Photovoltaic Cells for Energy Harvesting and Step Counting

International Conference · 2023

Photovoltaic Cells for Energy Harvesting and Step Counting

Keywords

Step countingLocalizationUser identificationEnergy harvestingenergy-free sensing

Kaede Shintani , Hamada Rizk , Hirozumi Yamaguchi

The 21st International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom 2023) Demo

Research Note

Recently, IoT devices that do not require an external power source, especially energy-free sensing and indoor context recognition, have been attracting attention. 
We have developed a smart shoe that uses solar cells as both a power source and a sensor to estimate user behavior in an energy-efficient way.

Recently, IoT devices that do not require an external power source, especially energy-free sensing and indoor context recognition, have been attracting attention. 
We have developed a smart shoe that uses solar cells as both a power source and a sensor to estimate user behavior in an energy-efficient way.
The photocurrent generated by the solar cells attached to the shoes is highly dependent on the angle of the foot, and by analyzing the photocurrent data, we make three estimations: the number of steps, the user's location, and which user is wearing the shoes. 

System architecture


Key idea of step counting


Demo video

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