Toward Field Deployment: Tackling the Energy Challenge in Environmental Sensors

The need for sustainable and long-term environmental monitoring has driven the development of energy-autonomous sensors, which either operate passively or integrate energy harvesting (EH) solutions. In many applications, the energy cost of data transmission is a critical factor in autonomous sensing systems. To address this challenge, optical passive sensors, which exploit changes in reflectivity to monitor physical parameters, offer self-sustained operation without requiring an external power source. Similarly, RF-based passive sensors, both chipless and with minimal circuitry, enable wireless monitoring with low power consumption. When more energy is available, EH techniques can be combined with active optical sensors. Infrared laser-based CO2 sensors, as well as drone-mounted optical systems, demonstrate how EH can power precise environmental measurements. Beyond optics, other sensing modalities also benefit from EH, further expanding the range of self-powered environmental monitoring technologies. This review discusses the trade-offs between passive and EH-assisted sensing strategies, with a focus on optical implementations. The outlook highlights emerging solutions to enhance sensor autonomy while minimizing the energy cost of data transmission, paving the way for sustainable and scalable environmental monitoring.