Energy neutral operation of vibration energy-harvesting sensor networks for bridge applications

Abstract

Structural monitoring of critical bridge structures can greatly benefit from the use of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), however energy harvesting for the operation of the network remains a challenge in this setting. While solar and wind power are possible and credible solutions to energy generation, the need for positioning sensor nodes in shaded and sheltered locations, e.g., under a bridge deck, is also often precluding their adoption in real-world deployments. In some scenarios vibration energy harvesting has been shown as an effective solution, instead.This paper presents a multihop vibration energy-harvesting WSN system for bridge applications. The system relies on an ultra-low power wireless sensor node, driven by a novel vibration based energy-harvesting technology. We use a receiver-initiated routing protocol to enable energy-efficient and reliable connectivity between nodes with different energy charging capabilities. By combining real vibration data with an experimentally validated model of the vibration energy harvester, a hardware model, and the COOJA simulator, we develop a framework to conduct realistic and repeatable experiments to evaluate the system before on-site deployment.Simulation results show that the system is able to maintain energy neutral operation, preserving energy with careful management of sleep and communication times. We also validate the system through a laboratory experiment on real hardware against real vibration data collected from a bridge. Besides providing general guidelines and considerations for the development of vibration energy-harvesting systems for bridge applications, this work highlights the limitations of the energy budget made available by traffic-induced vibrations, which clearly shrink the applicability of vibration energy-harvesting technology for WSNs to low traffic applications.

Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Engineering and Technology > Mechanical, Biomedical & Design
Funding Information: Our study provides a methodology and potential solution to deploy a WSN powered solely by vibration harvesters, which does not entirely depend on the radio technology in use, and where multihop may still be necessary. However, we plan to explore long-rang
Additional Information: Copyright © 2018 Copyright is held by the authors. Permission is granted for indexing in the ACM Digital Library. This is an accepted manuscript of a paper published in EWSN 2018, the Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks.
Event Title: International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks, EWSN 2018
Event Type: Other
Event Dates: 2018-02-14 - 2018-02-16
Uncontrolled Keywords: Data collection 1 Introduction,Energy Harvesting,Supercapacitors,Vibrations,Wireless Sensor Networks,Computer Networks and Communications,Information Systems,Electrical and Electronic Engineering
ISBN: 978-0-9949886-2-1
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2024 08:08
Date Deposited: 27 Mar 2019 09:41
Full Text Link: http://www.ewsn ... 12_gaglione.pdf
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Conference contribution
Published Date: 2018-02-16
Accepted Date: 2018-01-01
Authors: Gaglione, Andrea
Rodenas-Herraiz, David
Jia, Yu (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-9640-1666)
Nawaz, Sarfraz
Arroyo, Emmanuelle
Mascolo, Cecilia
Soga, Kenichi
Seshia, Ashwin A

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