Performance evaluation of an electromagnetic energy harvester for autonomous noise measurements in low-noise emission vehicles

This paper explores the feasibility of using an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester (EMVEH) to power a low-power acoustic sensor node to perform autonomous mobile noise measurements, particularly when the sensor is mounted on vehicles with low noise emissions. First, vibration measurements are conducted by positioning several accelerometers on the vehicles. Then, after analyzing the predominant frequencies from the one third-octave band spectrum, the optimal location and tuning frequency for the EMVEH are determined. Lastly, a comparison is made between the energy consumption of the acoustic sensor node during a full sensing cycle and the energy generated by the tuned EMVEH across different scenarios. The findings indicate that, under certain situations, the harvested energy by the EMVEH is sufficient to power the acoustic sensor node effectively.