IoT without battery powered devices
The realization of devices IoT completely self-sussistent passes by the development of circuits that can operate below the threshold voltage. He works the startup PsiKick.
PsiKick is a startup founded by some professors at the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan in 2012, setting itself the goal of developing circuits with wireless capability that can operate at voltage of subthreshold.
With voltage of subthreshold is meant voltage lower than the threshold, or the value of the potential difference for which a transistor may ignite. For some time, researchers and engineers are trying to lower the operating voltage of the circuits with respect to what happens at present, to bring it to the level of the threshold voltage or even below it. The goal is to derive as much advantage as possible from the relation between the voltage and the power consumption of switching / ignition.
With the lowering of tension, the energy required for the switching of the transistor falls rapidly. This reduction is accompanied by a significant drop in performance. When the voltage is reduced to fall below the threshold voltage for a transistor nominal there is a further problem: a large increase of energy lost to dissipation. A circuit capable of turn on / off to hundreds of the megahertz may be brought to operate at a frequency below the MHz with a voltage of subthreshold.
The startup has developed a proof-of-concept of a wireless sensor using EDA tools and a conventional CMOS mixed-signal 130nm able to operate below the threshold voltage, opening the way for the realization of self-powered systems, the Internet of Things. As stated by PsiKick the proof-of-concept is capable of consuming 100 to 1000 times less than any comparable chips.
Having managed to collect a first round of financing for 5.25 million dollars in 2014, the startup has just completed a second round of funding, which has enabled it to raise $ 16.5 million by the fund venture capital Osage University Partners. This latter series of funds, in particular, will be used to expand the capabilities engineering and to develop systems without battery based on the technology of subthreshold. Marc Singer, managing partner of Osage University Partners, will join the board of directors of the company as set down in the financing.
” Before the last round of funding, PsiKick has created a platform of core technologies for wireless devices fully powered. These foundations include wireless connectivity more efficient in the world, a solid node computing and energy collection devices to enable IoT without battery and highly scalable, ” said Brendan Richardson, CEO of PsiKick.
PsiKick is working on systems capable of self-sustaining with the ability to gather the necessary energy from various sources, including light to interior spaces, the refraction of radio frequency, the thermal gradient and the piezoelectric vibration. An example is an electrocardiograph without battery that can support a data rate of 1megabit per second over a distance of 10 meters.
PsiKick is not the only company that is working to develop integrated circuits capable of operating at a voltage of subthreshold: among other companies are Ambiq Micro, another startup fabless, and the best known ARM Holdings.
