Wireless charging using mobile robot for lifetime prolongation in sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are energy constrained. It is often very difficult to charge directly sensor nodes due to environmental constraints. The “wireless charging” technology has enabled nodes a possibility to recover additional energy. In this paper, we present first a topology construction for minimum spanning tree based sensor networks using Kursals algorithm. Then, we present our proposed algorithm that aims to extend network lifetime. This algorithm is based on giving additional energy to nodes depending on their positions in the spanning tree. We consider a mobile charger vehicle traveling periodically inside the sensor network and charging each sensor node´s battery. Finally, we implemented our proposed algorithm using Matlab to evaluate performance in large-scale networks and shows the simulation results that show an improvement of network´s lifetime.