Energy Harvesting (EH) for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Abstract: Whether you believe marketing projections for Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT (IIoT), wearable, and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) devices should be in the tens of billions or trillions of devices, you likely agree there will be an explosive growth in the number of such devices in an evolution that began a few years ago and will grow exponentially over the next 3-5 years. Unfortunately, many of these projections neglect the very real power gap that exists today in that it is literally infeasible to power all these devices by today’s standards. This tutorial focuses on quantitatively identifying this gap and addressing it with power budget reduction/optimization techniques, providing an understanding of energy harvesting technologies, and how they can be applied to IoT/IIoT designs, and practical development strategies for implementing in the near-, mid-, and long-term.
The IIoT and key applications enabled in the areas of industrial monitoring, factory automation, and the ubiquitous deployment of sensors and controls in harsh environments are the highest opportunity growth areas with the lowest barrier to entry in the energy harvesting (EH) world. Many of these applications align very well with the Industry 4.0 objectives.
From a technical standpoint, it is only intelligent power management and optimization of ultra-low power devices (not a dependence on amazing advances in battery technology) that will enable all the fantastic applications in smart agriculture, smart cities, industrial automation, home automation, etc. This tutorial is intended for Industrial Designers, IoT/Ultra-Low Power product Design Engineers, Analog & Digital Electrical Engineers, Device Architects, & Technical Marketing/Sales Personnel associated with developing, optimizing, and enabling ultra-low power products/industries for industrial applications.

Brian Zahnstecher is a Sr. Member of the IEEE, Chair (Emeritus) of the IEEE SFBAC Power Electronics Society (PELS), sits on the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Board of Directors, is Co-chair of the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee, Co-founder and Technical Chair for EnerHarv 2018, is Co-founder & Co-chair of the PSMA Reliability Committee, and is the Principal of PowerRox, where he focuses on power design, integration, system applications, OEM market penetration, market research/analysis, and private seminars for power electronics.
Brian is a recognized leader in the areas of ultra-low power management and energy harvesting technologies giving many presentations each year at the industry’s most prestigious events. He has successfully handled assignments in system design/architecting, AC/DC front-end power, EMC/EMI design/debug, embedded solutions, processor power, and digital power solutions for a variety of clients. He previously held positions in power electronics with industry leaders Emerson Network Power (now Artesyn), Cisco, and Hewlett-Packard, where he advised on best practices, oversaw product development, managed international teams, created/enhanced optimal workflows and test procedures, and designed and optimized voltage regulators. He has been a regular contributor to the industry as an invited keynote speaker, author, workshop participant, session host, roundtable moderator, and volunteer. He has over 15 years of industry experience and holds Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.