Event and node identification from a single-pulse transmission in self-powered nanosensor networks

Nodes in self-powered nanosensor networks must communicate sensed events and node identification information to the remote station using extremely limited harvested energy. We propose a new communication framework for the nodes to successfully communicate both the sensed event and the node identification to the remote station by transmitting a single wireless pulse. The key idea behind this framework is to allocate a unique pulse width to each node, while using the entire energy harvested from the event to transmit the pulse. The unique pulse width identifies the nodes, while the energy of the pulse, which depends on the energy rate of the event, helps recognize the event type. We optimize the pulse width allocation problem to minimize the error probability. Our results show that with a good size gap between the amplitudes of the pulse, it is then possible to reliably identify both the events and nodes with small probability of error.