Power Supplies for Sensors

The electronic components or devices in smart sensors and in sensor nodes of wireless sensor networks (WSN) require power for normal operation. In recent times wireless sensors and sensor networks have been widely used in many applications such as monitoring environmental parameters, monitoring and control of industrial situations, intelligent transportation, structural health monitoring, health care and so on. The advancement of electronics, embedded controller, smart wireless sensors, networking and communication have made it a possibility of the development of a low cost, low power smart wireless sensor nodes. Recently, interest in deploying WSN in different areas such as construction monitoring, security access control, lighting control, HVAC control has increased. Though a lot of researches are now conducted to minimize the power consumption of the sensor nodes, it is true with regard to sensor nodes that it requires energy to fulfill its desired role. Although there are certain situations where mains power might be available such as the smart homes, hydroponics green house, this will not always be the case.