Applications of Energy-Driven and Transient Computing: A Wireless Bicycle Trip Counter

Abstract

Energy harvesting is an efficient solution to power embedded systems instead of using batteries. However, it has been traditionally coupled with large energy buffers to tackle the temporal variation of the source. These buffers require time to charge and introduce a cost, size and weight overhead. Energy-driven and transiently-powered systems can operate from an energy harvesting source, while containing little or no additional energy storage. However, few real-life applications have been considered for such systems to demonstrate that they can actually be realised. This poster presents a transiently-powered wireless bicycle trip counter which measures distance, speed and active cycling time, and transmits data wirelessly. The system sustains operation by harvesting energy from the rotation of the wheel, operating from 6kph.