Silicon Labs Microcontroller Reference Design ENERGY-HARVEST-RD

Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Kit

The Energy Harvesting Reference Design illustrates how to use an Si1012 wireless microcontroller in an extremely low power wireless sensor application. The system consists of two hardware components: a Wireless Sensor Node powered by a solar cell, and an EZRadioPRO USB dongle. Energy produced by the solar cell is stored in a thin-film battery. The sensor node measures temperature, charge level on the thin-film battery and light level. This data is then sent wirelessly to a USB adapter connected to a Personal Computer where it is displayed graphically.

Sensor board: Si1012 wireless SoC and solar cell
USB wireless dongle: C8051F342 microcontroller and Si4431 radio chip
Programmable carrier frequency range: 240 to 960MHz ISM band
Sensor Node current (not transmitting): 50nA
Energy storage life (no light): 7 days
Working light level: 200 to 10000lx
Application: Batteryless remote sensing for the Internet-of-Things (IoT)

Supplied with

EZRadioPRO USB Dongle, ToolStick Base Adapter, 1m USB extension cable, Wireless Development Suite (WDS) software

Sensor Interfaces, Silicon Laboratories