Energy Harvesting with Bluetooth 5.0

Energy harvesting technology is likely to be a game-changer for countless industries, offering the potential to bring battery life forever to connected devices. So what is energy harvesting technology – let’s dive in and learn more.

Several popular energy harvesting methods, including photovoltaic/solar, radio frequency (RF), mechanical (motion), thermal, and a low power radio implementation that supports the latest Bluetooth 5.0 standard. Energy harvesting enables certain applications to operate without a battery or with a “forever battery” that automatically recharges for the life of an Internet of Things (IoT) device. In some instances, batteries aren’t needed at all. Just imagine how many batteries would be saved from going into landfills! Not to mention the costs of purchasing and replacing batteries.

This article will look at five top industries – consumer electronics, smart cities, transportation, manufacturing, and fulfillment and entertainment –  where energy harvesting technology promises to make a big impact over the next decade.

Consumer Electronics

Consider all of the different connected devices you have in your home. Many of these devices need to be changed often, while others use batteries that need to be changed anywhere from every few months to every few years. Now think about how nice it would be if your smartwatches, wearables, remotes, keyboards, and other connected devices would run for the entire lifetime of the device – no more remotes dying right when you’re watching the big game.

Smart Cities

During the past few years, there has been a lot of hype and excitement around smart city solutions like sensors that can monitor temperature, humidity, air quality, the presence of gas, etc. These metrics help companies run their facilities more efficiently and safely and allow cities to make more informed decisions about mitigating quality of life issues. Today most of these sensors run on batteries, so it’s no surprise that Bluetooth 5 sensors with energy harvesting technology will become increasingly popular. Plus, the cost savings will allow cities to allocate funds to the things that need it most, like education and healthcare.

Transportation

Car accessories and infotainment devices are also prime targets for energy harvesting technology. Key fobs, for example, need their batteries changed every few years. While changing one every few years might not sound so bad, the consequences of your key fob dying and leaving you stranded makes energy harvesting technology sound a lot more appealing. Plus, with over a billion cars on the road globally, reducing battery usage in these devices – with energy harvesting, Bluetooth 5 and other cutting-edge technologies – will make a huge difference.

Manufacturing and Fulfillment

Many manufacturing and fulfillment centers use asset trackers such as small beacons to help keep track of equipment and shipping goods. These asset trackers help streamline operations and ensure items don’t get lost, meaning that it’s essential that they work at all times. Using Bluetooth 5 asset trackers with energy harvesting technology is saving companies time and money by not having to replace batteries regularly, decreasing overall cost of ownership of these systems. In the future we’ll also see more facilities using robotics that have integrated energy harvesting capabilities.

Entertainment

Theme parks offer fun for the whole family, but it can often be stressful navigating these big, crowded attractions. Using your smartphone’s GPS might be helpful on the road, but it’s often little help at amusement parks. This is doubly true for trying to navigate any places that are indoors. In the future, we’ll see more theme parks adopt Bluetooth 5 locations beacons to help solve this problem. These beacons can send signals to your smartphone. When used with a theme park’s dedicated app, you can get more precise location information so you can focus on having fun. With some theme parks being as large as cities, many batteries are saved from going into landfills, and big cost savings that theme parks can reinvest into exciting new attractions.

These above examples are just five of the many (and ever increasing) adoption of Bluetooth 5 energy harvesting solutions and how they are benefiting the environment while also saving companies time and money. The market will continue to witness the power of energy harvesting now and into the future.