Thermoelectric Harvesting and Seasonal Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

• Author / Creator

  Kollias, Aristotelis

• We propose the use of embedded in-wall thermoelectric harvester to power the nodes of a wireless sensor network. We exploit significant temperature differences of indoor and outdoor environments in cold climates. We use real measurements to evaluate the use of the temperature difference as a proxy to heat flow through walls, and the feasibility of creating a network of in-wall thermoelectric harvesting sensors. We also discuss the seasonal availability of thermoelectric energy and get in depth to the issues and advantages this presents. We formulate the corresponding multi-commodity routing flow problem, where each commodity is data from every node, and using the indoor/outdoor temperature as a proxy we investigate the effect of fairness in routing. We also present a low overhead method of constructing a seasonally-aware routing scheme and study its performance. Finally we talk about techniques for predicting the incoming available energy in the future.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Thermoelectric Harvesting
  • Seasonal Routing

• Graduation date

  Spring 2016

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3NV99G56

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.