Special issue on energy harvesting in wireless networks

Energy consumption has emerged as a key issue for designing next generation wireless networks. Having to periodically recharge mobile devices using power cords hampers the mobile operation of the devices. On the other hand, energy-constrained wireless networks, such as sensor networks, have limited lifetime due to the difficulty in replacing or recharging batteries in the nodes. Energy harvesting is a promising approach that addresses these issues as it powers mobile devices and, in general, wireless networks by scavenging energy from the ambient environment. Specifically, the networks can be made self-sustaining by harvesting energy from rich sources including solar power, electromagnetic waves, thermal energy, wind energy, salinity gradients, and kinetic energy. The recent emphasis on green communications also provides a strong motivation for developing energy harvesting based communication techniques. This has become all the more urgent because the electricity consumption of the fast expanding networks that handle mobile devices has grown rapidly, and will soon contribute significantly to global warming.