Smart Ultra Low Power Energy Harvesting System

Small embedded systems operating in unattended conditions do need to be perpetually powered if a truly pervasive paradigm is envisaged. Harvesting energy from the surrounding environment seems to be the best option. For that, a set of systems has been proposed featuring interesting solutions but not yet capable of overcoming some issues like performance and flexibility. The authors propose a novel design for an environmental energy harvesting power supply that not only can work with multiple energy sources but also can extract the maximum possible energy from them. Additionally, it can provide important information concerning the energy resources of the system. Focusing particularly on the system’s design, the authors present results from a reference implementation that highlight the low wasted power and high efficiency characteristics of the system. Smart Ultra Low Power Energy Harvesting System