RF-Powered Wireless Sensors

Randy Frank has written a good summary of the state of energy harvesting technology for Electronic Design in an article titled “Making Energy Harvesting’s Promise of Free Energy a Reality”.

With its allure of free energy and maintenance-free operation for lifetimes of 10 and even 15 years, energy harvesting (EH) is grabbing the attention of potential users in many markets. Recent EH developments have made great progress, and the pieces appear to be falling into place.

System components such as microcontrollers (MCUs), RFICs, and power-supply ICs have had to drastically reduce their power consumption and increase performance to complete a useful energy-harvesting system. In addition, software that controls the power management, data collection, and transmission processes while avoiding any unnecessary power consumption is essential.

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The article includes several graphics, including the following general diagram of a wireless sensor node.

Companies mentioned in the article include HP, EnOcean Alliance, Perpetuum, Micropelt, Powercast, Enertia Energy Systems, Tellurex, CYMBET, Infinite Power Solutions (IPS), Perpetua, CAP-XX, Microstrain, Microchip, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, and Linear Technology.

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Jennic recently announced collaborations with multiple energy harvesting companies for vibration, solar, thermal, and RF energy harvesting to power wireless sensor networks based on the IEEE802.15.4 standard such as ZigBee PRO and 6LoWPAN.   The companies involved included Micropelt, CYMBET, AdaptivEnergy, and Powercast.

Jennic’s wireless microcontrollers offer exceptionally low-current operation, and with advanced software based monitoring and control of the energy source, they are able to achieve the extreme efficiency demanded by systems powered by sustainable energy sources.

At Powercast, we used a 915 MHz radio transmitter and the P2100 Powerharvester(TM) module to power wirelessly, without batteries, the new JN5148 module which sent ID, voltage, and temperature readings back through the JN5139-based access point to a PC application.

Jimi Simpson, Jennic Product Marketing, explained, “Harvesting energy from sustainable sources presents designers with the ultimate power challenge: the energy supplied is not necessarily continuous and is available at relatively low levels. This means that every element of the design, from the sensor to the microcontroller, must be considered and managed to achieve the highest levels of power efficiency.”

Jennic press release (PDF)

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