Everactive's Self-Powered SoC at Hot Chips 2025
10 hours ago
- #IoT
- #Energy Harvesting
- #Ultra-Low Power SoC
- Everactive's PKS3000 SoC is designed for self-powered operation, harvesting energy from environmental sources like light and temperature differences.
- The SoC features an Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller, 128 KB SRAM, and 256 KB flash, optimized for ultra-low power consumption (as low as 2.19 microwatts idle).
- Energy Harvesting Power Management Unit (EH-PMU) uses MISIMO topology to manage multiple energy sources and storage via capacitors for stable operation.
- Energy Aware Subsystem (EAS) monitors and manages power distribution, with capabilities to shut off non-cooperative components to conserve energy.
- Wake-Up Radio (WRX) enables low-power communication, achieving sensitivity down to -92 dBm while consuming under 6 microwatts on average.
- PKS3000 improves upon its predecessor (PKS2001) with higher clock speeds, better radio sensitivity, and significantly lower power consumption.
- Potential applications focus on industrial IoT, especially in hard-to-reach locations, with sustainability benefits due to battery-less operation.
- Challenges include managing fluctuating harvested energy (milliwatt to microwatt range) and ensuring reliability under suboptimal conditions.
- Future possibilities include broader use cases if technology advances or funding allows for modern process nodes.