A self-reliant avian bio-logger: energy storage considerations

This work presents an analysis of a self-reliant avian bio-logger to be utilized for long-term migration studies. The system is a microcontroller-based sensing system for uric acid measurements. It is capable of wirelessly transmitting its saved data to a base station. Power and energy budgets for the system modalities and tasks were calculated to determine the necessary energy storage performance. Two thin-film lithium batteries, which possess the highest specific power of the devices surveyed, were experimentally shown to have the capability to provide the necessary specific power and specific energy levels in packages around 0.5 g. Also, estimates for the amount of harvested energy which can be expected from photovoltaic cells and piezoelectric harvesters are calculated, showing that energy-neutral operation is achievable with the presented system. Our analyses and measurements show that the presented system is able to provide the energy and power levels necessary for a self-reliant avian bio-logger. These findings aid in the design of wireless measurement systems which can perform rigorous studies as the more energy available to the system, the more data it can collect and transmit.