ABB Research Award 2019 to Battery-free Sensor Research
Ambuj Varshney, post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Information Technology has been awarded the ABB Research Award 2019 for his research into more sustainable network-based built-in systems and simplified data collection for industry.
ABB has announced that the second ABB Research Award in Honour of Hubertus von Grünberg has been awarded to Dr. Ambuj Varshney for his research into ultra-low power and long-range communication systems (LoRea) for battery-free sensors that harvest small amounts of energy from the ambient environment. Ambuj Varshney’s research – which will receive a grant of US$ 300,000 over three years – paves the way for the widespread introduction of battery-free sustainable Networked Embedded Systems (NES).
“This award will help me to take a major step towards the vision of a sustainable NES which could have a significant impact across application domains, for example, future factories,” says Varshney. “This award enables me to leverage more than a century of expertise of ABB in developing innovative technologies to move ahead in the exciting direction of backscatter communication.”
Ambuj Varshney, who completed his doctorate in computer science at Uppsala University in 2018, accepted the award at a ceremony in Dättwil, Switzerland. He was chosen for the award from among 60 applicants from leading global higher education institutions.
According to the jury, Dr Varshney’s research supports NES in a sustainable manner over long periods without negative impact on the physical or radio environment.
“Ambuj Varshney is a worthy recipient of this award because his innovative approach could dramatically increase our capacity to collect, transmit and ultimately analyse data in an environmentally sustainable manner and so help to pave the way to autonomous industries,” explained Peter Voser, Chairman and CEO of ABB, at the award ceremony.
Anna Malmberg