Increased interest for sensor networks in various applications are forcing research groups to come up with ways to power the individual sensor modules remains a sticking point in these sorts of applications. While wiring and batteries can be viable solutions for small-scale projects, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute came up with tiny solar cells that… »

Most efforts to harness multiple energy sources so far have employed switching to the source which provides most energy at that moment, but a group of researchers at MIT developed a system able to combine energy from multiple sources by switching rapidly between them. The  system could to be used in new battery-free monitoring systems… »