Sensor Power Supply and Storage - The Key Challenge?
Sensors magazine describes today’s wireless sensors as Teeny Tiny Energy Hogs. As we look forward to the remarkable benefits that “pervasive sensing” can provide, we need to continue making progress on powering all these devices. The previous waves of computing platforms (mainframes, mini computers, PCs, and mobile phones) have all benefitted from either permanent or regular connections to wired power sources. The next wave of wireless sensors will be the first that is expected to function entirely (or nearly so), for many months or years at a time, on stored electricity. Thus, I’m delighted to read in this article that there are a number of efforts underway to solve these sensor power problems!