Printed Electronics for Energy-Efficient Wireless Systems

Emerging printed electronics and additive manufacturing techniques are enabling new products and opening up new application possibilities connecting the path from R&D to commercialization. Continuous advances in nanomaterials, functional inks, 2D/3D device designs, and packaging techniques offer new opportunities for flexible electronics combined with the Internet of Things (IoT). The present talk will highlight the evolving direct-write printing techniques, and the implementation of multifunctional wireless sensor platforms to meet the cost and energy efficiency targets for ubiquitous deployment at locations of interest. The main focus of the multifunctional sensor platform development is to realize synergistic integration of the sensor, communication, energy harvesting and storage, and signal processing components meeting the application and manufacturing requirements. Specific examples from our R&D efforts on self-powered and passive wireless sensor systems will be discussed in this presentation. The main goal of our energy-efficient sensor system development is to understand and address cost, performance, and reliability tradeoffs critical to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient smart buildings and to enhance grid reliability and resiliency.