Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Wireless Charging of Sensor Networks

Sensor networks deployed in remote and hard to access locations often require regular maintenance to replace or charge batteries as solar panels are sometimes impractical. In this chapter, we develop an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that can fly to remote locations to charge sensors using magnetic resonant wireless power transfer. We discuss the challenges of using UAVs to charge sensors wirelessly. We then present the design of a lightweight system that can be carried by a UAV as well as design a localization sensor and algorithm to allow the UAV to precisely align itself with the receiver by sensing the induced field. We also develop a number of algorithms to address the question of which sensors should be charged given a network of sensors. Finally, we experimentally verify algorithms that leverage the sensor network’s ability to adapt internal communication and energy consumption patterns to optimize UAV-based wireless charging.

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