A practical solution to wireless energy transfer in WSNs

Wireless energy transfer based on magnetic resonant coupling is a promising technology to replenish energy to sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network (WSN). However, charging sensor node one at a time poses a serious scalability problem. Recent advances in magnetic resonant coupling shows that multiple nodes can be charged at the same time. In this paper, we exploit this multi-node wireless energy transfer technology to address energy issue in a WSN. We consider a wireless charging vehicle (WCV) periodically traveling inside a WSN and charging sensor nodes wirelessly. We propose a cellular structure that partitions the two-dimensional plane into adjacent hexagonal cells. The WCV visits these cells and charge sensor nodes from the center of a cell. We pursue a formal optimization framework by jointly optimizing traveling path, flow routing and charging time. By employing discretization and a novel Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT), we develop a provably near-optimal solution for any desired level of accuracy.

Recent breakthrough in the wireless energy transfer have attracted attention of the researchers due to its potential to prolong the lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and to eliminate energy bottlenecks. Through wireless charging vehicles sensor node's energy can be replenished periodically by using Wireless Charging Vehicles (WCVs). However, for a large scale WSN, the capacity of WCVs, positioning and coordination between them, and limited resources of WCVs have to be considered to implement a scalable charging system. Additionally, creating an efficient charging route for the WCVs considering the dynamic energy consumption of sensor nodes is also crucial. Since, WCVs have limited capacity and low system resources, the classic TSP-based Optimization algorithms, which requires high-performance computing, are not suitable for them. In this paper, we proposed GHSC (Guided Hilbert for Specified Cluster), which is based on the Hilbert space filling curve. We consider a clustered WSN with multiple WCVs, where each cluster is assigned to a single WCV. GHSC creates a primary charging route by considering a cluster as an unit square and dividing the square into small sub-squares. As the Hilbert curve goes through each sub-squares, the algorithm assigns a rank for each of them based on their position along the curve. The algorithm then map the nodes into vertices of the sub-squares and rank the nodes as well. Once ranking is done, the algorithm creates a charging route based on the node's ranking. This heuristic approach of the GHSC algorithm can find effective charging tours for the WCVs with a time complexity of (O(n log n) + Ω(nk)). Compared to other Global Optimization algorithms, GHSC was able to find tours, which was at most a logarithmic factor longer than the shortest tour.

Profiling environmental parameter using a large number of spatially distributed wireless sensor network (WSN) NODEs is an extensive illustration of advanced modern technologies, but high power requirement for WSN NODEs limits the widespread deployment of these technologies. Currently, WSN NODEs are extensively powered up using batteries, but the battery has limitation of lifetime, power density, and environmental concerns. To overcome this issue, energy harvester (EH) is developed and presented in this paper. Solar-based EH has been identified as the most viable source of energy to be harvested for autonomous WSN NODEs. Besides, a novel chemical-based EH is reported as the potential secondary source for harvesting energy because of its uninterrupted availability. By integrating both solar-based EH and chemical-based EH, a hybrid energy harvester (HEH) is developed to power up WSN NODEs. Experimental results from the real-time deployment shows that, besides supporting the daily operation of WSN NODE and Router, the developed HEH is capable of producing a surplus of 971 mA·hr equivalent energy to be stored inside the storage for NODE and 528.24 mA·hr equivalent energy for Router, which is significantly enough for perpetual operation of autonomous WSN NODEs used in environmental parameter profiling.

Herein, an Internet of Things (IoT) system with remote reconfigurable wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes is presented and its application to measure group work activity in a classroom is discussed. This IoT system consists of wiki pages, bots, (defined as remotely controlled devices), gateways, and remotely reconfigurable WSN Nodes. The bots/gateways and WSN nodes of the IoT system are controlled by scripts written on wiki pages that are read by the bot/gateways, which then forward the commands contained in the scripts to the WSN nodes. Each WSN node then executes the commands, obtains the resulting sensor values, and then returns those values to the bot/gateways. The bot/gateways relay the values and write them onto the wiki page. Each WSN node is flexible and reconfigurable because its behavior can be changed by the script commands written onto the wiki page. Using this IoT system, we created a measurement system to evaluate activity levels of group work in a classroom. After developing the measurement system, we found it was possible to adjust the sampling rate for obtaining sensor values simply by rewriting the script on the wiki page without directly manipulating the WSN.

In recent times, wireless energy transfer has become an effective solution to charge devices due to its efficiency and reliability. In a typical Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks (WRSN), wireless energy transfer technique can solve the energy depletion problem with the aid of a Wireless Charging Vehicle (WCV), thereby enabling the network to extend its lifetime. However, sensor nodes in a WRSN still have their energies depleted before it gets replenished by the WCV. In this paper, we proposed a scheme that prioritizes sensor nodes for charging and also developed efficient algorithms to improve on existing charging schemes so as to extend the lifetime of the WRSN. Firstly, an inspection algorithm was developed to visit and inspect sensor nodes in the network so as to determine the sensor nodes to charge. Secondly, a greedy charge algorithm was introduced to ascertain the shortest distance the WCV needs to travel and, lastly, an energy for nodes’ algorithm was proposed to determine the stopping point and when the WCV needs to return to the base station. Simulation experiments were also conducted to determine the performance of our scheme. The simulation experiments revealed that our proposed scheme made significant improvements when compared to other schemes in literature using several metrics.

