Design and layout of an energy autarkic wireless sensor network in underground metro tunnels

The transition to a society increasingly reliant on underground mass transportation in the 21st century has led to heightened demands on safety and security of its passengers concerning terror attacks and natural disasters. The Fraunhofer Ernst-Mach-Institut, in coordination with several partners in India and Germany, is developing an integrated security management and emergency response system. The system is based on energy self-sufficient wireless sensor networks for the communication of security relevant sensing information reliably to the central management system. In this paper, the system requirements, layout and operating modes are described. Based on these, an energy consumption assessment was compiled and the requirements for the energy harvesting sub-system were defined.