The rapid growth of loT

At present, a significant number of connected meters and equipment are available online overflowing with sensors for measuring the world surrounding them, and this signifies the rapid growth of loT (Internet of Things). However, how will all this electronic equipment be powered? In fact, this type of query is motivating the largest institution in Europe, namely the Towards Zero-Power Electronics initiative at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to conduct applied research. According to Eric Jung, who is a member of the business development group at the Fraunhofer IZM (Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration) in Berlin, modifications ought to be implemented in the manner in which we tackle the consumption of electricity. He further adds that the term zero power which signifies a direction of travel in this particular research continues to be a far-reaching prospect at present.

Attaining incremental enhancements in energy efficiency along with low-power electronics is the main emphasis right now. In fact, energy is going to be spent every time you depend on electronics for transferring some information or for performing number crunching. According to him, although it is impossible to elude this fact, we can still do a lot to reduce power requirements in the loT. As per the US National Science Foundation, the Internet of Things is going to include 50 billion smart objects by the year 2020 as well as 1 trillion sensors within a short span of time following that. Power isn’t an issue for a number of sensors which are affixed to the equipment with their own power supplies. Concerns over maintenance expenses and battery life creep up very fast where wireless sensor terminals are installed in distant locations and over extensive areas.

Special emphasis is given by one area of Fraunhofer’s research on the improvement of wake-up receivers. Ultra-low currents are used by these devices for monitoring wireless sensor networks which only trigger components from a sleeping condition once they are needed to manage any incoming instruction or request. All these receivers are able to make such types of systems approximately 3 times more energy efficient while employed in sensor-heavy loT applications including intelligent lighting, remote maintenance or building automation. This is achieved by employing nanotechnologies to etch microscopic cavities at the rear of the microcontrollers or semi-controllers which are able to hold a capacitor or an electrolyte for powering that part. Energy harvesting happens to be another area of interest for several global organizations including Fraunhofer whereby electronic systems make use of power-producing elements.

These might consist of piezoelectric elements, thermoelectric elements as well as solar cells which help to generate power from vibration, heat energy, and sunlight respectively. One can expect here that it will be possible to extend battery life by harvesting energy which will help to eradicate the requirement for batteries. However, in case the sun does not shine or there is a drop in temperature, the quantity of energy foraged from the atmosphere can be variable which is not conducive for loT systems that need to accumulate and transfer a huge amount of data quite often. Work is going on at Fraunhofer on exploring elements which provide the best rates for power conversion so that they can be employed in energy harvesting. In fact, we might notice energy harvesting in quite a few daily items within a short span of time. In the United Kingdom, for instance, Freevolt has been developed by Drayson Technologies which happens to be a technology for energy harvesting that can harvest the ambient RF (radio frequency) energy produced by Wi-Fi transmissions as well as smartphones. Freevolt has been already utilized by Drayson for powering the Cleanspace tags intended for controlling environmental pollution; however, it is working on bringing the identical technology to credit cards at present.

from ZDS Europe http://www.zds-europe.com/2018/01/09/the-rapid-growth-of-lot/