Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZMThe partners of Fraunhofer "Towards Zero Power Electronics" project (ZEPOWEL) are developing a technology and methodology platform for the implementation of highly integrated, extremely energy-efficient modules for the "Internet of Things" (IoT).
Fraunhofer IZM is developing and implementing a scalable, modular low-power platform for connecting a variety of sensors, actuators and infrastructures.
This so-called "IoT core" can be better utilized by configuring the functional system components and an adaptive power management of a complex sensor architecture, thereby minimizing the overall energy consumption. Energy-relevant information is made available via suitable interfaces. Depending on the need for computing power, communication requirements and energy availability, individual system components of the project partner and later additional components can be activated or deactivated or provided with a configuration aimed at energy minimization, as proven in this project. In addition to the realization of the hardware and the implementation of the firmware, extensive measurement campaigns are also carried out. In certain configurations an energy saving potential of up to a factor of five has already been demonstrated.
In addition, as a system integrator, Fraunhofer IZM integrates individual components to form highly compact modules, which can then be connected like building blocks according to the purpose of the application. This partitioning of the functional modules already makes it possible to use them in industrial automation and environmental metrology.