also scavenge the energy by optimizing the energy consumption.