Renesas Electronics

Renesas Electronics has developed an energy-harvesting embedded controller that can eliminate the need to use batteries in IoT devices. The controller operates at up to 32MHz (64MHz in boost mode) with 20 ŒºA/MHz active current and only 150 nA deep standby current. With such a low power requirement, this opens up the opportunity for sourcing energy from light or heat. This technology allows maintenance-free connected IoT sensing devices with endpoint intelligence for applications in industrial, business, residential, agricultural, healthcare, and public infrastructure, as well as health and fitness apparel, shoes, wearables, smart watches, and drones.  Renesas has begun supplying the new embedded controller to beta customers with a configurable Energy Harvest Controller (EHC) function that connects directly to ambient energy sources such as solar, vibration, or piezoelectric.  Mass production is scheduled to start from October 2019.