Abstract—For the application of wireless sensor network
technology in an energy self-sufficient condition monitoring
appliance, we propose a new hybrid network topology to combine
the advantages of the ZigBee standard with the need for lowest
power consumption when applying an energy harvesting solution
for a subset of the sensor nodes.
For a research project on a wireless condition monitoring
system, we developed a prototype implementation of a partly
energy self-sufficient wireless sensor network. We adapted the
ZigBee network protocols so that the energy consumption of
the self-sufficient nodes is reduced albeit a ZigBee conform
communication with the rest of the network is still ensured. In
this paper, the prototype system is presented and the problem
when applying a full ZigBee stack is stated. We propose to shift
parts of the network functionality from the end-devices to the
(mains- or battery powered) routers and show actual measurement
results and calculated values to indicate the improvements
of this adapted hybrid topology.
Index Terms—IEEE 802.15.4, industrial sensor network applications,
sensor networks, ZigBee, energy saving, network
protocol, energy self-sufficient, wireless condition monitoring
