The 5th IDTechEx Energy Harvesting & Storage and Internet of Things & Wireless Sensor Networks awards ceremony was held on Wednesday, 20 November, during the opening keynote session of the annual conference that brings together developers, integrators and end-users of these emerging technologies. Four awards were given out this year.
Best Application of Energy Harvesting
The Best Application of Energy Harvesting award was given to Redpine Signals for the development of their Energy Harvesting Multi-Functional Wi-Fi Device for the Internet of Things: WiSeMote-EH™.
The company, based in San Jose, CA, has already put together over 1000 embedded systems incorporating modules and chipsets. The application attracted the interest of this year's judges as, the integrated wifi module with an energy harvesting unit is expected to reduce barriers for adoption, especially when compared to other technology platforms such as RFID.
Best Application of WSN/IoT
The best WSN/IoT Application award went to the collaboration of V2COM, Gemalto M2M and Oracle, delivering flexible, smart grid solutions in Latin America, an excellent system-level solution to energy monitoring and management which effectively addresses client retrofit and payback concerns in addition to good system integration. The systems effectiveness was described in real world deployments - for example in Colombia, where the automated network management reduced response times to power outages by 40%.
Best Technical Development of Energy Harvesting
On the technical development of energy harvesting category, the award was given to two companies, due to a tie break between Alta Devices and Marlow. Alta Devices' high efficiency flexible solar cell technology. With an efficiency of 29% verified by the NREL and field trials showing 3x lifetime over existing technology in UAV, Alta Devices is already working with over 200 companies in order to integrate these solar cells into energy harvesting and battery life-extending applications.
Chris Norris, Alta Devices president and CEO explained:
"We are on the verge of a massive revolution in data gathering and device connectivity. Big data starts with small sensors, and many of these devices will need to be self-powered. Our technology has a small, lightweight, and flexible form factor, and its substantial power output under a wide variety of lighting conditions opens up new use cases for solar. We are honored to be recognized by IDTechEx as a leader among energy harvesting technologies."
Marlow's novel heat exchanger that incorporates thermoelectric generators, allowing for power harvesting of up to 1500W for a generator the size of a toaster, a device that could be manufactured at a cost as low as $3/Watt.
Best Poster Presentation in the Tradeshow
Finally the award for the Best Poster Presentation during the conference was given to Gregor Scheipl with Joanneum Research for their PyzoFlex energy converter, a fully printed piezoelectric device suitable for sensor applications.
Energy Harvesting & Storage and WSN/IoT Europe 2014 Awards Submission
Submissions for the next IDTechEx awards are already being accepted, for the 2014 Energy Harvesting & Storage and WSN/IoT Europe event that will be held in Berlin, Germany on the 1-2 of April 2014.