As the technological breakthrough is made in wireless charging, the wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs) are finally proposed. In order to reduce the charging completion time, most existing works use the “mobile-then-charge” model—the Wireless charging vehicles (WCV) moves to the charging spot first and then charges nodes nearby. These works often aim to reduce the node’s movement delay or charging delay. However, the charging opportunities during the movement are overlooked in this model because WCV can charge nodes when it goes from one spot to the next. In order to use the charging opportunities, a speed grading method is proposed under the circumstance of variable WCV speed, which transformed the problem of final charging delay into a traveling salesman problem with speed grading. The problem was further solved by linear programming method. The simulation experiments show that, compared with the existing charging methods, the proposed method has a significant improvement in charging delay.

Localization of mobile nodes in wireless sensor network gets more and more important, because many applications need to locate the source of incoming measurements as precise as possible. Many previous approaches to the location-estimation problem need know the theories and experiential signal propagation model and collect a large number of labeled samples. So, these approaches are coarse localization because of the inaccurate model, and to obtain such data requires great effort. In this paper, a semi-supervised manifold learning is used to estimate the locations of mobile nodes in a wireless sensor network. The algorithm is used to compute a subspace mapping function between the signal space and the physical space by using a small amount of labeled data and a large amount of unlabeled data. This mapping function can be used online to determine the location of mobile nodes in a sensor network based on the signals received. We use independent development nodes to setup the network in metallurgical industry environment, outdoor and indoor. Experimental results show that we can achieve a higher accuracy with much less calibration effort as compared with RADAR localization systems.

A Markov based unified model for energy harvesting nodes in wireless sensor networks is proposed. Using the presented model, the probability of event loss due to energy run out as well as an analytical vulnerability metric, namely average time to energy run-out, are derived. The results provide insight into the performance of energy harvesting nodes in wireless sensor networks as well as design requirements for such nodes. The proposed vulnerability metric can be used in the various harvesting aware techniques at different protocol layers.

This paper is a performance survey on the residual energy of nodes in a wireless sensor network (WSN). Wireless sensor nodes are limited in application due to constraints in energy of nodes’ battery and addressing the problem of energy management is essential to lengthen the life of a deployed network of wireless sensors. In the method used, Sensor nodes were equally distributed on the complete border of the network field. An exclusive cluster, six hierarchical, and eighteen hierarchical clusters were formed based on even partition of the border of the network field. The choice of Cluster Head (CH) within each cluster formed was based on selection of a sensor node with minimal transmission distance to the Base Station. A comparison of the various hierarchical scenarios was simulated in MATLAB. The mean residue energies (MREs) after the network lifetime are 3%, 52%, and 35% of the initial node energy for single, six and eighteen hierarchical clusters respectively. The residual energies of sensor nodes above the recorded MREs were taken on a class interval of 50’s of the node identity (nid) and respective averages of residual energies of sensor nodes (AEr) of each selected class interval were evaluated. Based on the result, certain categories of sensor nodes at a section of the network field indicated that the battery energy of the affected nodes was not maximally utilized thereby leading to enormous residual energy. It was concluded that the residual energy of nodes in a WSN could be optimized to extend the lifetime.

Self-powered wireless sensor networks based on the radioisotope thermoelectric generator for aquatic temperature monitoring

The dynamic routing algorithm for renewable wireless sensor networks with wireless power transfer

The accurate estimations of distances among nodes in wireless sensor networks(WSN) are premises for the accurate estimations of nodes' positions and the accurate reconstruction of the networks' topology. In a complex environment, nodes stochastically move, and the variance of state noise is unknown and variable, and obstacles possibly exist among nodes. Now, the accurate estimations of distances among nodes in the WSN in a complex environment are still unresolved. In this paper, an adaptive Kalman filter(AKF) is used to solve the accurate estimations of distances among nodes in the WSN. Through simulations, the results indicate that the AKF is capable of accurate estimations of distances among nodes. Therefore, the AKF is a very effective method to solve the accurate estimations of distances among nodes in the WSN in a complex environment.

Received signal strength based positioning for multiple nodes in wireless sensor networks

Most of the proposed algorithms focus on static networks of sensors with either static or mobile anchors, in which the Monte Carlo localization algorithm is a typical one for localizing nodes in a mobile wireless sensor network. But the radio range being all different or inconstant in this algorithm leads to reduce the accuracy of localization and the efficiency of the algorithm itself. In this article, we propose the novel rang-based stochastic Monte Carlo localization algorithm for wireless sensor networks specifically designed with mobility to improve the accuracy of localization by dealing with the different radio ranges of sensors, and being bound to the narrow sampling area. Our simulation experimental results show that the rang-based stochastic Monte Carlo localization algorithm has improved the accuracy and stability of the estimated locations.

The sensor nodes are independent and work as sender, receiver and intermediate node in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The sensor nodes are forming the small network in which the one or more sender is sending data to one destination/s through intermediate nodes or sending information to Base Station (BS). The information collect by base station is further analyzed. The nodes are also static or mobile depends on the situation or conditions. The connection establishment and data sending is possible through routing protocols of WSN. The routing protocols of WSN are not same as traditional wireless routing protocols. One major issue on this network is security. The routing protocols are sending information to destination from particular source and the routing strategy is provides the better way of delivery in the network. The sensor nodes in network are performing through limited battery supply called node energy or power. The attacker are also affected the limited energy resource. In this paper the center of consideration is on the security issues related to WSN routing protocols. The routing in WSN remains a key issue because of that without accurately functioning of routing protocols, the network cleanly will not work the technique it's intended to. Unfortunately, routing also one of the most difficult to protect against attacks malicious activities because of the administration in WSN. The better protection scheme is provides the complete security from attacks and the secure routing is provides the better and trustful network performance.