Consumers’ shopping experience has gone through profound changes during the past couple of decades. Going back 25 years, shopping was still essentially about brick-and-mortar stores. The advent of online shopping began with the launch of Amazon and eBay in 1995, followed by PayPal in 1999. These were the pioneers of a new era, revolutionizing for good the retail industry and the shopping experience. Today, brick-and-mortar stores coexist with online shopping, with virtually all traditional retailers offering digital options as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has only sped up things, boosting the online shopping trends that were already on the rise. And the impacts remained, with consumers partly back to brick-and-mortar, but more than ever expecting high-quality experiences regardless of how/where they shop.The word is about omnichannel - i.e. a seamless experience across all shopping channels - from brick-and-mortar stores to multiple mobile and online platforms. This pushes for the digitization of the whole infrastructure including the physical stores. Yet, when we visit a store today, we are most often faced with old-school paper shelf labels and price tags. Truth be told, the transition to digital screens and electronic shelf labels (ESL) is already happening at a fast pace. Nonetheless, there are a few pain points for retailers that prevent wider adoption of ESLs - led by doubts and concerns around the actual net gains these bring in terms of logistics and maintenance as well as sustainability.&nbsp;Let’s start with a brief introduction to ESL and what these devices can bring into retail segments.<h2>Needs and drivers around electronic shelf labels</h2>ESL are small electronic devices used to display price and product information on the shelves in a store - essentially replacing the traditional paper price tags. These devices consist essentially of a small display and an electronic control module, which enables the device to communicate wirelessly to a central IT system. ESL are mainly used across the retail industry - supermarkets, merchandise stores, drug stores, etc. - but can also be used within warehouses and industrial facilities. They have been invented to overcome the obvious limitations of paper labels: it is easy to imagine the headaches involved in printing and replacing paper labels across a mid to large size store. On top of the logistic complexity, labour-intensive and costly processes, paper labels come with high error rates and a lack of flexibility. For instance, every time you wish to change a price, there’s quite some manual work involved and a relatively long time to complete the process. So, you’ll probably think twice before any change. Now, if you’re running a big retail chain, with coordinated prices across facilities, then you need to think a few more times. Actually, you’ll need some sophisticated processes and plans to deal with pricing!When we look at ESL as connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices, these bring the possibility of doing instantaneous and syncronized price changes across a whole store, and across multiple locations and channels, using a single software/IT system. And, just like that, we enter the era of dynamic pricing, where retailers can to real-time price changes in all their physical stores and e-commerce channels with a few clicks! Such pricing dynamics are growing in importance as more consumers shop with smartphones in their hands, comparing prices on the fly. With access to aggregated, and often also individualized, data on consumer trends and behaviour, retailers can quickly react to competition and go all over from frequent price updates to tailoring product info/ads to catch the eye of whoever is in front of the shelf.So, ESL can be game changing tools for retailers in the digital and e-commerce arena. Now, let’s see what kind of tech goes into these devices and how the industry looks like.<h2>Tech and industry trends</h2>With respect to tech trends, let’s look into two aspects: displays and communication.There are several specific types of displays used in ESL, but these can be sorted in two main categories: LCDs (similar to the ones used in TVs or mobile devices) and electronic paper (e-paper). E-paper technology brings the advantage of extremely low power consumption and optimal energy efficiency. The so-called bi-stable technology works in such a way that the display only needs energy for doing changes in text or images. Once the text/image is created, the display will hold it for a very long time (many years even) without the need for power – essentially like something printed on a piece of paper. These technologies open up for the possibility of batteryless ESL – we’ll get back to that in a minute.As for communication, the first generations of ESL relyed on infrared (IR) or RFID technologies. Some of the early generations require IR/RFID scanners to drive any changes/updates in the labels, meaning that every change in e.g. price requires staff to point handheld scanners to each and every single ESL that needs an update. Currently, ESL are often equipped with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and/or Near-field communication (NFC), making systems a lot more user-friendly and unshackling sought-after use-cases for retailers. For instance, NFC is prone to the implementation of self-checkout systems, where consumers can scan the NFC-enabled ESL with their smartphones to pay instantly and safely. Bluetooth and NFC also enable easy access to product information in a mobile device, by simply scanning the ESL, or even real-time notifications directed to individual consumers. So, these technologies are likely to take over the market.