An Energy Efficient Communication Protocol for Low Power, Energy Harvesting Sensor Modules

Energy consumption has become one of the main parameters in evaluating sensor systems in the IoT market. Long range sensor systems are not an exception. Their application in the outdoor environment makes them an ideal candidate to combine energy harvesting mechanisms with the low power features. Using just low power electric components is not enough to ensure energy efficiency. Techniques and mechanisms for harvesting and saving energy are presented in this paper and in its core, a low power, energy efficient communication protocol is described. The proposed protocol optimizes the way in which information is collected from the environment, packed and transmitted over long distances with minimum energy. It is specially designed for energy constrained sensor modules which rely on energy harvesting. The gathered information is transmitted in a form of two different packet types called Teach-in and Data telegrams, respectively. A detailed structure of these packets and the energy required for transmission is explained in this paper, along with a deeper protocol physical layer analysis. In addition, this paper demonstrates the huge potential for mass market, as a result of the many proposed solutions that have been tested and implemented in a fully developed functioning prototype.