Energy Autonomous Micro and Nano Systems

Providing a detailed overview of the fundamentals and latest developments in the field of energy autonomous microsystems, this book delivers an in-depth study of the applications in the fields of health and usage monitoring in aeronautics, medical implants, and home automation, drawing out the main specifications on such systems. Introductory information on photovoltaic, thermal and mechanical energy harvesting, and conversion, is given, along with the latest results in these fields. This book also provides a state of the art of ultra-low power sensor interfaces, digital signal processing and wireless communications. In addition, energy optimizations at the sensor node and sensors network levels are discussed, thus completing this overview.
This book details the challenges and latest techniques available to readers who are interested in this field. A major strength of this book is that the first three chapters are application orientated and thus, by setting the landscape, introduce the technical chapters. There is also a good balance between the technical application, covering all the system-related aspects and, within each chapter, details on the physics, materials and technologies associated with electronics.

Contents

Introduction. Introduction to Energy Autonomous Micro
and Nano Systems and Presentation of Contributions, Marc Belleville and Cyril Condemine.
1. Sensors at the Core of Building Control, Gilles Chabanis, Laurent Chiesi, Hynek Raisigel,
Isabelle Ressejac and Véronique Boutin.
2. Toward Energy Autonomous MedicalImplants, Raymond Campagnolo and Daniel Kroiss.
3. Energy Autonomous Systems in Aeronautic Applications, Thomas Becker, Jirka Klaue and Martin Kluge.
4. Energy Harvesting by Photovoltaic Effect, Emmanuelle Rouvière, Simon Perraud, Cyril Condemine and
Guy Waltisperger.
5. Mechanical Energy Harvesting, Ghislain Despesse, Jean Jacques Chaillout,
Sébastien Boisseau and Claire Jean-Mistral.
6. Thermal Energy Harvesting, Tristan Caroff, Emmanuelle Rouvière and Jérôme Willemin.
7. Lithium Micro-Batteries, Raphaël Salot.
8. Ultra-Low-Power Sensors, Pascal Nouet, Norbert Dumas, Laurent Latorre and
Frédérick Mailly.
9. Ultra-Low-Power Signal Processing in Autonomous Systems, Christian Piguet.
10. Ultra-Low-Power Radio Frequency Communications and Protocols, Eric Mercier.
11. Energy Management in an Autonomous Microsystem, Jean-Frédéric Christmann, Edith Beigne, Cyril Condemine, Jérôme Willemin and Christian Piguet.
12. Optimizing Energy Efficiency of 
Sensor Networks, Olivier Sentieys and Olivier Berder.

Introduction. Introduction to Energy Autonomous Micro and Nano Systems and Presentation of Contributions xiii
Marc BELLEVILLE and Cyril CONDEMINE

I.1. Context of energy-autonomous systems and micro-nanosystems xiii

I.2. Sample applications xvi

I.3. Energy harvesting, storage and conversion xvii

I.4. Data acquisition, processing and transmission xviii

I.5. Energy management xix

I.6. Bibliography xx

Chapter 1. Sensors at the Core of Building Control 1
Gilles CHABANIS, Laurent CHIESI, Hynek RAISIGEL, Isabelle RESSEJAC and Véronique BOUTIN

1.1. Introduction 1

1.2. Sensors in buildings 2

1.3. New sensor needs 3

1.4. An example: the HOMES comfort sensor prototype 10

1.5. Conclusion 20

1.6. Bibliography 21

Chapter 2. Toward Energy Autonomous Medical Implants 23
Raymond CAMPAGNOLO and Daniel KROISS

2.1. Introduction 23

2.2. Current and potential applications 24

2.3. Conclusion 55

2.4. Bibliography 57

Chapter 3. Energy Autonomous Systems in Aeronautic Applications 59
Thomas BECKER, Jirka KLAUE and Martin KLUGE

3.1. Motivation 59

3.2. Wireless systems 62

3.3. Autonomous systems 71

3.4. Summary 79

3.5. Bibliography 79

Chapter 4. Energy Harvesting by Photovoltaic Effect 83
Emmanuelle ROUVIÈRE, Simon PERRAUD, Cyril CONDEMINE and Guy WALTISPERGER