&nbsp;The ESL industry is rising towards a multi billion dollar business, with <a href="https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/electronic-shelf-label-esl-market">annual global shipments in the ballpark of 200 million units and double-digit growth rates</a>. Top-players include <a href="http://www.pricer.com/">Pricer</a>, <a href="http://www.ses-imagotag.com/">SES-Imagotag</a>, <a href="http://www.hanshow.com/">Hanshow</a>, <a href="http://www.solumesl.com/">Solum</a> and <a href="http://www.labelnest.com/">LabelNest</a> - each with total installed bases of over 100 million ESL units across thousands of stores and dozen of countries. And there is a multitude of other players in this market space across the globe, such as ZKong, Display Data, Teraoka Seiko, E-Ink, M2Comm, ClearInk Displays, Panasonic, TroniTag, Opticon, MinewTag to name a few.But why do we continue to see paper labels all over supermarket shelves then? Despite the clear growth trends, there are still a few problems to solve in order to make ESL omnipresent across retail. At the top of the list is… right: batteries! The battery in a standard ESL will last for 2-5 years at the most. So, a couple of years past a store installed an ESL system, at best, the units will start flickering for battery replacements. From there on, trouble is in line! There’s word about stores using interns or part-time jobs dedicated to changing batteries in ESL, with buckets of used coin cell batteries and broken ESL pilling up! Well, these stories might actually be a bit old… We went out asking around stores that use ESL in our area - mostly using IR/RFID versions - and these seem to work just fine on their end. Workers at the shop floor do not sound too bothered about the batteries: most say they probably last for about one year or two (some say a little shorter than that), but the ESL supplier takes care of replacing the units frequently enough so batteries do not become a worry. And often they are happy to get the next, slightly better version! In any case, to make retailers happy, suppliers of ESL got to be producing piles and piles of unnecessary e-waste, including batteries and ESL scrap. And also either taking the punch on the costs of frequent replacement or pushing those to the retailers in some form. There has to be a better way for everyone!<h2>Batteryless: the holy grail!</h2>Retailers essentially want what end-users in many other segments want out of small wireless IoT devices: seamless operation, rugged, cheap yet good-looking hardware, and… no deal with batteries! Not surprisingly, the ESL industry has been trying around batteryless options.<a href="https://www.powercastco.com/">Powercast</a>, a company operating within the wireless power transmission segment, has been pitching a so-called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Y9rWZU6YM">batteryless immortal ESL</a>. The ESL unit itself works without a battery, relying on power transmitted from an RFID scanner. They take advantage of a bistable display where, once created, an image is held without the need for any power. In the conventional setup, this means that every update requires an operator to point a handheld RFID reader at the ESL to power and communicate the change. Powercast has partnered to develop a robotic system - which they call autonomous badger robot - that runs through the store to do the work a human operator would do manually, i.e. essentially point an RFID scanner/antenna to each and every ESL that needs a price/info update.A few more companies are heading in similar ways. For example, <a href="https://www.ossia.com/">Ossia</a> has been partnering with players in the ESL space - namely SES-Imagotag, e-ink and Display Data - to use their <a href="https://www.ossia.com/cota/#section-next">Cota wireless power transmission technology</a> to deliver the necessary energy to batteryless ESL. Other examples include <a href="https://energous.com/markets-applications/iot-and-retail/">Energous</a> and <a href="https://www.rfinchargetw.com/%E5%89%AF%E6%9C%AC-uhf-battery-less-solution">RFinCharge</a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://lummico.com/product/smarttag-batteryless-2-90/">Lummico </a>is making batteryless ESL with NFC technology. In this case, it entails bringing an NFC active device (such as a dedicated NFC reader or an NFC-enabled smartphone) close to the ESL for doing any updates. The active device provides the power required for the batteryless ESL to update, similarly to IR or RFID versions.Another way to go batteryless is fitting the ESL with small panels to harvest energy from indoor light. That is the approach followed e.g. by <a href="https://www.instore-solutions.com/projects/digital-pricing/">Instore Solutions</a>, <a href="https://www.epishine.com/electric-shelf-labels">Epishine</a> or <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221220005205/en/Ambient-Photonics-Demonstrates-Low-Light-Energy-Harvesting-Technology-for-More-Sustainable-IoT-at-CES-2023">Ambient Photonics</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;All these are making steps in the right direction. Yet, using robots, power beacons or solely indoor light does not sound like the ultimate seamless and cost-effective solution.<h2>New options on the way</h2>Ultra-wideband <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/what-is-uwb.html">(UWB) technology</a> is a game-changer for the retail industry. With its extremely accurate positioning capabilities and built-in cybersecurity features, UWB opens up a whole new set of use cases in stores: from navigation to three-axis (3D) Real Time Location (RTL) product location tracking. UWB has potential applications in inventory tracking, asset management, and more. This cutting-edge technology allows retailers to improve efficiency while ensuring data security and customer privacy. By combining ultra-accurate positioning with robust cybersecurity features, UWB can be used to create innovative solutions that revolutionize the shopping experience for customers and staff alike, and ESLs are a great place to start!<h2>Bringing it all together: the future shopping experience</h2>If we wrap this into a grand vision for future stores and next-decade shopping experience, we must put in a few ingredients. First, batteryless ESL with advanced connectivity, data collection for retailer analytics and customer interaction options - such as directed adds/notifications, immediate payment and self-checkout, and navigation through the store using a smartphone with real-time inventory check and product location. Second, stores fully prepared with wireless IoT systems, which support ESL and all sorts of other smart IoT trends. Third, seamless management of information and hardware operation for retailers - with integrated IT systems and advanced capabilities for real-time updates across channels and dynamic pricing. Fourth, AI might be giving a hand in the implementation of highly optimized/targeted marketing and dynamic pricing strategies. Fifth, virtual reality (VR)/ augmented reality (AR) devices and virtual twin technology might provide new forms of staff and customer experience bridging digital and physical facilities.&nbsp;This may be a bit of a futuristic vision, but the transition to digital and virtual environments is already on the way, and relatively simple elements like next-gen ESL can speed things up. The technology modules are out there for grabs - it’s a matter of moving forward with a look not only at better services and experiences but also at the future of the planet as a whole!

