Providing a detailed overview of the fundamentals and latest developments in the field of energy autonomous microsystems, this book delivers an in-depth study of the applications in the fields of health and usage monitoring in aeronautics, medical implants, and home automation, drawing out the main specifications on such systems. Introductory information on photovoltaic, thermal and mechanical energy harvesting, and conversion, is given, along with the latest results in these fields. This book also provides a state of the art of ultra-low power sensor interfaces, digital signal processing and wireless communications. In addition, energy optimizations at the sensor node and sensors network levels are discussed, thus completing this overview. This book details the challenges and latest techniques available to readers who are interested in this field. A major strength of this book is that the first three chapters are application orientated and thus, by setting the landscape, introduce the technical chapters. There is also a good balance between the technical application, covering all the system-related aspects and, within each chapter, details on the physics, materials and technologies associated with electronics. Contents Introduction. Introduction to Energy Autonomous Micro and Nano Systems and Presentation of Contributions, Marc Belleville and Cyril Condemine. 1. Sensors at the Core of Building Control, Gilles Chabanis, Laurent Chiesi, Hynek Raisigel, Isabelle Ressejac and Véronique Boutin. 2. Toward Energy Autonomous MedicalImplants, Raymond Campagnolo and Daniel Kroiss. 3. Energy Autonomous Systems in Aeronautic Applications, Thomas Becker, Jirka Klaue and Martin Kluge. 4. Energy Harvesting by Photovoltaic Effect, Emmanuelle Rouvière, Simon Perraud, Cyril Condemine and Guy Waltisperger. 5. Mechanical Energy Harvesting, Ghislain Despesse, Jean Jacques Chaillout, Sébastien Boisseau and Claire Jean-Mistral. 6. Thermal Energy Harvesting, Tristan Caroff, Emmanuelle Rouvière and Jérôme Willemin. 7. Lithium Micro-Batteries, Raphaël Salot. 8. Ultra-Low-Power Sensors, Pascal Nouet, Norbert Dumas, Laurent Latorre and Frédérick Mailly. 9. Ultra-Low-Power Signal Processing in Autonomous Systems, Christian Piguet. 10. Ultra-Low-Power Radio Frequency Communications and Protocols, Eric Mercier. 11. Energy Management in an Autonomous Microsystem, Jean-Frédéric Christmann, Edith Beigne, Cyril Condemine, Jérôme Willemin and Christian Piguet. 12. Optimizing Energy Efficiency of Sensor Networks, Olivier Sentieys and Olivier Berder.

Energy Autonomy of Real-Time Systems addresses foundations and findings in real-time scheduling and processor activity management for energy harvesting embedded systems, serving as a textbook for courses on the topic in master programs, and as a reference for computer scientists and engineers involved in the design or development of autonomous cyber-physical systems which require up-to-date solutions. - Develops theoretical models for energy-harvesting real-time systems, including theorems and schedulability analysis - Contains scheduling algorithms that are rigorously derived from the theory, based on both real-time and energy constraints - Covers future, potential applications centered on the use of self-powered sensor technologies - Provides the methodology for developing autonomous real-time systems based on energy harvesting

Harvesting kinetic energy is a good opportunity to power wireless sensor in a vibratory environment. Besides classical methods based on electromagnetic and piezoelectric mechanisms, electrostatic transduction has a great perspective in particular when dealing with small devices based on MEMS technology. This book describes in detail the principle of such capacitive Kinetic Energy Harvesters based on a spring-mass system. Specific points related to the design and operation of kinetic energy harvesters (KEHs) with a capacitive interface are presented in detail: advanced studies on their nonlinear features, typical conditioning circuits and practical MEMS fabrication.

Over the past decade, ZnO as an important II-VI semiconductor has attracted much attention within the scientific community over the world owing to its numerous unique and prosperous properties. This material, considered as a “future material”, especially in nanostructural format, has aroused many interesting research works due to its large range of applications in electronics, photonics, acoustics, energy and sensing. The bio-compatibility, piezoelectricity & low cost fabrication make ZnO nanostructure a very promising material for energy harvesting.

This book is a single-source guide to nonlinearity and nonlinear techniques in energy harvesting, with a focus on vibration energy harvesters for micro and nanoscale applications. The authors demonstrate that whereas nonlinearity was avoided as an undesirable phenomenon in early energy harvesters, now it can be used as an essential part of these systems. Readers will benefit from an overview of nonlinear techniques and applications, as well as deeper insight into methods of analysis and modeling of energy harvesters, employing different nonlinearities. The role of nonlinearity due to different aspects of an energy harvester is discussed, including nonlinearity due to mechanical-to-electrical conversion, nonlinearity due to conditioning electronic circuits, nonlinearity due to novel materials (e.g., graphene), etc. Coverage includes tutorial introductions to MEMS and NEMS technology, as well as a wide range of applications, such as nonlinear oscillators and transducers for energy harvesters and electronic conditioning circuits for effective energy processing.

The purpose of this book is to question the relationships involved in decision making and the systems designed to support it: decision support systems (DSS). The focus is on how these systems are engineered; to stop and think about the questions to be asked throughout the engineering process and, in particular, about the impact designers’ choices have on these systems. This therefore involves identifying the elements of the problem of decision support systems engineering: the main objects and dimensions to be considered and the relationships they involve, issues at the levels of the decision-maker, of the organization (and even of society), the general approach to which to subscribe and so on.

The recent introduction of the “nano” dimension to pyrotechnics has made it possible to develop a new family of highly reactive substances: nanothermites. These have a chemical composition that is comparable to that of thermites at submillimeter or micrometric granulometry, but with a morphology having a much increased degree of homogeneity. This book discusses the methods of preparation of these energetic nanomaterials, their specific properties, and the different safety aspects inherent in their manipulation.