The Internet of Things (IoT) is drawing increasing attention from government (European Union, United States (FTC), China, Korea, etc.), media (Consumer Electronics Show, Mobile World Congress, etc.), and companies (e.g., carriers, manufacturers and software companies). At the same time, powering the ever growing number of heterogeneous sensors and devices is becoming a central point of the IoT conversation (click here for recent examples regarding the EH-IoT connection). Traditional technologies rely on batteries, but for IoT, we will have trillions of sensors, replacing these batteries become an untenable, even impossible task considering the mobility of the sensors, life time and environmental impacts.

Georgia Tech’s expertise in materials and systems for Energy Harvesting (EH), which spans several entities at the University, is widely recognized as innovative and at the front of the pack. Georgia Tech has pioneered and coined a few key areas in EH, positioning us at the frontier of building self-powered systems for IoT.

In parallel, GT is in the process of launching an Internet of Things Center (Center for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies or CDAIT) to harness GT’s expertise in various IoT dimensions (EH being one of them) and present a complete value proposition, making it easier for potential partners interested in addressing the whole IoT value chain to interface with GT.  Collaboration with CDAIT should facilitate access to potential partners and also provide broader context to any IoT-related EH initiative.

The goal of this workshop is to discuss and explore potential areas and approaches for EH materials research leadership and associated funding opportunities associated with IoT.  We aim to design a path to set up a group exclusively centered on “self-powered systems for the Internet of Things” (SPS/IoT) composed of faculty and researchers from academic units, colleges, and institutes across Georgia Tech.
Specific goals of this workshop are to:

• Advance understanding and interest by the Georgia Tech scientific community in SPS/IoT challenges and opportunities.
• Identify future opportunity areas with scientific/engineering impact (external RFPs, or our own internal initiatives).
• Identify potential research opportunities and specific proposals to engage SPS/IoT industry.
• Assess areas of technical strength (core strengths, area coverage, critical mass of core faculty and infrastructure, leadership for large scale proposals, gaps/weaknesses).
• Identify desirable teaming arrangements (internal/external) for developing initiatives, including areas of leadership versus participation.
• Determine opportunities to extend Tech’s leadership position in SPS/IoT research.