Kinetic Energy Harvesting Toward Battery-Free IoT:Fundamentals, Co-Design Necessity and Prospects

• 来源期刊: 中兴通讯技术（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（1）
• 所属期刊栏目: Special Topic
• 页码范围: 48-60
• 页数: 13页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.12142/ZTECOM.202101007

摘要

Energy harvesting (EH) technology is developed with the purpose of harnessing ambient energy in different physical forms. Although the available ambient energy is usually tiny, not comparable to the centralized power generation, it brings out the convenience of on-site power generation by drawing energy from local sources, which meets the emerging pow?er demand of long-lasting, extensively-deployed, and maintenance-free Internet of Things (IoT). Kinetic energy harvesting (KEH) is one of the most promising EH solutions toward the realization of battery-free IoT. The KEH-based battery-free IoT can be extensively deployed in the smart home, smart building, and smart city scenarios, enabling perceptivity, intelli?gence, and connectivity in many infrastructures. This paper gives a brief introduction to the configurations and basic principles of practical KEH-IoT systems, including their mechani?cal, electrical, and computing parts. Although there are already a few commercial products in some specific application markets, the understanding and practice in the co-design and optimization of a single KEH-IoT device are far from mature, let alone the conceived multia?gent energy-autonomous intelligent systems. Future research and development of the KEH-IoT system beckons for more exchange and collaboration among mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers toward general design guidelines to cope with these interdisciplinary en?gineering problems.