WIRELESS NODE AND METHOD OF POWERING A WIRELESS NODE EMPLOYING AMBIENT LIGHT TO CHARGE AN ENERGY STORE

摘要

A wireless node, such as a sensor node or other suitable node, includes a supercapacitor having a charge and one or more photocells adapted to charg e the supercapacitor responsive to ambient light. A microprocessor cooperates with a wireless transceiver to transmit a count of one or more wireless messages. T he microprocessor determines the charge of the supercapacitor, determines an incremental charge of the supercapacitor resulting from the ambient light, a nd adjusts the count of the wireless messages as a function of the charge of the supercapacitor and the incremental charge. A power supply, including a boost regulator and a filter capacitor, powers the microprocessor and the wireless transmitter from the charge of the supercapacitor.