A modular power-aware microsensor with >1000X dynamic power range

We introduce a power-aware microsensor architecture supporting a wide operational power range (from <1 mW to >10 W). The platform consists of a family of modules that follow a common set of design principles. Each module includes a local power microcontroller, power switches, and isolation switches to enable independent power-down control of modules and module subsystems. Processing resources are scaled appropriately on each module for their role in the collective system. Hard real-time functions are migrated to the sensor and radio modules for improved power efficiency. The optional Linux-based processor module supports high duty cycling and advanced sleep modes. Our reference hardware implementation is described in detail in this paper. Seven different modules have been developed. We utilize an acoustic vehicle tracking application to demonstrate how the architecture operates and report on results from field tests on tracked and wheeled vehicles.

[1]  Mani B. Srivastava,et al.  Optimizing Sensor Networks in the Energy-Latency-Density Design Space , 2002, IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput..

[2]  Masanori Sugisaka,et al.  Making sensor networks intelligent , 2007, ICINCO-RA.

[3]  Gregory J. Pottie,et al.  Development platform for self-organizing wireless sensor networks , 1999, Defense, Security, and Sensing.

[4]  Robert Szewczyk,et al.  System architecture directions for networked sensors , 2000, ASPLOS IX.

[5]  Gregory J. Pottie,et al.  Wireless integrated network sensors , 2000, Commun. ACM.

[6]  Mani B. Srivastava,et al.  Dynamic fine-grained localization in Ad-Hoc networks of sensors , 2001, MobiCom '01.

[7]  Brian Schott,et al.  Power-Aware Acoustic Processing , 2003, IPSN.

[8]  Jaroslav Flidr,et al.  On-demand Linux for Power-aware Embedded Sensors , 2004 .

[9]  Anantha P. Chandrakasan,et al.  An architecture for a power-aware distributed microsensor node , 2000, 2000 IEEE Workshop on SiGNAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS. SiPS 2000. Design and Implementation (Cat. No.00TH8528).

[10]  Mani Srivastava,et al.  Energy-aware wireless microsensor networks , 2002, IEEE Signal Process. Mag..

[11]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  Design Considerations for Energy-Efficient Radios in Wireless Microsensor Networks , 2004, J. VLSI Signal Process..

[12]  Miodrag Potkonjak,et al.  System-architectures for sensor networks issues, alternatives, and directions , 2002, Proceedings. IEEE International Conference on Computer Design: VLSI in Computers and Processors.

[13]  Alberto L. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli,et al.  Design methodology for PicoRadio networks , 2001, Proceedings Design, Automation and Test in Europe. Conference and Exhibition 2001.

[14]  Randy H. Katz,et al.  Next century challenges: mobile networking for “Smart Dust” , 1999, MobiCom.

[15]  W. Rabiner,et al.  Design considerations for distributed microsensor systems , 1999, Proceedings of the IEEE 1999 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (Cat. No.99CH36327).