On the Stability of a Hardware Compensation Mechanism for Embedded Energy Harvesting Emulators (original) (raw)
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A Hardware Compensation Mechanism for Embedded Energy Harvesting Emulation
IEEE Embedded Systems Letters, 2019
Energy harvesting is increasingly considered a key technology for the design of autonomous embedded systems. However, the design, deployment and validation of systems exploiting the energy scavenged from the environment to sustain their operativeness, poses considerable research challenges, especially in a networked context. Emulation is regarded as an achievable option to allow reproducible and accurate experimental conditions. However, when the emulation is carried out by means of an embedded low-power device, the tradeoff between accuracy and tight time requirements has to be carefully taken into account in order to avoid performance degradation. We introduce a novel approach that aims at improving the reactiveness of a hardware-software embedded emulator thanks to the introduction of a hardware compensation circuit. The proposed system allows an efficient run-time correction of the emulated voltage to be supplied to the load, thus improving the response time of the emulator with respect to the software-based compensation.
Towards a complementary balanced energy harvesting solution for low power embedded systems
2014
The specific technical challenges associated with the design of an ambient energy powered electronic system currently requires thorough knowledge of the environment of deployment, energy harvester characteristics and power path management. In this work, a novel flex-ible model for ambient energy harvesters is presented that allows decoupling of the harvester’s physical principles and electrical behavior using a three dimensional function. The model can be adapted to all existing harvesters, resulting in a design methodology for generic ambient energy powered systems using the presented model. We also present a solution for the mathematical problem involved with the optimization of generator sizes when more than two harvesters are used, and demonstrate the ease of use of this solution for implementations on embedded systems with few system resources. Concrete examples are included to demonstrate the versatility of the presented design in the development of electronic appliances on system level.
2020
Energy consumption is an important performance indicator for wireless devices. Developing ICs that address this issue for IoT applications is a complex task, which relies not only on design, but also on testing and characterization as a large part of the process. This thesis develops a framework for testing, characterizing and prototyping of an ultra-low power IC developed at Aalto. The framework consists of both hardware and software components. The hardware involves a large four-layer PCB, various components that support the IC’s functions and a smaller PCB which interfaces with a one-bit display, both implemented with Altium Designer, together with a UWBfilter and an impedance matching network. The software part consists of a flexible IC programming and configuration interface written in Python, two LabVIEW VIs for wireless data transmission and reception and a set of measurement automation libraries written in Python. The framework is successfully tested with the one-bit display...
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Over the years there has been a growing interest in applications in the field of miniature sensor nodes. Energy harvesting systems are playing here a more and more important role. Therefore long-lasting and autonomous sensor nodes are implementable. Simulations are very valuable for the dimensioning and correct interpretation of the individual components of a node. In the paper, a model is presented which a piezoelectric generator, the step up rectifier circuit and holistically describes a low energy microcontroller. Simulations show the results clearly.
Energy harvesting technologies for lowpower electronics
2012
Power consumption is one of the most critical issues when designing low-cost electronic devices, such as sensing nodes in wireless sensor networks. To support their operation, such systems usually contain a battery; however, when the battery has consumed all its energy, the node (e.g. the sensor) must be retrieved and the battery replaced. If the node is located in a remote and non-accessible placement, battery replacement can become an expensive (and even impossible) task. This way, energy harvesting has emerged as a suitable alternative to supply low-power electronic systems, by converting ambient energy into electric power. Scavenged energy can be used to directly supply the circuits, or stored to be used when needed. This paper summarises the power needs of a general wireless sensor node and describes the main principles of most representative energy harvesting technologies.
International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive System (IJPEDS) , 2020
Many wireless sensor network (WSN) applications, nowadays, require realtime communication, which demands cautious design consideration to resolve inherent conflicts between energy efficiency and the need to meet Quality of Services (QoS), such as end-to-end delay communications. Numerous innovative solutions are proposed such as Real-time Power-Aware Routing (RPAR) protocol, which dynamically adapts transmission power to meet specified communication delays at low energy cost. Hence, to enable real-time communication with RPAR protocol, an adaptive Power Management Circuit (PMC) using hybrid energy harvester to support WSN real-time communication is proposed. In this paper, a high-level architecture of the proposed PMC is discussed, which consists of Thermal Energy Generator (TEG), and Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (PEG) as energy providers, with low-power Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) feature enabled. Preliminary simulations which analyze and characterize TEG and PEG system are conducted separately to determine the optimal design parameters to support the conventional WSN QoS requirement. Next, both systems will be integrated into a single PMC implementation prior to fabrication and lab characterization.
Smart Ultra Low Power Energy Harvesting System
International Journal of Adaptive, Resilient and Autonomic Systems, 2000
Small embedded systems operating in unattended conditions do need to be perpetually powered if a truly pervasive paradigm is envisaged. Harvesting energy from the surrounding environment seems to be the best option. For that, a set of systems has been proposed featuring interesting solutions but not yet capable of overcoming some issues like performance and flexibility. The authors propose a novel design for an environmental energy harvesting power supply that not only can work with multiple energy sources but also can extract the maximum possible energy from them. Additionally, it can provide important information concerning the energy resources of the system. Focusing particularly on the system’s design, the authors present results from a reference implementation that highlight the low wasted power and high efficiency characteristics of the system.
Exploring system parameters for viability of energy harvesting technologies
2011 Third International Conference on Communication Systems and Networks (COMSNETS 2011), 2011
Powering wireless sensors with harvested energies is coming of age due to the sources providing higher power densities and the electronics performing efficient energy conversion. However, to ensure energy harvesting as a viable option, several system parameters have to be tuned. In this work, we identify these key system parameters and show that by suitably tuning them, one can drive wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with harvested energies. Some of the parameters include system's operating voltage & frequency, transceiver's Automatic Gain Control (AGC) block fine tuning, clear channel assessment and finally capacity values of energy storage buffers. Our measurements show that there are several possibilities to save energy by trading one system feature for another.
A State-of-the-Art Study on Energy Harvesting Systems: Models and Issues
Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 2019
Background/objectives: Energy is highly essential for the life of living beings. As technologies are getting advanced, the consumption of energy increases continuously. Conventional sources available at earth are limited, and it will be going to drain day by day. Therefore, it is necessary to design models which are capable of harvesting energy using natural resources. The main objective of this paper is to summarise recent contributions in the area of energy harvesting (EH) and discuss their models with operating process, advantages, and limitations. Also these models are compared among themselves in terms of energy generation capacity. Methods/statistical analysis: Several models have been developed for EH by researchers all over the world. Here, an attempt is made to review the various models involved in EH to prevent the deficiency of energy. Findings: An EH technique is one of the most potential methods to encounter the energy deficiency problem. This study describes few models dedicated to EH and focuses on the major issues such as the necessity of highly efficient electronic circuits for capturing, accumulating, and storing even small electrical energy. Also the harvester circuit must stay in the active mode and be ready to perform energy capturing whenever harvestable energy becomes available. Nowadays, several sources (non-conservative) are used for EH such as warmth of human body. In future, the main focus is to enhance the efficiency of the energy harvester system. Improvements/application: Energy consumption is increasing day by day and its shortage is already predicted in the near future. Therefore, techniques for the generation of uninterrupted power provide for the incessant operation of any device to make life easier.