Prolonging Sensor Network Lifetime Through Wireless Charging

The emerging wireless charging technology is a promising alternative to address the power constraint problem in sensor networks. Comparing to existing approaches, this technology can replenish energy in a more controllable manner and does not require accurate location of or physical alignment to sensor nodes. However, little work has been reported on designing and implementing a wireless charging system for sensor networks. In this paper, we design such a system, build a proof-of-concept prototype, conduct experiments on the prototype to evaluate its feasibility and performance in small-scale networks, and conduct extensive simulations to study its performance in large-scale networks. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system can utilize the wireless charging technology effectively to prolong the network lifetime through delivering energy by a robot to where it is needed. The effects of various configuration and design parameters have also been studied, which may serve as useful guidelines in actual deployment of the proposed system in practice.