Today, real-time systems are embedded in a wide range of devices :

consumer electronics, cars, wearable devices, sensor nodes, etc. Although research is very active for designing very low power platforms, the amount of energy that must be available on board still limits the lifespan of embedded systems and prevent their miniaturization. Alternative energy sources present in our environment could be exploited to achieve perpetual functioning without replacing or recharging batteries : this is energy harvesting. Building battery-operated or energy harvesting real-time systems faces many challenges due to timing constraints and energy limitations. In particular, we have to introduce energy-aware scheduling strategies that not only could improve real-time performance but also make a better utilization of energy.

more info : http://sart2013.irccyn.ec-nantes.fr