A power harvester for wireless sensing applications

In many implementations of structural monitoring, wires connecting the sensors in a chain or in a network are not allowed. Furthermore, most of the sensors are supposed to work just after a triggering event, so that they only absorb energy during a limited number of short working periods. Nevertheless, power harvesting is the weak link in conceiving a fully wireless architecture. The overall problem is discussed throughout this paper and solutions for specific civil engineering environments are pursued. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.