EnHaNSS '12 - Workshop Program

The International Workshop on Algorithms and Concepts for Networked Sensing Systems Powered by Energy Harvesters (EnHaNSS'12) will be scheduled as a half-day workshop during the International Conference on Networked Sensing Systems (INSS'12) in the pleasant town of Antwerp, Belgium.

Schedule

13:00 - 13:15 Introduction
13:15 - 14:15 Keynote: Holistic Design of Energy Harvesting Sensor Nodes
Geoff Merrett (University of Southampton, UK)
14:15 - 15:00 Session 1 - Energy Buffers
Chair: t.b.a.
  • Printed Electrochemical Capacitors for Energy Scavenging Sensor Networks
    Andrey Somov (Create-Net, Trento, Italy), Christine C. Ho (Imprint Energy Inc., Alameda, CA, USA), Roberto Passerone (University of Trento, Italy), James W. Evans, and Paul K. Wright (University of California, USA)
  • Characterization of Lithium-Ion Capacitors for Low-Power Energy Neutral Wireless Sensor Networks
    Danilo Porcarelli (University of Bologna, Italy), Davide Brunelli (University of Trento, Italy), and Luca Benini (University of Bologna, Italy)
15:00 - 15:30 Coffee Break
15:30 - 17:00 Session 2 - Analytical Models for Energy-Harvesting System Components
Chair: t.b.a.
  • Design of a Linearized Magnetic Spring for Body-Worn Inertial Energy Harvesters
    Hui Huang, Geoff V. Merrett, and Neil M. White (University of Southampton, UK)
  • Analytical Comparison of MAC Schemes for Energy Harvesting - Wireless Sensor Networks
    Xenofon Fafoutis and Nicola Dragoni (Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)
  • Supercapacitor Leakage in Energy-Harvesting Sensor Nodes: Fact or Fiction?
    Geoff V. Merrett and Alex S. Weddell (University of Southampton, UK)
  • State-of-Charge Assessment for Supercap-Powered Sensor Nodes: Keep it Simple Stupid!
    Christian Renner and Volker Turau (Hamburg University of Technology, Germany)
17:00 End

Keynote Speaker

Geoff Merrett - Holistic Design of Energy Harvesting Sensor Nodes

Abstract Energy harvesting sensor nodes are gaining increasing potential and research interest, but they are inherently complicated systems. Numerous interactions exist between the microgenerator, power processing circuitry, energy storage, processor and radio transceiver etc, and designing and optimising an isolated component does not necessarily translate to equivalent improvements at the system level. Efficient and effective design needs to take a holistic approach, and consider the system's multiple components and their interactions. In this presentation, I will discuss different aspects of this holistic design process, from the design of generators, power processing circuitry and computation units through to system modelling, simulation and optimisation. Some of these aspects will be illustrated in the context of case-studies, both in constrained and real applications, including a wireless sensor performing condition monitoring on a ferry engine which is powered by a tuneable vibration-based microgenerator. I will also present a range of data on energy availability that we have collected, analysed and made freely available to the community.

Geof Merrett Biography Geoff Merrett is a lecturer in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, UK. He received the BEng (Hons) Electronic Engineering degree in 2004, and in 2009 was awarded a PhD for his research into 'Energy- and Information-Managed Wireless Sensor Networks: Modelling and Simulation'. He worked as a research fellow on the EPSRC-funded project "New Directions for Intelligent Sensors," before becoming a lecturer in intelligent sensing and pervasive networks at the University in 2008. His research interests are in energy-aware wireless sensing and sensor networks, energy harvesting, low-power electronics, and pervasive healthcare, and he is actively involved in the Faculty's Pervasive Systems Centre (PSC) where he chairs its interest group on wireless sensing. He is a Co-Investigator on the EPSRC-funded project "Next Generation Energy- Harvesting Electronics - A Holistic Approach," and also co-manages the UK's "Energy Harvesting Network". He has authored a number of journal and conference publications in the area of wireless sensor networks and energy harvesting, a chapter on "Wireless Devices and Sensor Networks" in the book "Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Systems (Artech House, 2010)," and co-edited a book on "Wireless Sensor Networks: Application-Centric Design (InTech, 2011)." He is an active reviewer for a number of prestigious international journals, has served on a number of technical programme committees for conferences and events, and is a member of the IET and IEEE.