Path planning and energy flow control of wireless power transfer for sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), limited-capacity batteries are generally used for powering sensor nodes, where unbalanced electricity is the primary cause of premature death of WSNs. In this paper, wireless power transfer networks are used to power batteries in WSNs to avoid the problem of limited lifetime of traditional limited-capacity batteries. Furthermore, path planning based on the Dijkstra algorithm, which aims at minimizing the overall energy consumption in the network to improve system efficiency, is discussed in detail. Finally, three power transfer models with low contention level (LCL) topology for energy flow control are experimentally validated from the optimal path.