UAV-Based Solution for Extending the Lifetime of IoT Devices: Efficiency, Design and Sustainability

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is named as a key ingredient in the evolution towards digitization of many applications and services. A deployment based on battery-powered remote Internet of Things (IoT) devices enables easy installation and operation, yet the autonomy of these devices poses a crucial challenge. A too short lifespan is undesirable from a functional, economical, and ecological point of view. This paper presents a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based approach to recharge remote Internet of Things (IoT) nodes. An in-depth study of the charging efficiency and optimization of key parameters, and measurements-based verification, is reported on. An actual corresponding design and implementation of the full UAV-based charging system and its proof-of-concept validation are presented. Finally, the sustainability of the proposed solution is discussed. The results presented in this paper hence confirm that the proposed UAV-based approach and design are functionally successful and efficient charging can be achieved, provided the constraints and challenges coming with the approach are adequately dealt with. Moreover, it comes with an overall reduction in ecological footprint for IoT applications relying on battery-powered nodes in need of medium energy and/or considerable lifetime expectation (5 years or more).

Figures (13)

• Figure 1: System overview: a UAV approach to extend the lifetime of IoT devices in different use-cases.
• Figure 2: Focused structure of the contributions of this paper. The data logger, wpt transmitter, and receiver use ble to communicate. The selected ble sysoc can also be employed as application mcu for the iot circuit.
• Figure 3: Variation of the coupling coefficient and receiver coil self-inductance relative to the coil-to-coil distance. We note that variations in coil-to-coil distance induce also changes in the self-inductance of the transmitter coil, especially at short distances (i.e. for high coupling).
• Figure 4: Coupling factor variations for different misalignments and with a receiver coil of 100mm.
• Figure 5: Render of the full system for the proposed approach to charge iot nodes autonomously. The uav battery delivers dc power to the Betaflight controller and pre-regulator. The latter forwards power to the half-bridge inverter and is further connected to the transmission coil. The receiver coil receives the alternating magnetic field and charges the iot battery.