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

该项目的总体愿景是从全球系统角度发展能源自主无线系统领域的全面知识和创新方法，使自供电、无电池的无线传感节点能够满足广泛的结构健康监测(SHM)应用。该研究愿景建立在项目合作伙伴在“实现零功率信息和通信技术”领域的互补技能和优势的基础上，有可能导致多项科学和技术突破。第一个突破是利用SHM传感装置本身实现一个单一的多功能装置，既提供结构健康数据，又提供从机械振动中获取的电能。另一个突破将是将收获的能量存储在完全集成的智能存储设备中，该设备可以根据环境中的可用能源和负载的功率消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。储能装置本身将是一个微型超级电容器，具有比能量高、响应时间短、寿命长、运行安全等特点。这种微型超级电容器将采用硅兼容技术实现，以促进与其他功能的共集成。此外，为了大幅降低通信模块的功耗，提出的策略基于脉冲无线电UWB(超宽带)和暗硅设计方法。最后一项创新将是将不同的设备(采集、传感、存储、处理、数据传输)放在相同的柔性衬底上，以实现设备的保形附着，这是在SHM环境中非常需要的特征，因为要监测的表面很少是平面的。此外，通过这种方法，振动收割机的各向异性问题得到了解决，收割机本质上是正确定位的。在全球范围内，该项目的目标是生产一种设备，在这种设备中，共集成、功能共置、应用的多功能性和能源自主性得到最大限度的推动。

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.