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Digital has taken the retail industry by storm! Trends around omnichannel strategies have driven retailers to expand online options as well as digitise infrastructure, including brick-and-mortar stores - in the name of a seamless experience across physical, mobile and online shopping. Yet, one might notice an intriguing paradox: with all these high-tech headways, why are most of the stores we visit still using paper ads and, in particular, paper price tags? In this article, we will focus on electronic shelf labels (ESL), namely the latest tech trends in this space and how cost-effective self-powered ESL networks can drive full digitization of the retail segment. 

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The Benefits of Batteryless Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs)

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Senior Project and Innovation Manager

Pedro Guimarães

The IoT has made its way from a fancy, at times highly indistinct, concept to actual reality. Today, it is already empowering a real-world intelligent infrastructure, in which uniquely identifiable physical objects are capable of wirelessly communicating with each other to find the state of interests and take proper actions. The number of connected devices was estimated at 30 billion in 2020 <a href="https://atos.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/atos-2021-perspective-on-edge-computing-white-paper.pdf">growing to over 75 Bn by 2025</a>, and there have been prognostics of <a href="https://community.arm.com/arm-community-blogs/b/internet-of-things-blog/posts/white-paper-the-route-to-a-trillion-devices">one trillion IoT devices produced until 2035</a>. Still, one can point to a couple of bottlenecks limiting the scalability of present and future IoT - clearly roadblocks for the sought-after IoE realm! The first is power, and particularly reliance on pervasively spread battery-powered devices. The second can be defined as data bandwidth, i.e. the massive amounts of data that need to be transmitted, stored, and processed at centralized computing facilities, so-called data centres enabling all kinds of “cloud” services. Let us dig a little deeper into each of these highly interrelated challenges.<h2>Powering the IoE? Not with batteries!</h2>A growing number of IoT-connected devices, including the ones with low-power consumption (1 microW to 1milliW), continue to rely on disposable or rechargeable batteries to satisfy their autonomy and data transmission/storage capacities. But, as we (and many others!) keep insisting, batteries and IoT are not a match! Small devices reliant on batteries are trouble - mostly because of the limited lifespan of batteries, the high costs, and burden associated with battery replacement and device maintenance, which can become a logistic nightmare in very large distributed sensor systems, and the <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/are-batteries-really-the-answer.html">social and environmental problems associated with the lifecycle of batteries and respective raw materials</a>. In short, batteries are bound to represent a clear bottleneck in the massive deployment of IoT devices and a huge environmental problem.Luckily, ONiO has cracked the power problem: <a href="https://www.onio.com/products/onio-zero.html">ONiO.zero</a> offers a core solution for powering all types of small wireless IoT sensors and devices using <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/ambient-energy-the-way-forward-iot.html">ambient energy</a> - completely eliminating the need for batteries.<h2>Challenges with big data and bandwidth</h2>IoT devices can produce massive amounts of data that frequently need to be transmitted, stored, and processed. The most common approach is to transmit large data sets to backend infrastructure and process such data in the cloud/data centres. As the IoT scales, the sustainability of this centralized computing approach is unequivocally challenged. It has been estimated that the total data volume of connected IoT devices worldwide will reach <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1017863/worldwide-iot-connected-devices-data-size/">79.4 zettabytes by 2025</a>. At this rate, with one trillion devices by 2035, the data volume would reach &gt;1000 zettabytes. To put this into perspective, the current capacity of data centres worldwide is about <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/638593/worldwide-data-center-storage-capacity-cloud-vs-traditional/">2.5 zettabytes</a>. Hence, with centralized computing approaches, there is simply not enough data storage and processing capacity to keep up with the growth of IoT. A good way to tackle this problem is through edge computing.