Maximizing Throughput in Energy-Harvesting Sensor Nodes

We consider an online throughput maximization problem in sensor nodes that can harvest energy. The sensor nodes generate and forward packets, which cost energy; they can also harvest energy from the environment, but the amount of energy that can be harvested is not known in advance. We give a number of algorithms and lower bounds for the case of a single node. We consider both the general case and some types of ‘non-idling’ adversaries where we can get better bounds. We also consider the case of networks with multiple nodes and demonstrate that some very simple scenarios already admit no competitive algorithms.