SWAP

Symbiotic Wireless Autonomous Powered system

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Symbiotic Wireless Autonomous Powered system (SWAP) combines the energy-efficient paradigm of wireless sensor networks with the self-sustainable capabilities of harvesting systems. SWAP aims at providing a novel sensor board consisting of 1) a high efficiency RF transceiver 2) a low power micro controller 3) an energy accumulator 4) modular harvesting systems. To this aim SWAP will study advanced solution for RF circuits and antennas, will use state of the art micro controllers, will implement highly efficient accumulator and will investigate on harvesting techniques. In particular, the different harvesting modules will be applied to standard sensor networks scenarios: for instance, environmental monitoring networks are more likely to use photo voltaic cells, while urban sensor networks can use instead vibrations, and harvest the available ambient electromagnetic (EM) energy. SWAP will also study communication protocol from the physical to the network layer in order to implement the techniques offering the highest efficiency as well as taking into consideration the temporary availability of energy sources. Also, the SWAP system will be realized and tested on the field; applications will be developed in order to provide the basic services for the new platform. As a final result, SWAP aims at obtaining a new wireless sensor paradigm totally independent from batteries and, instead, having as little an impact on the environment as possible.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

From military surveillance to environmental monitoring to industrial process control, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are ubiquitous. Harvesting trace amounts of energy in the environment to produce electricity will improve connectivity and eliminate batteries.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The limited storage capacity of batteries combined with their performance degradation over time threatens continuous wireless connectivity, critical to the safe and effective operation of WSNs. Further, with more and more WSNs being deployed, disposal of spent batteries becomes an environmental issue.

Scientists are combining the best of energy-efficient WSNs and energy-harvesting technologies for a reliable and green, battery-independent WSN platform with EU funding of the project 'Symbiotic wireless autonomous powered system' (SWAP). Energy harvesting means capturing the small amounts of naturally occurring energy in the environment that would otherwise be lost as heat, light, sound or vibration, accumulating it and storing it for later use. Energy-harvesting modules do all these tasks to power circuitry including sensor networks.

The SWAP sensor board will consist of a high-efficiency radio frequency (RF) transceiver, a low-power microcontroller, an energy accumulator and modular harvesting systems. The latter will be chosen according to application such that the most suitable solution can be delivered for each situation. For example, photovoltaic cells are a logical choice for environmental monitoring networks.

Researchers have made excellent progress in development of the SWAP system, both in the area of hardware design and in communication software. Analysis of state-of-the-art wireless devices, energy-harvesting technology and lossy compression algorithms (in which there is some loss of information) pointed the way to the prototype design. It combines computational capability with reduced power consumption and a communication protocol compliant with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)/Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards.

The team is currently validating designs for implementation in the final sensor board during the next project phase. Some components and design concepts have already been commercially exploited by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working on the project. Several workshops, special sessions and a training school were organised, and numerous publications and reports have been produced summarising project results to date.

SWAP technology will provide enhanced connectivity for WSNs without the need for batteries and with reduced energy consumption, scavenging trace amounts of energy present in the environment to produce electricity. The eco-friendly solution also means that battery disposal issues become irrelevant.