PowerTag - Architecture Design and Simulation of Autonomous Higher Class Tags

The application area for wireless smart sensors such as RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) transponders (tags) equipped with sensors and sensor nodes (Wireless Sensor Networks - WSN) is steadily increasing. Security, logistics, home automation and environmental monitoring are just few of the applications leading to the future of a smart environment. The increased complexity and connection of sensors increases the demands on the on-board energy reservoir. One-time usable common energy storage devices (batteries) are frequently not able to satisfy the application requirements. Energy harvesting is a novel approach for facing this issue. The basic principle is to use energy available in the environment, convert it to electrically usable energy and use this energy to supply part of (or all) the required operating power. This work proposes a novel architecture for Energy Harvesting Sensors (using the example of extended-functionality RFID tags) merging power aware design methodologies with the extension of the limited energy reservoir by environmental energy (integrating energy harvesting devices).