📈 Dracula Technologies has just shattered the limits of traditional GPS and indoor trackers. We created a LoRaWAN-based tracker to demonstrate that it is possible to create autonomous geo-location trackers, that can work both indoors and outdoors. The tracker has no batteries and is powered by Dracula’s Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) low-light energy harvesting cells ! 🌙
🔋 Our team collaborated with an external French engineering company to develop a groundbreaking demonstration tracker, and the results are astonishing ! This proved that a geo-location (GPS-based) service can be provided without any batteries, but by low light energy !
🌐 Built on Semtech‘s LoRa Cloud and LR1110 chipset, the low-power electronics allow for being powered by Dracula’s LAYER® Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The tracker is using lorawan, which is the global standard for low-power and long-range wireless communications for IoT devices. The tests have been running on The Things Stack Cloud of the The Things Industries.
🌆 Here’s the magic : the number of geo-locations that can be transmitted wirelessly depends on the light conditions where the tracker is located. In low-light conditions (200 Lux), it can transmit just a few times a day its position by harvesting light (without any energy storage used). This can be enough for certain use cases like assets stored in warehouses or other dark places. In daylight conditions, the tracker can send frequently its position ! In combination with a small storage element, the tracker can still communicate in complete dark environments for many days.
📊 This is a game-changer for the entire IoT ecosystem. This breakthrough has the potential to reshape vertical industries and drive IoT innovation to new heights. Battery replacement is a business-case killer for many IoT use cases.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to lead the way in sustainable, battery-free technology.
This break-through innovation has been presented at The Things Conference 2023 in Amsterdam, the largest IoT ecosystem gathering every year.
