When it comes to managing IoT platforms for smart city applications a critical issue is how to power the sensors/edge devices involved. Because these devices are distributed around a city, replacing the batteries when they fail is a costly and time-consuming process. Furthermore, disposing of all of these batteries has become a significant environmental problem.
e-peas’ ambient energy manager (AEM) ICs have been designed to manage the power within energy harvesting circuitry. These circuits can draw energy from numerous different sources - including solar, thermal gradients, electromechanical/vibrations, and RF.
As part of the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Programme, e-peas will be able to bring greater energy autonomy to smart city IoT devices and deliver several clear benefits, such as:
- Extended battery life and substantially reduced maintenance expenses.
- An increase in devices’ power budget - which may then be used to support extra features and functionality, or to allow transmitting and receiving to be carried out more often.
- Use of more compact form factors, thanks to smaller energy storage elements.
“Thanks to our AEM technology, we are able to offer key components for smart infrastructure platforms,” said Geoffroy Gosset, CEO and co-founder of e-peas. “The Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Programme will be pivotal in facilitating the deployment of fully autonomous IoT devices, eliminating the issues associated with limited battery life and subsequent battery disposal.”
