Dust Networks, a leading provider of intelligent wireless sensor network solutions, has demonstrated its new SmartMesh IP6LoWPAN wireless network, which operates on harvested energy, at the IDTechEx Wireless Sensor Network & RTLS Summit on June 21st and 22nd in Munich, Germany.
All the nodes in the network, such as the IPv6 routing nodes operate on energy harvested from an array of devices such as the Cymbet EnerChip CC rechargeable solid state battery and the Micropelt TE-Power thermogenerator, which are trickle charged by a small daylight powered solar collector.
According to Burkhard Habbe, who is the Vice President of Business Development in Micropelt GmbH, the SmartMesh product series with its unique energy harvesting properties allows their entire mesh network nodes to function on harvested energy. He further mentioned that the reduced power requirements of this solution enable it to operate several more applications on thermoharvesters at very low gradients, without wires or added costs on battery maintenance.
Steve Grady, Cymbet’s Vice President of Marketing, revealed that their customers were now deploying totally self-powered wireless sensor networks with the unique combination of Dust Network’s Eterna Technology and EnerChip solid state energy storage solutions. When compared to other wireless products, this solution needs less power and is a highly compact, eco friendly and maintenance-free networking option.
Kirsten West, who is the Principal Analyst with West Technology Research Solutions, remarked that in 2011 most of the WSN growth would mainly be due to the market demand for solutions, which offer battery-free operations and overall network connectivity.