Low power design of a wireless sensor node for indoor monitoring

While low power, low cost wireless sensing devices may provide transformative capabilities to the areas of remote sensing, automation, and data collection across many sectors of industry, one of the greatest remaining obstacles to rapid adoption is the need for more capable energy supplies. By increasing sensor node lifetimes the need for intervention and maintenance can be greatly reduced and nearly eliminated. Although energy storage and even energy harvesting are active areas of research, less attention has been focused on the best design practices for reducing the energy requirements of the sensor node itself [15]. With proper design, many existing low power components and technologies can be leveraged to greatly increase efficiency. This paper provides an overview of a wireless sensor node built using advanced low power components and efficient software operation. Further, it explores general design approaches which can be applied to maximize energy efficiency in wireless sensor node designs, and provides testing results which show very low power operation and extended run times on common batteries.