Abstract
This report gives a top-level overview of some of the companies that make energy harvesting devices, micro batteries and power management ICs for low-power sensors and devices. Each of these markets is different, with different characteristics defining them and driving them. The energy harvesting companies are, for the most part, small start-up companies. Many are in Europe, like EnOcean, Ubiwave and Perpetuum. Companies like Powercast and Perpetuum have commercial products, while others are still in the prototype stage. The companies offering piezoceramic materials are more established, with energy harvesting only one of the industries they supply to.
Many of the energy harvesting companies have found it useful to partner with IC companies (see some representative examples in Table 1). IDS Microchip has an near field communications solution they did for Texas Instruments, for example. EnOcean is working with the Fraunhofer Institute. Perpetuum is working with Dust Networks. Many of these companies are members of the ZigBee Alliance, as well. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard (ZigBee) is now expected to co-exist with other standards such as Z-Wave, Insteon, Lontalk and others. As a result, products are becoming "ZigBee-qualified." Still, some companies believe that ZigBee will follow Bluetooth’s path in that it will need to find its own "application niche."
What is agreed upon is that wireless technologies are "hot" - customers want them and find wireless cheaper. Customers also want low power and high reliability. Where demand differences come in is with batteries. Some customers want batteries and some do not. In general, the power requirements of batteries need to be minimized, and both established companies and start-ups are trying to meet this need. EaglePicher, Tadiran and Varta, for example, are capitalizing on their existing lithium technologies to offer microbatteries for energy harvesting applications. Front Edge, Oak Ridge Micro-Energy and Solicore are newer companies offering ultra-thin film batteries. Although many energy harvesting solutions (such as microgenerators) are aimed at "getting rid of batteries," they are still likely to be used in many wireless sensor networks.
The most established companies offering wireless sensor network and energy harvesting solutions are the power management IC companies. Texas Instruments, Nordic Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics - these manufacturers and more have a variety of products targeted at ultra-low-power applications. Some, like Advanced Linear Devices, have specific modules for energy harvesting. These products are expected to help drive down costs, since high volumes are necessary to achieve market penetration. Radiocrafts, for instance, is "aiming for high-volume manufacturing." Most companies see commercial adoption of ZigBee products and related energy harvesting solutions in two to three years.
Like most emerging technologies, the energy harvesting landscape has many specialized competitors. The profiles in this report cannot cover them all, but they do provide a representative sample of the more significant products and technologies.
Methodology
The data presented in this report are derived from a comprehensive study of the energy harvesting, micro battery and related power management ICs markets. Primary data were obtained using "open questionnaires." A combination of telephone and in-person interviews were conducted. In-person interviews were conducted either in the plant where the individual works or at various trade shows. The interviews conducted at trade shows were typically performed in a more informal atmosphere and were generally very successful in gathering good quantities of hard data and insights from the individuals being interviewed. All interviews conducted in the course of this research were performed on a confidential basis. The data were used in combination with the responses from all other respondents.
The primary and secondary research included all possible major application areas for energy harvesting, micro batteries and related power management ICs. The data-gathering methodology included primary research and data collection in all regions worldwide and was not limited in any way to North America. Secondary research was performed using all available published sources including, but not limited to, nonproprietary, previously performed and related work by the Darnell Group, all available trade journals, proceedings from related trade conferences, previous industry studies, annual reports, 10Ks, advertising, product literature, and so on.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Energy Harvesting Technology Company Activity
- Advanced Cerametrics Inc.
- Ambient Micro
- Art of Technology AG
- Emerson & Cuming
- EnOcean
- KCF Technologies
- Marlow Industries
- Micropelt GmbH
- MicroStrain
- Nanotron
- PMG Perpetuum
- Powercast
- Pulseswitch Systems (a FACE company)
- Radiocrafts AS
- Sensicast Systems
- Thermo Life Energy Corp.
- Ubiwave
- xG Technology
- Other Companies
- Micro-Battery and Energy Storage Company Activity
- EaglePicher
- Front Edge Technology
- Nanoexa
- Oak Ridge Micro-Energy
- Quallion LLC
- Solicore, Inc.
- Tadiran Batteries (U.S. Division)
- Varta Microbattery
- Power Management IC Company Activity
- Advanced Linear Devices
- AMI Semiconductors
- Analog Devices
- ANT
- Atmel Corp.
- austriamicrosystems
- CurrentRF
- EM Microelectronic
- Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
- IDS Microchip
- Infineon Technologies AG
- Jennic Ltd.
- Maxim Integrated Products
- Melexis Microelectronic Systems
- Microchip Technology Inc.
- Nordic Semiconductor ASA
- Semtech Corporation
- Silicon Laboratories Inc.
- STMicroelectronics
- Texas Instruments Inc.