4.1. Introduction 83

4.2. Light power available indoors and outdoors 84

4.3. Photovoltaic cell: physical principle and model 88

4.4. Comparison between various photovoltaic cell technologies 96

4.5. Electronic management 97

4.6. Conclusion 110

4.7. Bibliography 110

Chapter 5. Mechanical Energy Harvesting 115
Ghislain DESPESSE, Jean Jacques CHAILLOUT, Sébastien BOISSEAU and Claire JEAN-MISTRAL

5.1. Energy-harvesting analysis 115

5.2. Main sources and conversion principles of mechanical energy 116

5.3. Harvesting mechanical energy from vibrations 122

5.4. Mechanical energy harvesting from forces/deformations 138

5.5. Conclusions and perspectives on mechanical energy harvesting 142

5.6. Bibliography 142

Chapter 6. Thermal Energy Harvesting 153
Tristan CAROFF, Emmanuelle ROUVIÈRE and Jérôme WILLEMIN

6.1. General presentation 153

6.2. Energy harvesting by thermoelectric effect 154

6.3. Thermoelectric materials 160

6.4. Technological trends 162

6.5. Implementation constraints and optimization 167

6.6. Electronic management of autonomous thermoelectric systems 172

6.7. Conclusions on thermal energy-harvesting systems 182

6.8. Bibliography 183

Chapter 7. Lithium Micro-Batteries 185
Raphaël SALOT

7.1. Development of lithium batteries over 20 years 186

7.2. The lithium system aiming for strong miniaturization properties 191

7.3. Bibliography 204

Chapter 8. Ultra-Low-Power Sensors 207
Pascal NOUET, Norbert DUMAS, Laurent LATORRE and Frédérick MAILLY

8.1. Introduction 207

8.2. Overview of sensors and their proximity electronics 208

8.3. Capacitive sensors 213

8.4. Resistive sensors 232

8.5. Conclusions 236

8.6. Bibliography 237

Chapter 9. Ultra-Low-Power Signal Processing in Autonomous Systems 241
Christian PIGUET

9.1. Low-power consumption 242

9.2. Digital signal processors 245

9.3. Decreasing static power consumption 254

9.4. Asynchronous architectures 260

9.5. Error tolerance 264

9.6. Conclusion 266

9.7. Bibliography 267

Chapter 10. Ultra-Low-Power Radio Frequency Communications and Protocols 273
Eric MERCIER

10.1. Introduction 273

10.2. Radio frequency and associated restrictions 274

10.3. Communication standards and protocols 279

10.4. Components and solutions 289

10.5. Conclusion 297

10.6. Bibliography 298

Chapter 11. Energy Management in an Autonomous Microsystem 301
Jean-Frédéric CHRISTMANN, Edith BEIGNE, Cyril CONDEMINE, Jérôme WILLEMIN and Christian PIGUET

11.1. Wireless sensor nodes 303

11.2. Power supplied by energy recuperators 306

11.3. Distribution, conversion and energy storage architectures 308

11.4. Implementing regulators 314

11.5. Algorithms 317

11.6. Conclusion 322

11.7. Bibliography 322

Chapter 12. Optimizing Energy Efficiency of Sensor Networks 325
Olivier SENTIEYS and Olivier BERDER

12.1. Introduction 325

12.2. Optimization methodology 328

12.3. Energy consumption model 329

12.4. Hardware optimization 332

12.5. Software organization and efficient protocols 343

12.6. Optimizing energy of algorithms 346

12.7. Conclusion and perspectives 354

12.8. Bibliography 355

List of Authors 361

Index 365

Marc Belleville is now Scientific Director of CEA LETI Architecture, IC Design and Embedded Software division in the Center for Innovation in micro & nanotechnology (MINATEC), Grenoble, France.

Cyril Condemine is Microsystems IC Design Team Manager at CEA-LETI Laboratory in the Center for Innovation in micro & nanotechnology (MINATEC), Grenoble, France.