Designing a Power Efficient Sensor Node Microcontroller

The energy efficiency of wireless sensor nodes is determined by the power efficiency of underlying hardware, network topology and the profile of target application. In this paper, we present the methodology aimed to select optimal power saving strategy when designing an embedded sensor node microcontroller for specific application. The goal of presented methodology is to select the best-suited power saving techniques to be implemented in sensor node hardware based on the activity profile of the target application. The paper describes applied approach and shows the results of the microcontroller implementation targeting security demanding sensor network applications.