Energy harvesting and control for sensor node

A method of operating a sensor node, comprising:

• wirelessly receiving, at a wireless receiver circuit coupled to a regulator circuit coupleable to an energy harvesting transducer, sufficient operating energy to establish operation of a sensor node without requiring operating energy from the energy harvesting transducer;
• selecting an energy consumption level of the sensor node based on an input to the regulator circuit;
• and
• establishing a subthreshold operational mode of a digital processor circuit based on the selected energy consumption level, including adjusting or selecting a supply voltage provided by the regulator circuit so as to establish subthreshold operation of a field effect transistor (FET) in the digital processor circuit.

A processor-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor circuit, cause an apparatus including the at least one processor circuit to perform a method comprising the steps of:

• wirelessly receiving, at a wireless receiver circuit coupled to a regulator circuit coupleable to an energy harvesting transducer, sufficient operating energy to establish operation of a sensor node without requiring operating energy from the energy harvesting transducer;
• selecting an energy consumption level of the sensor node based on an input to the regulator circuit;
• and
• establishing a subthreshold operational mode of a digital processor circuit based on the selected energy consumption level, including adjusting or selecting a supply voltage provided by the regulator circuit so as to establish subthreshold operation of a field effect transistor (FET) in the digital processor circuit.