RF energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks for critical aircraft systems — An experimental approach

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a special category of Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks where low-powered wireless nodes are deployed in specific areas either in a random or predetermined manner, in order to sense an event and transmit the collected data to a central node for processing (sink). Due to the fact that the wireless sensor nodes are low-powered and with limited processing and storage capabilities, they are considered unreliable for use in critical systems. In this paper, through an experimental approach, we show how can WSNs serve applications on critical systems like aircrafts (A/C), without using the existing aircraft wiring for power supply but by harvesting the required energy for charging of their batteries.