AquaE-lite Hybrid-Solar-Cell Receiver-Modality for Energy-Autonomous Terrestrial and Underwater Internet-of-Things

Meiwei Kong,Jiaming Lin,Yujian Guo,Burton H Jones,Mohammed Sait,Jorge A Holguin-Lerma,Omar Alkhazragi,Mustapha Ouhssain,Boon S Ooi,Malika Kheireddine,Chun Hong Kang,Tien Khee Ng,Xiaobin Sun

doi:10.1109/jphot.2020.3013995

Abstract

Our goal is to develop an energy-autonomous solar cell receiver that can be integrated with a variety of smart devices to implement the Internet of Things in next-generation applications. This paper details efforts to develop such a prototype, called AquaE-lite. Owing to the capability of detecting low-intensity optical signals, 20-m and 30-m long-distance lighting and optical wireless communication with data rates of 1.6 Mbit/s and 1.2 Mbit/s have been achieved on a laboratory testbed, respectively. Moreover, field trials on an outdoor solar cell testbed and in the turbid water of a harbor by the Red Sea have been conducted. Under bright sunlight, energy autonomy and 1.2-Mbit/s optical wireless communication over a transmission distance of 15 m have been implemented, which demonstrated that AquaE-lite with an elaborate receiver circuit has excellent performance in energy harvesting and resistance to background noise. In a more challenging underwater environment, 1.2-Mbit/s signals were successfully received over a transmission distance of 2 m. It indicates that energy-autonomous AquaE-lite with large detection area has promising prospects in future underwater mobile sensor networks to significantly relieve the requirement of pointing, acquisition and tracking while resolving the energy issues.

Highlights

The efficient transmission and sharing of power featuring millions of distributed new-energy devices was realized by the Energy Internet in Industry 3.0, owing to developments in information, power electronics, and intelligent management [1]
Our goal is to develop an energy-autonomous solar cell receiver that can be integrated with a variety of smart devices to implement the Internet of Things in next-generation applications
We studied the maximum data rate that could be achieved over a 20-m air channel while the programmable-gain amplifier (PGA) had its maximum gain (74 dB)

Summary

Introduction

The efficient transmission and sharing of power featuring millions of distributed new-energy devices was realized by the Energy Internet in Industry 3.0, owing to developments in information, power electronics, and intelligent management [1]. The first-generation Si wafer-based solar cells, which feature high stability, high efficiency, and low cost, have been widely deployed in the global solar energy infrastructure [2]. The market penetration of the second-generation thin film-based solar cells has grown significantly owing to their unique advantages, such as high transparency, flexibility, and light absorption coefficient [3]. Substantial work is still needed to overcome impediments to the implementation of third-generation solar cells in terms of stability, material growth, and cost of fabrication while accelerating their commercialization in the market

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