Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EPEAS (Leading the way to energy autonomous edge computing)
Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2024-01-31
IoT (Internet of Things) devices are deployed in volume to sense, measure, monitor, track… Many studies have tried to estimate the number of connected devices to be deployed in the coming years, and all end up with numbers above the billion range. Those devices are not connected to the grid and therefore rely on a battery as the source of energy. However, battery replacement causes maintenance headaches to consumers and industries. Indeed, for the consumer market the need to replace a battery lead to a poor customer experience, while for industrial applications, the number of batteries to be replaced causes high labor costs. Further the manufacturing and disposal of those batteries have a significant environmental impact: where and how to extract the row materials and how to recycle the batteries when they reach their end-of-life.
With this project we offer to solve the battery issue. An IoT device is built around four different functions: A sensor that gather information about the object environment, a microcontroller that process this information, a communication mean that send the results of the processing to the cloud and a power management that delivers energy to the object. At e-peas we already offer power management circuits that can be combined with tiny energy harvesters to supply the object from the energy available from its environment. The goal of this project is to combine it with a microcontroller and a sensor (namely an image sensor) that will require a minimum amount of power to operate. This combination will provide energy autonomy to the objects, removing the burden of battery replacement.
With this project we offer to solve the battery issue. An IoT device is built around four different functions: A sensor that gather information about the object environment, a microcontroller that process this information, a communication mean that send the results of the processing to the cloud and a power management that delivers energy to the object. At e-peas we already offer power management circuits that can be combined with tiny energy harvesters to supply the object from the energy available from its environment. The goal of this project is to combine it with a microcontroller and a sensor (namely an image sensor) that will require a minimum amount of power to operate. This combination will provide energy autonomy to the objects, removing the burden of battery replacement.
The activities conducted over the first twelve months of the project can be split into two groups: development related to the microcontroller and to the image sensor.
Regarding the microcontroller,
• Several corrections were made to the former prototype. Those corrections impacted both the digital and the analog core of the microcontroller and a new prototype has been manufactured and tested.
• The design has been adapted to replace the digital core with another core that has more processing capabilities was made as well.
• Regarding the firmware:
o the set of drivers available for the customer has been completed and verified,
o an automatic build machine has been developed to deliver the API to the customers.
o We have increased the number of supported development tools.
• The end-user documentation (datasheet, code examples…) has been developed and a documentation portal has been created.
• Work has started to support the development of the next generation microcontroller, especially by improving our verification flow and the tooling required to analyze the test results.
Regarding the image sensor:
• Several corrections were made to the former prototype and a new prototype has been manufactured and tested. Those corrections included the addition hardware accelerators and improvement of the IO drivers to reduce the system power consumption.
• Measurement showed an error on the black levels, investigations were made and a potential correction has been identified.
• A test software with a graphical user interface has been developed.
• Two patents have been submitted.
Regarding the microcontroller,
• Several corrections were made to the former prototype. Those corrections impacted both the digital and the analog core of the microcontroller and a new prototype has been manufactured and tested.
• The design has been adapted to replace the digital core with another core that has more processing capabilities was made as well.
• Regarding the firmware:
o the set of drivers available for the customer has been completed and verified,
o an automatic build machine has been developed to deliver the API to the customers.
o We have increased the number of supported development tools.
• The end-user documentation (datasheet, code examples…) has been developed and a documentation portal has been created.
• Work has started to support the development of the next generation microcontroller, especially by improving our verification flow and the tooling required to analyze the test results.
Regarding the image sensor:
• Several corrections were made to the former prototype and a new prototype has been manufactured and tested. Those corrections included the addition hardware accelerators and improvement of the IO drivers to reduce the system power consumption.
• Measurement showed an error on the black levels, investigations were made and a potential correction has been identified.
• A test software with a graphical user interface has been developed.
• Two patents have been submitted.
After the first year of the project, we have a fully operational microcontroller. It was evaluated through the independent benchmark ULPbench, and the results are publicly available here: https://www.eembc.org/ulpmark/ulp-cp/scores.php(opens in new window)
Our first microcontroller hits the highest score for an industrial cortex M0. Porting the technology into a more advanced technology node will further reduce the power consumption. In order to finalize the pre-industrialization work, we still have to complete the documentation and to run the qualification phase.
The image sensor achieved good results that we have not yet publicly announced since some corrections still have to be brought to the design. As for the microcontroller the documentation must be finalized, and the qualification needs to be completed.
Our first microcontroller hits the highest score for an industrial cortex M0. Porting the technology into a more advanced technology node will further reduce the power consumption. In order to finalize the pre-industrialization work, we still have to complete the documentation and to run the qualification phase.
The image sensor achieved good results that we have not yet publicly announced since some corrections still have to be brought to the design. As for the microcontroller the documentation must be finalized, and the qualification needs to be completed.