Bio-inspired energy harvesting in WSN: a survey

The world is getting smarter with the use of computing technologies. Many of the domains are now based on intelligent solutions and taking their own decisions as per the requirement. For intelligent decision, real-time data gathering is the core requirement and that is only possible with the use of sensors. To keep up the sensors alive for longer period of time, there is a need of recharging of batteries. For that purpose, many of the methodologies are in practice that includes use of alternate energy resources, Energy harvesting etc. Energy harvesting is the process of capturing small amounts of energy from one or more of naturally occurring energy sources also known as ambient energy sources, collecting and storing such energy for later use. Energy harvesting in WSN refers to the collecting and storing energy from ambient energy sources through WSN hardware components which include energy harvesting devices and/or batteries. In this paper the issues and challenges regarding power management in wireless sensor nodes and energy harvesting are detailed and also the available solutions in literature are presented.