Strong interest in battery-aware design at lecture in Stockholm
On Monday, 23 March, industry representatives, researchers, and developers gathered in Stockholm for a workshop on battery‑aware design in the development of IoT products. Uppsala University was represented by Laura Marie Feeney and Christian Rohner, and the session was held in collaboration with the innovation programme Smartare Elektroniksystem.
Laura Marie Feeney and Christian Rohner gave a presentation on battery-conscious design to a large and eager audience in Stockholm. Photo: Anna Dahlborg.
– It turned out to be an incredibly successful workshop, says Anna Wibom, one of the organisers and Programme Manager at Smartare Elektroniksystem. It was both valuable and great fun that Laura and Christian were willing to share their expertise.
One of the day’s key messages concerned something as everyday as how we charge our batteries – with major implications for both sustainability and safety.
– If you take just one thing from this workshop, let it be that you should neither fully charge a battery nor fully discharge it,” emphasised Laura Marie Feeney.
Keeping batteries within an optimal charge range can significantly extend their lifetime. At the same time, it reduces the risk of damage or, in the worst case, thermal events such as fire.
IoT requires both efficiency and predictability
IoT devices place high demands on energy consumption and long operational life. Here, the behaviour of the battery – often more complex than one might think – plays a crucial role.
Christian Rohner highlighted how Uppsala University’s unique resource, the UU‑CoRe battery testbed, enables exactly this type of investigation. The testbed provides a globally competitive environment where researchers and companies can understand and optimise battery behaviour in real IoT applications.
– It was exciting to demonstrate how our research can help improve the sustainability and performance of IoT products – and ultimately strengthen the competitiveness of Swedish companies, says Christian Rohner.
Creating meeting places is essential
The workshop also underlined the importance of collaboration in ensuring that new knowledge is disseminated and put to use.
– Innovation is important, of course – but it is just as important that the knowledge is shared. To make that happen, we need meeting places like this, where researchers and industry can come together, exchange perspectives, and turn research results into practical benefits, says Anna Wibom.
The workshop was very well received and stimulated many insightful discussions - a promising sign for future collaborations in smart and sustainable electronics.
Laura Marie Feeney is Research Engineer and Christian Rohner is Professor at Department of Information Technology; Division of Computer Systems.
Inspiration and new insights! Laura Marie Feeney and Christian Rohner drew a lot of interest with their session on battery-conscious design at the Smartare Elektroniksystem conference in Stockholm. Photo: Anna Dahlborg.