Solar energy harvesting for wireless sensor networks node

Application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for outdoor application has been widely implemented. In addition of sensor node device, problem of energy supply remains a challenge in research on Wireless Sensor Networks. One of the alternative energy which is suitable for outdoor application of WSN is using solar cell energy. This research studies the potential of solar cell to supply the energy for one node. The regulator circuit is designed to control the supply of energy from battery or solar cell. The polycrystalline solar panel type with size of 180 × 81 × 1.55 mm and 70 × 55 × 3 mm was tested to provide energy supply for the node comprising one microcontroller, Xbee transceiver, and sensor component. The output voltage of solar cell is ranging between 2V-6V. The value was suitable for WSN devices; XBee and XBee Series2; in transmit, receive and idle operating mode. The solar cell performance depends on the intensity of sunlight, where the average power generated by the solar panels is about 220 mW-750 mW.