An Autonomous Wireless Sensor Network in a Substation Area Using Wireless Transfer of Energy

A smarter power grid can improve the maintenance system by providing a real-time measurement of equipment operating conditions. Such a monitoring system requires the deployment of an increased number of sensors. However, the wiring sensors in a high voltage environment such as power substation is a very expensive procedure. An autonomous wireless sensor network can reduce the installation cost and make sensors more viable throughout the network. In this paper, we study the possibility of deploying an autonomous wireless sensor network in a substation environment. To this end, we merge energy harvesting and wireless transfer of energy to propose a hierarchical energy harvesting model. In this paper, we show that despite of the wasteful nature of the wireless transfer of energy and with an efficiency not more than what existing technologies can provide, a self-sustainable wireless sensor network in a substation area can be accomplished.