<h2>Edge computing</h2>As explained in our recent article dedicated to the topic, <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/what-is-edge-computing.html">edge computing</a> refers to computing processes that take place closer to the edge of a network - i.e information processing that is more distributed and takes place at multiple locations within the network, without having to go through the central data processing centre or cloud. For IoT networks, this means that IoT devices/nodes are endowed with capabilities to locally run computing operations, namely data processing, filtering-off the volume of data that is actually sent through the cloud to data centres and offloading processing from centralized computing resources. This has remarkable implications on network loads, both in terms of data volumes and communication bandwidths.So, reaching this point it seems that all is good: ONiO.zero provides power from ambient energy, edge computing technology deals with data bandwidth - problem solved! Well, not quite there yet… there are a couple more chapters in this story!<h2>Combining ultra-low-power and edge computing abilities</h2>Computing processes take power. Hence, processing data and information at edge devices require substantial amounts of power. This is not a major problem for network nodes that are wired: power efficiency is certainly a consideration in any device, but there’s plenty of power available, and hopefully electricity grids will run mostly on renewable energy sources in the not-so-distant future. But if we talk about wireless nodes, then the game is completely different! Batteries aside, running smart wireless devices solely on ambient energy requires ultra-low-power approaches. And we mean real ultra-low-power, i.e. in the range of nano to micro Watts! This is why power management is a keystone for ONiO - with ONiO.zero shining as the world’s lowest power microcontroller. Yet, we want more (or actually less in this case!) - so we’re constantly looking for ways to push the envelope with respect to power economics and efficiency. So, what we will try to pull off is to do edge computing at ultra-low-power!Let us first look into how far others have gone in addressing such a challenge. There have been numerous R&amp;D initiatives focused on ultra-low-power edge computing devices - as reviewed e.g. by <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8119709">Brooks and Sartori (2017)</a>, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/11/4/100/htm">Capra et al. (2019)</a> and <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8689012">Gamatie et al. (2019)</a>. But most of these haven’t reached successful real-world implementations as of now. So, here we will focus on actual implementations in devices that exist in the market. Several major players in the semiconductor industry have developed and implemented different kinds of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_acceleration">hardware accelerators</a>, in particular autonomous peripherals, into their low-power microcontroller designs. Examples include the <a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microcontrollers-and-microprocessors/8-bit-mcus/core-independent-and-analog-peripherals/system-flexibility/event-system#">Event System (EVSYS)</a> from Microchip Technology, the <a href="https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/application-notes/an0025-efm32-prs.pdf">Peripheral Reflex System (PRS)</a> from Silicon Labs, the <a href="https://www.st.com/resource/en/application_note/an4651-stm32f3-series-peripheral-interconnect-matrix-stmicroelectronics.pdf">Peripheral Interconnect Matrix</a> from STMicroelectronics, the <a href="https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.nrf52832.ps.v1.1%2Fppi.html">Programmable Peripheral Interconnect (PPI)</a> from Nordic Semiconductor, and the <a href="https://renesas.github.io/fsp/group___e_l_c.html">Event Link Controller (EVC)</a> from Renesas. Common to all these is the purpose of offloading tasks to the autonomous peripherals to lower CPU load and save on power consumption, with the potential to also minimize latencies and improve throughput. Yet, all these solutions are very primitive, basing their operations on routing signals/wires from one peripheral to another without any logic in the signal path. They should be considered a bus matrix where single bits of information are distributed - not doing any logic/decision functions.&nbsp;<h2>New approaches</h2>ONiO is playing with new approaches integrating edge computing and neuromorphic concepts - namely to implement neural networks in ultra-low-power integrated circuits. The end goal is to implement extremely power-efficient hardware accelerators which can perform algorithmic operations based on peripheral/sensor data without the intervention of the CPU. This will allow offloading heavy software tasks on hardware, thus saving power by waking up the CPU only when needed.&nbsp;But what does this means exactly? In practical terms, this means that we can create wireless, batteryless smart edge nodes/devices capable of processing data and making simple decisions locally - without having to send data back and forth to the cloud, thus saving on data transmission (bandwidth) and computing loads in data centres. Obviously, we are bound by the constraints of ultra-low-power systems - so not really running full chess games there! So, what is it good for?