On the development of self-powered iot sensor for real-time traffic monitoring in smart cities

Abstract

With the rapidly approaching era of IoT and smart cities, it is anticipated that the market will greatly demand more autonomous and self-powered wireless sensors. Ideally, these sensors should operate for decades without service. This paper reports on the development and implementation of a novel, fully-autonomous, self-powered wireless sensor for real-time traffic surveillance in smart cities. Multi-disciplinary integration of state-of-the-art, ultra-low-power embedded electronics, smart sensors, and wireless sensor networks — powered by intelligent algorithms — are the basis of developed sensor. The sensor also combines an energy-harvesting subsystem to enable sensor self-powering, as well as a wireless power receiver to facilitate remote charging of sensor's primary battery. The developed sensor is portable and cost-effective; a single node costs only $30. This technology is poised to play vital roles in tomorrow's smart cities.