Adaptive Duty Cycle Control for Optimal Stochastic Energy Harvesting

Energy harvesting in wireless sensors is expected to improve the environmental footprint of sensors by reducing the polluting need of using and replacing batteries through autarkic operation. Recent advances in energy harvesting technology lead towards this goal. However, the use of harvesters as energy sources imposes limitations on the sensor power and energy consumption. In this paper we propose an adaptive mechanism for dynamically adjusting the duty cycle of a sensor, so that the energy input of the harvester may be utilized to the highest level, while retaining reasonable variance in servicing the load.