<h2>Applications</h2>Typical applications of our new power-aware neural network solutions will include threshold-based decision making, keyword recognition in speech, filtering of radio packages, and metering applications.Let’s take a typical case of “thresholding”: monitoring oil level on an engine. Instead of continuously sending level sensing data to the cloud/backend, the system can be tuned to report only “low” levels - i.e. when the level drops below a certain threshold, the system communicates to the cloud/backend and the user gets a warning sign. The system can be taught to take smarter decisions - e.g. report only when three consecutive measurements indicate low level, to avoid “false positives” (e.g. “low level” point measurements due to transitory engine position/inclination or the like).&nbsp;Another example is smart metering. Electricity and water meters are today largely relying on being always connected and heavily reporting to a back office system that implements the smartness in the system. This results in a lot of data traffic and long response times. Meters can be trained to only alert when certain events happen - such as a water leak, excessive power usage, etc. Basically avoiding that the heavy lifting always happens in the back office.&nbsp; This is particularly important in occurrences where the network infrastructure is not available - where, in a traditional system, the smartness is then lost.In a nutshell, power aware neural network solutions shall be capable of mixing inputs from several sources and detecting relevant events (when something happens) without CPU intervention, filtering-off non-relevant data points and report/transmit relevant data/events only, as opposed to continuously sending data to the backend/cloud.<h2>Leading the way</h2>ONiO has initiated an R&amp;D project focused on new power-aware neural network solutions. The project received support from the Regional Funds in Oslo (<a href="https://www.regionaleforskningsfond.no/Oslo/">RFF Oslo</a>) - which allows us to take a first stab into developing and testing prototype implementations. The project ties nicely with the ambitions of Oslo as a leading “smart, green, and safe” city. We expect that the future solutions can be capable of impacting on areas such as smart buildings and smart cities - raising the bar on the ambition and reach of such initiatives. For instance, enabling infrastructure-embedded sensors - such as sensors embedded in concrete which measure moisture in walls or vibration in structures for condition monitoring and preventive maintenance. These are typical “deploy-and-forget” applications, where it is impossible to change battery or replace the sensors, and which only need to report relevant events - such as humidity levels or vibration/strain changes above a defined threshold. Other use-cases within smart cities involve smart metering, as mentioned above.The market for this type of solution is huge. If we take smart buildings, estimates point to a <a href="https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/smart-building-market-101198">global market value in the area of $70-80 billion</a>, growing at a CAGR of approx. 20% over the coming 5-10 years. As for smart cities, estimates are highly variable, but the global market shall be worth at least $100 billion currently and growing in the ballpark of 20%. Durability, robustness, compactness and cost-effectiveness of distributed sensor systems (hundreds/thousands of sensors) are key drivers for these markets. All in all, these are extremely attractive market segments, where ONiO’s technology can make a real difference.<h2>In conclusion</h2>Edge computing is a vast concept, and we are far from pretending to be able to crack all challenges and unshackle its immense potential. Yet, we are pushing the boundaries of what can be done with extremely small amounts of power, using ambient energy only, and offering decisive contributions towards wireless, true batteryless IoT nodes. These, in turn, will make it possible for the future vision of the all-connected Internet of Everything world!Are you ready to take your smart city and/or building initiatives to the next level? ONiO has initiated an R&amp;D project focused on creating power-aware neural network solutions, supported by the Regional Funds in Oslo (RFF Oslo). These solutions can enable infrastructure-embedded sensors (such as moisture sensors in walls or vibration sensors for condition monitoring and preventive maintenance) to report relevant events without having to continuously send data to the backend/cloud.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is exploding on such a scale that many are already redefining terms to rather call it the Internet of Everything (IoE) - as a better illustration of how today’s connected world is shaping. Still, as often seen in many contexts, massive growth puts unsustainable pressure on resources. In this case, a pervasively connected world requires more and more hardware units - which in turn require power - as well as increasing data bandwidth - to deal with the massive amounts of data being transmitted and processed. In this article, we will try to shed a little light on how edge computing, particularly in ultra low power edge devices, will contribute to solving these constraints and unleashing the full potential of the Internet of Everything.

