Prototype design and network protocols for wireless energy harvesting sensors

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20002908

Radio frequency (RF) wireless energy transfer and energy harvesting from external sources promise a battery-free paradigm for resource constrained wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The objective of this thesis is to advance the engineering of these energy harvesting components interfaced with off-the-shelf motes and formulate the design of higher layer link and routing protocols for a WSN composed of such motes. The specific contributions of the thesis include: (i) optimization and implementation of RF energy harvesting circuits, (ii) medium access control protocol for scenarios with multiple energy transmitters, (iii) cross-layer protocol design that includes joint duty cycle determination and routing, and (iv) the impact of mobile energy transmitters and the relative positions of the event locations.