Controlling Data Aggregation and communication periodicity in Energy Harvesting networks

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication is an emerging paradigm for the next generation of sensing and actuating systems. Energy harvesting technologies applied in sensor and actuator devices must be considered by the communication solutions in order to achieve energy-efficient M2M communication. This paper addresses the problem of regulating the energy consumption in accordance with the harvested energy. Thus, it proposes Data Aggregation and communication Periodicity control for Energy Harvesting (DAPEH), a solution that controls the network energy consumption adjusting the Data Aggregation level and the periodicity of the communication. Data Aggregation allows DAPEH to control the amount of traffic sent over the network, while the communication periodicity enables the regulation of data production. The evaluation of the proposed solution uses real measurements of solar harvested energy and shows how the network can increase or decrease the energy consumption to avoid under and overuse of energy.