Micropower converters for internet-of-things devices

由于电子电路的小型化，计算、通信和传感功能可以集中到越来越小的元件中，然后无缝集成到我们周围的物体中，这些物体反过来可以变得“智能”，并在广泛的“物联网”（IoT）中相互连接。然而，这些物理对象在可用能量、计算能力和通信带宽方面资源有限。因此，如果我们想要开发可扩展的物联网设备和应用，以实现智能世界的承诺，我们必须特别关注资源效率。该研究计划将开发新的微功率转换器，将其集成在包含其他计算，通信和传感功能的同一硅芯片上。物联网对象将只需要一个芯片，它将比传统设备更小、更经济、更节能。微功率转换器将通过为芯片上实现的不同功能提供优化的电压水平来提高能源效率，并在数字电路工作在节能模式时降低电源电压。微功率转换器还将通过调节电池或能量收集设备产生的不稳定电压来扩展物联网设备的运行条件。*******能源限制所带来的限制已经严重地限制了设计者原本期望的性能。因此，新的微功率转换器将通过实现分布式电源处理来共同优化能源和运行性能，从而解决这一能源挑战。这种优化将显著提高系统效率、电池寿命，并延长能量收集的操作时间。反过来，这些改进将成为创造可持续物联网应用的关键，这将改变我们的生活方式，并将成为创造新产品和服务的主要引擎

Thanks to the miniaturization of electronic circuits, computing, communication and sensing functions can be concentrated into smaller and smaller elements, and then integrated seamlessly into the objects around us, which in turn can become "smart" and interconnected in a widespread "internet of things" (IoT). However these physical objects have limited resources in terms of available energy, computing power, and communication bandwidth. Therefore, we must pay special attention to resource efficiency, if we want to develop IoT devices and applications that can be scaled up to fulfil the promise of the smart world.*** This research program will develop new micropower converters to be integrated on the same silicon chip containing other computing, communication, and sensing functions. An IoT object will need only one chip, which will be tiny, economical, and more energy efficient than conventional devices. The micropower converters will improve energy efficiency by supplying optimized voltage levels to the different functions implemented on chip, and by scaling down the supply voltage when digital circuits operate in energy-saving mode. The micropower converters will also extend the operating conditions of the IoT devices by adjusting the wobbly voltage generated by a battery or by an energy harvesting device.******* The limitations imposed by energy constraints are already sharply curbing the performance designers might otherwise expect. Therefore the new micropower converters will address this energy challenge by enabling distributed power processing for jointly optimizing energy and operating performance. Such optimization will lead to significantly enhanced system efficiency, battery lifetime, and extended operation on energy harvesting. In turn these improvements will be key to create sustainable IoT applications unimaginable today, which will change the way we live and will be a major engine for creating new products and services.**