Smart dust for energy efficient buildings
Smart dust particles or motes comprise spatially distributed platforms use autonomous sensors to monitor the physical or chemical environment. The EU-funded project WIROX (Oxide nanostructures for wireless chemical sensing) was established to address the problem of incorporating electrical gas sensors into motes. Low power consumption and an ability to 'scavenge' energy through low cost solar cells are essential for making smart-dust devices run longer. This is because it would be extremely expensive and inconvenient to retrieve a mote in order to replace its batteries. Therefore, the autonomous metal oxide nanowire sensors relied on quantum dot solar cells to harvest energy from the environment for power. The motes will be mainly used in energy efficient buildings, which are already the recipients of some of the largest deployments of sensor networks in the world. Wireless gas sensing of air quality could significantly increase the performance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. WIROX created synergies between fundamental and applied research across the globe thereby fostering the development of sustainable collaborations and rapid advances in the field. Moreover, it linked four European research organisations and three prominent organisations from Australia, Canada and South Africa. Training, staff exchanges and networking activities between project partners were an extremely important part of the project. All the involved institutions work at the forefront of the nanomaterials and their complementary expertise and the transfer of knowledge has played a major role in the initiative’s success. Furthermore, the participation of emerging economies such as South Africa, in science and technology will lead to capacity-building for skilled occupations and support efforts for the EU to become more competitive in the global market.
Keywords
Wireless sensor nodes, motes, WIROX, nanowire, quantum dot
