Modeling and Assessing an Energy-Aware Power-Supply for Wireless Sensor Nodes

Wireless sensors networks can be deployed in remote locations due to they do not need a fixed infrastructure. Therefore, energy scavenging systems are really important to provide the energy necessary to the sensor nodes and thus maximize its lifetime. This work presents the modeling and assessing of an energy-aware power-supply system for the Iris platform sensor. Theoretical models have been developed in order to estimate the energy in the energy storage supercapacitor depending on the incoming and outgoing energy. These models can be used to verify that the power-supply system provides enough energy to the sensor node under the most adverse weather conditions, and thus assuring the perpetual operation of the sensor nodes without human intervention. Also, these models will be implemented in a software module that makes possible the estimation of the sensor nodes’ lifetime in function of their actual state of energy. The theoretical results given by these models have been compared with the results obtained with the real circuit. The comparison between both proves that the theoretical models are valid for the prediction of the future estate of energy based on the actual estate of energy.

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