The growing demand for IoT devices coupled with a demand for energy-efficient energy harvesting modules has led Rutronik to focus on innovative solutions for harvesting energy from the surrounding environment.
Rutronik’s System Solution developers and wireless application experts are introducing an extension for the RDK3 Base Board. This new ambient IoT remote control utilises energy harvesting technology and therefore offers a sustainable solution for the growing IoT ecosystem, without a battery.
Due to the use of efficient wireless system-on-chip and power management semiconductors, energy harvesting can now replace conventional batteries in different applications. As well as being environmentally friendly, this technology also reduces the costs associated with battery maintenance, supply chain, logistics, and disposal.
For the new extension of the RDK3, Rutronik allows the Infineon PSOC 64 (Secured MCU) integrated in the development kit to communicate with an EnOcean PTM 216B module, which contains a nRF52 SoC from Nordic Semiconductor, with an integrated Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface. In the developed demo, the latter is located in a standard light switch and draws its electrical energy from mechanical motion – such as a keystroke. The RDK3 facilitates easy, cross-supplier communication between components, which means added design flexibility.
This type of technology is already established in light switches in buildings based on the Sub GHz EnOcean protocol. This protocol and ecosystem are maintained by the American EnOcean Alliance, which takes care of this 868 (EU) / 902 (USA) / 928 (JPN) MHz protocol. The German EnOcean manufactures the hardware for this. In a single module, both the components for kinematic energy harvesting and wireless connectivity are embedded. For the RDK3-based remote control, the company’s experience and patents in the field of energy harvesting are used, but combined with Nordic Semiconductor’s Bluetooth technology, instead of the original Sub GHz-SoC.
in combination with different adapter boards from the Rutronik portfolio, the applications for the new RDK3 remote control include:
- Switching high-performance LEDs on and off using the Rutronik Adapter Board RAB5 – OSIRE
- Sending SMS messages using the Rutronik Adapter Board RAB4 – RTK
- Generating voice messages with the Rutronik Adapter Board Text-to-Speech
A corresponding demo is available at the exhibition booth for a first hands-on experience - Triggering sensor value measurements can be realised by the Rutronik Adapter Board RAB1 – Sensorfusion
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