SMARTER: Smart Multifunctional ARchitecture & Technology for Energy aware wireless sensoRs

该项目的总体愿景是从全球系统的角度开发能源自主无线系统领域的综合知识和创新方法，使自供电，无电池无线传感节点能够满足广泛的结构健康监测（SHM）应用。研究愿景建立在项目合作伙伴在“实现零功耗信息和通信技术”领域的互补技能和优势基础上，有可能导致多项科学和技术突破。第一个突破是利用SHM传感设备本身来实现一个单一的多功能设备，提供结构健康数据和从机械振动中收集的电能。另一个突破将是将收集的能量存储在完全集成的智能存储设备中，该设备根据环境中的可用能量和负载的功耗来调整其存储容量。这种适应性将在存储设备和能量收集器之间提供不断优化的匹配，以促进能量转移。储能器本身将是一个微型超级电容器，因此将具有高比能量，短时间响应，长寿命和安全运行的理想特性。此微型超级电容器将以硅兼容技术实现，以促进与其他功能的共同集成。此外，为了大幅降低通信模块的功耗，所提出的策略是基于使用脉冲无线电UWB（超宽带）和暗硅设计方法。最后的创新将是在同一柔性衬底上的不同设备（采集、感测、存储、处理、数据传输）的共同定位，以便能够实现设备的共形附接，这是在SHM背景下非常期望的特性，其中待监测的表面很少是平面的。此外，通过这种方式，解决了振动收割机的各向异性的问题，收割机本质上是正确定向的。更全球化的是，该项目旨在生产一种设备，其中最大限度地推动了功能的协同集成，协同定位，应用的多功能性和能源自主性。

The overall vision of the project is to develop comprehensive knowledge and an innovative methodology in the areas of energy autonomous wireless systems from a global system perspective, enabling self-powered, battery-free wireless sensing nodes to meet a wide range of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. The research vision builds on the project partners' complementary skills and strengths in the area of 'towards zero -power ICT' with the potential to lead to multiple scientific and technical breakthroughs. The first breakthrough is to make use of the SHM sensing device itself to implement a single multifunctional device providing both structural health data and electrical energy harvested from mechanical vibrations. Another breakthrough will be to store the harvested energy in a fully integrated smart storage device, which adapts its storage capacity, according to the available energy in the environment and to the power consumption of the load. This adaptability will provide a constantly optimized matching between storage device and energy harvester to foster energy transfer. The energy storage itself will be a micro-ultracapacitor, so will have the desirable features of high specific energy, short time response, long lifetime and safe operation. This micro -ultracapacitor will be implemented in a silicon compatible technology so as to facilitate co-integration with other functions. Moreover, to drastically reduce the power consumption of the communication module, the proposed strategy is based on using impulse radio UWB (ultra-wideband) and dark silicon design approaches. A final innovation will be the co-location of the different devices (harvesting, sensing, storage, processing, data transmission) on the same flexible substrate, in order to enable conformal attachment of the device, a characteristic highly desirable in a SHM context wher e the surfaces to be monitored are seldom planar. Additionally, by this means the issue of the anisotropy of vibration harvesters is settled, the harvester being, by nature, properly oriented. More globally, the project aims at producing a device in which co-integration, co-location of functions, versatility of applications and energy autonomy are pushed to a maximum.