An analytical model of energy consumption in Hybrid Technology Networking

The North American freight railroad industry is moving towards on-board sensor networks for real-time or near real-time status monitoring of railcars´ components. The sensors are to be powered by batteries or energy harvesting sources of power. Hence, the critical constraint for such a sensor network is available energy balanced against energy consumption requirements in order to achieve multi-year operational life while maintaining overall system performance. A detailed characterization of energy consumption thus is important, leading to optimum use of available energy and maximizes life of the network. The unique linear network topology encountered in this railroads domain application led our team to the design of a multi-protocol radio technology for effective network operation. In this work we will present an energy consumption model for it.