Harvesting energy overview for sustainable wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Energy harvesting (EH) has emerged as a transformative research paradigm by converting ambient energy into electrical energy for natural and artificial applications. This paper explores the potential of EH in powering autonomous electronic devices facilitated by simplified processes to harness kinetic, solar, thermal, wind, and salinity gradients. Mainly, the focus lies on the applicability of these energy sources to small wireless automatic devices used in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). WSNs consist of cutting-edge sensors spatially distributed to monitor physical conditions and organize collected data at a central network location. Their pervasive existence enables efficient computing through sound resource management, interconnected via the internet and other high-tech innovations. This study evaluates EH developments to minimize resource utilization in WSNs, examining key features, proposed frameworks, and models. Furthermore, it reviews specific energy source productions utilized by WSNs. The feasibility of energy storage is also discussed, highlighting its potential for WSNs and paving the way for future directions in this field.