SCHEDULING ENERGY HARVESTING NODES IN A WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Abstract

A system and method for optimizing power consumption of energy harvesting nodes in a wireless sensor network. In one embodiment, a system includes a network coordinator. The network coordinator includes a wireless transceiver and a controller. The wireless transceiver is configured to provide access to the wireless sensor network. The controller is configured to determine whether a wireless device that is wirelessly communicating with the network coordinator is powered via energy harvesting. The controller is also configured to schedule, based on a determination that the wireless device is powered via energy harvesting, the wireless device to communicate via the wireless sensor network using a priority timeslot of a superframe of the wireless sensor network. The priority timeslot is a timeslot occurring in an initial portion of the superframe.

Description

Claims

1. A device comprising: a transceiver; anda processor configured to: receive, via the transceiver, a first communication from a first node of a set of nodes, wherein the first communication includes a flag indicating whether the first node is powered by energy harvesting;allocate a priority timeslot in a superframe to the first node based on the flag indicating that the first node is powered by energy harvesting, wherein the priority timeslot occurs at an initial portion of the superframe; andcommunicate, via the transceiver, the allocation of the priority timeslot to the first node.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: allocate a second timeslot to a second node of the set of nodes, wherein the second timeslot occurs after the priority timeslot; andcommunicate, via the transceiver, the allocation of the second timeslot to the second node.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein a second node of the set of nodes is a non energy harvesting node, and wherein allocating the priority timeslot to the first node comprises reassigning the priority timeslot from the second node to the first node, and assigning the second node to a later timeslot in the superframe.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the first communication from the first node is a request to join a network.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is a network coordinator.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first communication is a communication in accordance with an IEEE 802.15.4e standard.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the superframe includes multiple timeslots of equal length.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to provide access to a wireless sensor network.

9. A device comprising: a transceiver; anda processor configured to: provide, via the transceiver, a first communication that includes a flag indicating that the device is powered by energy harvesting to receive an allocation of a priority timeslot of a superframe for communication over a network, wherein the priority timeslot occurs at an initial portion of the superframe;after providing the flag, receive, via the transceiver, the allocation of the priority timeslot; andprovide, via the transceiver, a second communication during the priority timeslot.

10. The device of claim 9, further comprising a transducer, wherein the processor is configured to receive a sensor measurement via the transducer, and wherein the second communication comprises the sensor measurement.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the sensor measurement comprises a temperature measurement, a pressure measurement, an electrical current measurement, or a humidity measurement.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to: detect a start of the superframe;in response to detecting the start of the superframe, transition the device from a low power mode to an operating mode; andafter the priority timeslot, transition the device from the operating mode to the low power mode.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein transitioning the device from the operating mode to the low power mode comprises transitioning the device from the operating mode to the low power mode for a remainder of the superframe.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein the device is configured to be powered by solar energy.

15. The device of claim 9, wherein the device is configured to be powered by vibration energy.

16. The device of claim 9, wherein the device is configured to be powered by radio frequency (RF) energy.

17. The device of claim 9, wherein the device is configured to be powered by thermal energy.

18. The device of claim 9, wherein the device is configured to be powered by kinetic energy.

19. The device of claim 9, wherein the first communication is a request to join the network.

20. The device of claim 9, wherein the first communication is a communication in accordance with an IEEE 802.15.4e standard.