The use of wireless sensor networks with different nodes is desirable in a smart environment, because the network setting up and installation on preexisting structures can be done without a fixed cabled infrastructure. The flexibility of the monitoring system is fundamental where the use of a considerable quantity of cables could compromise the normal exercise, could affect the quality of acquired signal and finally increase the cost of the materials and installation. The network is composed of several intelligent "nodes", which acquires data from different kind of sensors, and then store or transmit them to a central elaboration unit. The synchronization of data acquisition is the core of the real-time wireless sensor network (WSN). In this paper, we present a comparison between different methods proposed by literature for the real-time acquisition in a WSN and finally we present our solution based on 1-Pulse-Per-Second (1-PPS) signal generated by GPS systems. The sensor node developed is a small-embedded system based on ARM microcontroller that manages the acquisition, the timing and the post-processing of the data. The communications between the sensors and the master based on IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and managed by dedicated software. Finally, we present the preliminary results obtained on a 3 floor building simulator with the wireless sensors system developed.
KEYWORDS: Energy harvesting, Capacitance, Transducers, Microcontrollers, Skin, Neodymium, Data modeling, Capacitors, Data acquisition, Device simulation
In the last few years the continuous demand of energy saving has brought continuous research on low-power devices, energy storage and new sources of energy. Energy harvesting is an interesting solution that captures the energy from the environment that would otherwise be wasted. This work presents an electric-mechanical model of a piezoelectric transducer in a cantilever configuration. The model has been characterized measuring the acceleration and the open circuit voltage of a piezoelectric cantilever subjected to a sinusoidal force with different values frequency and subject to an impulsive force. The model has been used to identify the optimal position in which the piezoelectric cantilever has to be placed on a shoe in order to obtain the maximum energy while walking or running. As a second step we designed the DC-DC converter with an hysteresis comparator. The circuit is able to give energy to switch on a microprocessor for the amount of time long enough to capture and store the information required. The complete system has been implemented, installed on a shoe and used in a 10 Km running competition.
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