suisMOTE a novel ultra low power ARM based sensor for IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Networks

The improvement of low power microcontrollers, sensors and RF transceivers gives the possibility to implement compact and low cost solutions for a wide range of applications. This paper proposes a new ultra low power ARM-based sensor (suisMOTE) for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). An IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver Integrated Circuit (IC) provides the wireless connectivity, additionally a USB interface is also implemented to communicate the system with a computer. Moreover, since the platform is designed for low power applications it incorporates adaptive power modes in the microcontroller´s peripherals and low power states in the radio to save energy. The management of these peripherals and radio was implemented to handle different energy saving levels (including shut-down). The results of the experimental measurements show the impact of the use of the power modes on the power consumption.