As the power requirements ,for microelectronics continue
decreasing, environmental energy sources can begin to
replace batteries in certain wearable subsystems. In this
spirit, this paper examines three different devices that can be
built into a shoe, (where excess energy is readily harvested)
and used, for generating electrical power "parasitically" while
walking. Two of these are piezoelectric in nature: a
unimorph strip made,from piezoceramic composite material
and a stave made,from a multilayer laminate of PVDF,foil.
The third is a shoe-mounted rotary magnetic generator. Test
results are given,for these systems, their relative merits and
compromises are discussed, and suggestions are proposed, for
improvements and potential applications in wearable
systems. As a self-powered application example, a system
had been built around the piezoelectric shoes that
periodically broadcasts a digital RFID as the bearer walks.