RF Energy Harvesting Sensor Networks for Healthcare of Animals: Opportunities and Challenges

02/28/2018

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by   Yu Luo, et al.

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South Dakota School of Mines & Technology

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In recent years, the radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting technique is considered as a favorable alternative to supply power for the next-generation wireless sensor networks. Due to the features of energy self-sustainability and long lifetime, the energy harvesting sensor network (RF-EHSN) becomes a promising solution to provide smart healthcare services. Nowadays, many energy harvesting based applications have been developed for monitoring the health status of human beings; how to benefit animals, however, has not yet drawn people's attention. This article explores the potential of applying RF-EHSNs to monitoring the health level of animals. The unique challenges and potential solutions at different layers of an RF-EHSN for animals' healthcare service are studied.