Imagine a tiny sensor that never needs a battery change because it drinks sunlight and heat to stay alive. It uses a special antenna that is incredibly small but powerful, meaning it needs very little energy to send data. It even stores heat to keep working through the night, like a thermal battery.
Remote sensor arrays often fail or require expensive manual maintenance due to battery depletion. Current energy harvesting often relies on toxic materials or lacks the efficiency to operate continuously through the night.
A communication platform integrating a high-gain metamaterial antenna, an ionic thermoelectric (iTE) energy harvester, and a supercapacitor for 24/7 autarkic operation.
If you are a monitoring firm dealing with the high cost of replacing batteries in remote structural sensors — this project developed an autarkic sensor platform that uses ionic thermoelectric devices to power itself. This eliminates the need for manual maintenance in hard-to-reach areas.
If you are an agency dealing with monitoring landslides or earthquakes in wilderness areas — this project developed a system that harvests solar thermal energy and stores it in supercapacitors. This ensures the sensors operate day and night without human intervention.
If you are an airport operator dealing with the complexity of powering ground traffic monitoring arrays — this project developed a compact metamaterial antenna that drastically reduces electrical power needs. This allows for a smaller, maintenance-free sensor footprint on the tarmac.
Based on available project data, specific unit costs or pricing models are not provided; however, the project received an EU contribution of EUR 2,498,710 for development.
The project leverages the existing manufacturing know-how of supercapacitors due to the similar structure of the ionic thermoelectric devices, which suggests a path toward industrial scaling.
Based on available project data, the project is in the demonstration phase with a 3-phase exploitation plan intended to produce a transfer plan at the end of the project.
The system integrates a metamaterial-based microwave antenna and energy harvesting modules into a single device to create a communication platform for sensor arrays.
The project period runs from 2022-04-01 to 2025-09-30, indicating that the final transfer plan and results will be available by late 2025.
The consortium is heavily industry-weighted with a 60% industry ratio, consisting of 5 partners across 4 countries (DE, EL, FR, SE). With 3 industrial partners and 2 SMEs, the project is structured for commercial transition rather than pure academic research, led by a German SME (Berliner Nanotest und Design GmbH).
Contact Berliner Nanotest und Design GmbH regarding the transfer plan for iTE devices.
Request the final transfer plan and application results for autarkic sensors.
