Implementation and feasibility study of co-channel operation system of microwave power transmissions to IEEE 802.11-based battery-less sensors

Abstract

In this paper, we study the feasibility of a batteryless wireless sensor supplied with energy by using microwave power transmission (MPT). If we perform co-channel operation of MPT and wireless local area networks (WLANs) for the sake of spectral efficiency, a time division method for MPT and WLAN communications is required to avoid serious interference from MPT to WLAN data transmissions. In addition, to reduce the power consumption of a sensor, the use of power-save operation of the sensor is desirable. We proposed a scheduling scheme that allocates time for MPT and WLAN communications. Specifically, in the proposed scheduling system, an energy source transmits microwave power to a sensor station except when the sensor station transmits data frames or receives beacon frames. In addition, in the proposed scheduling system, we force the remaining energy of the sensor station to converge to a maximum value by adjusting the time interval of data transmission from the sensor station such that the power consumption of the sensor station is reduced. On the basis of the proposition, we implemented a scheduling system and then confirmed that it performed successfully in the conducted experiments. Finally, we discussed the feasibility of the proposed scheduling scheme by evaluating the coverage and then showed that the scheduling scheme can be applied to closed space or room.