A Review on Solar Energy–Driven Sensor Architectures for Accident Detection and Vehicle Monitoring

Abstract

The increasing rate of road accidents and the limitations of traditional vehicle monitoring systems have increased the demand for real-time, reliable, and energy-efficient safety solutions. An alternative that is considered to be sustainable is the sensor architecture that is operated using solar energy since it allows the device to operate on its own without the need to rely on vehicle batteries or a grid power source. The current review is a systematic study of available solar-powered sensor architecture developed so far to be used in the accident detection and vehicle monitoring. The analysis of the research is based on the significant system elements such as energy harvesting and storage units, sensing modules, processing and control units, and communication technologies. The importance of multi-sensor integration, energy efficiency, accuracy of detection, and reliability of the system is emphasized. The comparison of solar and hybrid solar-battery systems to traditional power sources presented in tables and performance-based numbers shows the benefits of the system, and the enhanced accuracy of sensor fusion techniques. The current challenges like energy variability, false alarms, and constraints of communication are also addressed in the review, with future research directions of greater scalability, intelligence, and robustness of solar-powered vehicular safety systems