Powering Agriculture IoT Sensors Using Natural Temperature Differences Between Air and Soil: Measurement and Evaluation

Abstract

As the need to monitor agriculture parameters intensifies, the development of new sensor nodes for data collection is crucial. These sensor types naturally require power for operation, but conventional battery-based power solutions have certain limitations. This study investigates the potential of harnessing the natural temperature gradient between soil and air to power wireless sensor nodes deployed in environments such as agricultural areas or remote off-grid locations where the use of batteries as a power source is impractical. We evaluated existing devices that exploit similar energy sources and applied the results to develop a state-of-the-art device for extensive testing over a 12-month period. Our main objective was to precisely measure the temperature on a thermoelectric generator (TEG) (a Peltier cell, in particular) and assess the device’s energy yield. The device harvested 7852.2 J of electrical energy during the testing period. The experiment highlights the viability of using environmental temperature differences to power wireless sensor nodes in off-grid and battery-constrained applications. The results indicate significant potential for the device as a sustainable energy solution in agricultural monitoring scenarios.