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Low power consuming and highly responsive semiconductor-type microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) gas sensors are fabricated for real-time environmental monitoring applications. This subsystem is developed using a gas sensor module, a Bluetooth module, and a personal digital assistant (PDA) phone. The gas sensor module consists of a NO2 or CO gas sensor and signal processing chips. The MEMS gas sensor is composed of a microheater, a sensing electrode, and sensing material. Metal oxide nanopowder is drop-coated onto a substrate using a microheater and integrated into the gas sensor module. The change in resistance of the metal oxide nanopowder from exposure to oxidizing or deoxidizing gases is utilized as the principle mechanism of this gas sensor operation. The variation detected in the gas sensor module is transferred to the PDA phone by way of the Bluetooth module.

This letter describes an efficient technique for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of an energy harvesting device. It is based on controlling the device voltage at the point of maximum power. Using a microcontroller with a power saving technique, the MPPT algorithm maintains the maximum power with low power consumption. An experiment shows that the algorithm maximizes the energy transfer power using an energy management IC fabricated in a 0.18-μm process. Compared to direct energy transfer to a battery, the proposed technique is more efficient for low-energy harvesting under variable conditions.