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Unleashing the full potential of IoE with Edge Computing Technology

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Technology is the driving force that is leading the charge of human civilization on our planet today, And perhaps no technology is quite as emblematic of this as the Internet of Things. Barely more than a decade old in actuality and maybe two in theory, the internet of things has already transformed into a relentless juggernaut, showing explosive growth in recent years and leaving massive disruption in its wake. Well on its merry way both in terms of consumer adoption and huge investments, just about every industry in the world has borne witness to the transforming power of IoT technology. 

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Batteryless Microcontrollers - The future of IoT

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Runar Finanger

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LinkedIn

Over the past couple of years, an incredible proportion of the global workforce has had to adapt to a new modality of work. The work-from-home culture, which was started by the pandemic, still remains the preferred modality of work for many, who have come to relish the control and flexibility it grants them.&nbsp;This is an incredible example that illustrates how dramatically our social and professional landscapes can change with the help of new technological standards - pandemic or not, remote work simply would not have been a possibility for the overwhelming majority of us just two decades ago. As we evolve in our technological prowess, there will inevitably be major ripple effects seen all around us.&nbsp;In this post, we thought we’d take a look at some of the big ways in which the ongoing IoT <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/wsn-ai-driving-the-iot-boom.html">boom</a> is evolving the modern workplace. Connected technology, enabled by the burgeoning growth of IoT technology, allows enterprises to increase productivity, cut costs, drive up employee satisfaction and identify new opportunities to scale up. In the following sections, we’re going to explore some of the key use cases for IoT technology within the modern workplace or office.<h2>Smart office appliances</h2>This is possibly the lowest hanging of all the many IoT-driven fruits that feature in the modern workplace. This one’s a bit of a no-brainer really - when appliances and devices are connected to the internet using IoT <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/how-do-self-powered-sensors-work.html">sensors</a>, they become dramatically more functional, seamless and efficient. Instead of working as standalone devices that perform pre-assigned tasks, they can come together as a connected ecosystem with which the end-user can interact and transact from almost anywhere.&nbsp;The smart home idea is, in essence, based on this simple principle of connecting appliances to the internet and enabling them to work in tandem with each other and with the user. The workplace of today is adopting these smart appliances in a massive way - offices today feature a number of IoT-based appliances that are aimed at driving connectivity, seamlessness of operation, efficiency and employee satisfaction.&nbsp;Let’s start with the really simple stuff - IoT technology can enable automatic climate control in office spaces - at first glance, this might not seem quite impressive - fair enough - but even implementing such a simple IoT application in an office makes for some pretty evident benefits - with an IoT-based climate control system, the ambient temperature of the office is dynamically maintained within an optimal range. This helps the enterprise in two ways - firstly, massive savings on electricity. Secondly, it helps a little bit in adding to the comfort of employees, obviating the need for employees to fiddle with the thermostat or get distracted from their work tasks. Some modern offices have also taken to installing smart curtains and <a href="https://www.iotworlds.com/best-smart-blinds-and-curtains-with-alexa/">smart blinds</a> that can self-adjust with respect to the sun’s position, making glares on computer screens a thing of the past.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.capitalmds.com/iot-smart-printing/">Smart printers</a> are another cool example of how employing smart appliances at work can bring about incremental optimisation, which adds up to make for a better workplace. Smart printers feature a host of IoT sensors. This means that they can detect when they are about to run out of ink and, in turn, notify a member of the team or, alternatively, even automatically place an order for more cartridges. In the absence of the connectivity that IoT brings to the table, this predictable and recurring situation would demand valuable man-hours - a gross misallocation of precious resources.&nbsp;These are just a few notable examples of how smart IoT-based appliances can bring about a host of benefits to any workplace. The underlying brief is always the same with these smart appliances - cut down on avoidable time expenditure and recurring costs, and increase productivity and employee satisfaction.&nbsp;<h2>Driving workplace safety</h2>According to the ILO, over <a href="https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/osh/en/story_content/external_files/fs_st_1-ILO_5_en.pdf">2.3 million</a> people die each year due to occupational disease and fatal workplace accidents. This brings us to the second biggest use case for IoT within the workplace - employee <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/wearable-sensors-safe-workplace.html">safety</a>. This is especially relevant in sectors where employees routinely encounter hazardous conditions.&nbsp;For instance, predictive maintenance enabled by IoT devices can dramatically reduce incidents of workplace injuries and deaths due to faulty hardware and equipment failures. An IoT-based predictive maintenance system can significantly reduce the impact of human error in maintaining workplace safety. A robust IoT system can oversee a large worksite and provide timely alerts in case of mishaps or malfunctions. Impending industrial disasters or poor weather conditions can be predicted well in advance, all of which make the workplace a much safer place for workers.&nbsp;<h2>Bespoke work environment</h2>IoT technology enables companies to offer their employees a curated and personalised work environment, which in turn could go a long way towards driving productivity and increasing employee satisfaction.