Smart Image-Processing based Energy Harvesting for Green Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT), as a widespread growing technology which connects various heterogeneous devices of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), plays a great role in sensing, monitoring, controlling of the covering environment. However, maximizing the lifetime of WSNs is still a major challenge. Although some approaches have been introduced to overcome the vital problem so far, research on this problem experiences a slow progress. Inspired by the promising performance of fuzzy-based Q-learning (FQL) algorithm to design practical smart sensors, this paper proposes a FQL-based approach that can maximize the lifetime of sensors and accelerate the process of wireless energy harvesting (EH) for mobile sensors which coexist with macro and small base stations (SBSs) deployed over a time-variant heterogeneous network (HetNet). The methodology is based on a centralized image-processing (IP) approach to scan and find the instant coverage map of the HetNet and then to localize red regions, i.e., regions with high levels of energy. Furthermore, mobile sensors attempt to access these regions during frequent movements. This will help to maximize the lifetime of the WSN. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the wireless EH process and smart aggregation of mobile sensors around the dense-coverage areas.