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SUMMARY
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.
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