&nbsp;By incorporating varying degrees of automation and customisability, smart offices are able to provide their employees with a pleasant and engaging workplace experience - after all, you don’t quite need to be a brain surgeon to see how employees that enjoy their time at work would make better assets to any enterprise.&nbsp;Imagine an office where you can customise your individual workspace as per your preferences and requirements - where you control lighting, ergonomics etc. Additionally, you will be able to set off a chain of pre-programmed commands just by entering the office - you can have all the tools you need launched and waiting, even before you’ve taken a seat.&nbsp;Granted, this one’s a bit of a luxury use case. But, in a world where more and more employees are clamouring for increased autonomy, companies that want their employees back at the office can make their proposition a more tempting one by offering their workers the chance to tailor a bespoke work atmosphere for themselves.Thanks to ever-increasing levels of automation and inter-connectedness among various devices, this degree of workplace personalisation is increasingly starting to become the norm across industries.&nbsp;<h2>Facility management</h2>Connected devices are being employed to promote coordination among the various personnel teams that work in enterprises, making it easier for management to identify the most effective methods to accomplish tasks within the workplace.&nbsp;When the various teams that are involved in a particular organisation are able to collaborate seamlessly with each other, everybody wins. IoT systems are able to offer a level of seamless integration among the various teams in an organisation that is practically unheard of.&nbsp;Facility management is one key example of an IoT-powered technology that promotes resource optimisation and employee productivity - let’s say your enterprise makes use of a sophisticated system of IoT sensors that make up a facility management system - this system can make it possible to proliferate various kinds of sensor data and move this information around such that tasks get done well before they’re due. For instance, the housekeeping staff can be informed beforehand about situations that need care - reducing instances of protracted standbys and unnecessary delays.&nbsp;<h2>Smart buildings and smart energy management&nbsp;</h2>IoT sensors are getting cheaper and more robust by the day. What’s even more exciting is the emergence of technologies such as <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/what-is-energy-harvesting.html">ambient energy harvesting</a>, which are eliminating the need for IoT solutions to be straitjacketed by the constraints placed by <a href="https://www.onio.com/article/energy-harvesting-trumps-batteries.html">batteries</a>.&nbsp;Thanks to this growing trend of affordable and self-powered sensors, we are able to deploy IoT sensors in some frankly audacious locations - inside buildings, railings, energy infrastructure, power boxes etc. What this means is that modern offices aren’t just benefiting from having their interiors hyperconnected - they’re hooked up from the outside as well.&nbsp;Energy constitutes a significant chunk of any traditional workspace’s recurring expenditure. IoT-based buildings and smart energy management systems allow companies to economise on their energy consumption, making for hefty savings. In these troubled economic times, there’s no telling how much of an impact these savings make - they may just be the difference between a company deciding to lay off a particular team or not.&nbsp;<h2>Optimising space utilisation</h2>Office space is precious real estate - often exorbitantly priced and highly sought after. Businesses often have to fork out ungodly sums of money in order to maintain offices, especially if they’re situated in prestigious locations.&nbsp;When this precious real estate is under-utilised, it’s a hugely painful thing for businesses to deal with. As more and more institutions around the world are having employees take up remote work, they are finding that workstations are increasingly being under-utilised.&nbsp;Many companies, therefore, are turning to IoT systems to find ways to optimise and economise on space. Moreover, they are also using these systems to ensure that the workspace is optimally structured in order to achieve maximum efficiency and utilisation.&nbsp;IoT sensors offer a rich trove of information that is highly granular and time-sensitive - a <a href="https://www.iofficecorp.com/blog/iot-sensors-save-money">company</a> recently made headlines in business circles when deploying sensors to study workspace use patterns on just one floor saved them $300,000 a year. IoT enables us to get a clearer picture of the things going on right under our noses. Today, the company has deployed over 2000 IoT sensors in various capacities - just to put that into perspective, one of these sensors can monitor an entire meeting room!&nbsp;Even accounting for the upfront investment in these sensor systems, enterprises stand to save huge amounts of money by deploying IoT space-management solutions.&nbsp;<h2>Not going anywhere</h2>From smart <a href="https://blog.semtech.com/how-iot-data-enables-smart-office-and-desk-utilization-decisions">desks</a> to smart coffee machines, the workplace of today has embraced IoT technology left, right and centre. What’s more is that these are just the nascent stages of IoT technology - by implementing IoT sensors in their spaces, companies are reaping some pretty substantial rewards such as -<ul><li>Higher employee satisfaction</li><li>Increased accountability&nbsp;</li><li>Lower overhead costs</li><li>Decreased energy expenditure</li><li>Increased output</li><li>Improved resource allocation</li><li>Faster scaling</li></ul>The use of IoT sensors is changing the modern workplace for the better. Companies are able to save money on energy costs, optimise their space utilisation, and increase employee satisfaction. What's more, is that this is just the beginning - as IoT technology advances, we can only expect these benefits to become even more pronounced.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has left a huge slew of changes in its wake, dramatically altering the way we work, travel, socialise, and, indeed, interact with the world around us. The pandemic has raised some pertinent questions around the status-quo norms associated with various aspects of our lives - for instance, the rise of online classes and remote work has brought widespread attention to the outdatedness of our education systems and work cultures. 

