Powering Wireless SHM Sensor Nodes through Energy Harvesting

Abstract

The concept of wireless sensor nodes and sensor networks has been widely investigated for various applications, including the field of structural health monitoring (SHM). However, the ability to power sensors, on board processing, and telemetry components is a significant challenge in many applications. Several energy harvesting techniques have been proposed and studied to solve such problems. This chapter summarizes recent advances and research issues in energy harvesting relevant to the embedded wireless sensing networks, in particular SHM applications. A brief introduction of SHM is first presented and the concept of energy harvesting for embedded sensing systems is addressed with respect to various sensing modalities used for SHM and their respective power requirements. The power optimization strategies for embedded sensing networks are then summarized, followed by several example studies of energy harvesting as it has been applied to SHM embedded sensing systems. The paper concludes by defining some future research directions that are aimed at transitioning the concept of energy harvesting for embedded sensing systems from laboratory research to field-deployed engineering prototypes.