Designing Energy-Aware Sensor Systems

This chapter aims to introduce the major sources of energy consumption, the levels at which energy optimization can be performed and presents some representative optimizations that can be performed in the sensor network design space. It provides the different levels at which energy optimization can be performed in the design and operation of a system. Energy optimizations are typically targeted at the specific components of the sensor node that contribute a significant portion of overall energy consumption. An effective means for reducing energy consumption is in shutting down the components. The architecture of a traditional pipelined ADC can be easily modified for adapting its structure to the required resolution to conserve energy consumption. The chapter also presents representative energy optimizations targeted at the processor, memory and communication components of the sensor node. Power-aware instruction scheduling technique can increase total number of cycles.