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Here’s how IoT sensors are changing the modern workplace

ONiO is an IoT company specializing in crafting self-powered microcontrollers that run on nanowatts harvested from their surroundings.

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ONiO is a fabless IoT company specialising in batteryless microcontrollers that run on energy harvesting. We are deeply committed to crafting viable clean-energy solutions for IoT devices, breaking them free from the battery. ONiO.zero can use virtually any RF, thermal, solar, piezo signal as a power source. 

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Remote Control Energy sources Right as rain, safe as houses A Zero-compromise user experience Ultra-low power requirement All the frills and thrills - IR diode support Future proof flexibility Pulse density modulation interface (PDM) Capacitive touch Button key scanner Accelerometer Technology Redefined Want to talk? Introduction Visit the ONiO.zero page Energy Harvesting Reliability User Interfaces Contact us for more information The remote as we know it is a dinosaur - ancient technology! Today, with energy harvesting, the pain of charging and replacing batteries is history! Our surroundings are rife with potentially usable energy that we can harness and store. Energy from WiFI AP, mobile phones and other dedicated terrestrial RF energy sources supplies enough power for the remote to operate. At the heart of our smart remote solution is ONiO.zero - a batteryless wonderchip that runs on ambient energy! The best part, fewer batteries are thrown away in landfills. What's more - super-tiny photovoltaic cells could be used in tandem to make sure you never run out - Given typical light conditions, you could power your remote for eternity - no replacements, no nothing! RF fields between 650MHz and 2.4GHz.Any source between 350mV and 4V that produce 5-10μA). E.g. PV/Solar, thermal and motion.  ONiO.zero implements a low power PDM interface for interfacing low power microphones. The supported sampling speeds are 300kHz to 12MHz with support for fractional bitrate. The capacitive touch engine does not require any internal oscillator to run and is fully self-clocked. This means that it’s extremely low power and can asynchronously wake the rest of the system up. True wake on touch! Supports 8 rows and 8 columns making for a total of 64 buttons. Runs on an ultra low-power oscillator. Any keypress wakes up the CPU. FIFO (First in First out) of last 8 key presses. A low power SPI and two-wire interface are implemented for efficient interfacing with an accelerometer. The data from the accelerometer can be classified by ONiO.zero into gestures. Drained batteries and interruptions are best left in the past! With just a little ingenuity, we can design batteryless solutions that, well, just make more sense! Energy has to be present when the remote is in use. By utilising both RF and PV cell harvesting the remote will constantly be charging - even when its stuck between your sofa cushions. We took a novel new approach to low-power. We designed for nano-watt operation - not milli- or microwatts from day one. This has resulted in a framework that allows applications using a battery today - remove them tomorrow. We have to acknowledge that most remote controls today still utilise infrared communication. That's why we added a dedicated hardware module for carrier generation and modulation of IR diodes. A modern remote control is meant to be user-friendly and flexible. ONiO.zero supports multiple user interfaces - so you’re never caught off guard - whatever your device or need, we’ve got you covered.

A real smart remote solution runs on ONiO.zero - a batteryless wonderchip that feeds on ambient energy! Best part, no more annoying broken battery lids!

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