Research

SoC and Embedded System Design

SmartPatch, a solar-powered and patchable smart UV irradiation meter that informs both the current UV irradiance and irradiation. SmartPatch is designed to attach on the skin surface of interest, its UV measurement meets the above mentioned requirements such as the angle to the Sun, environmental change and body movement. Two key technologies are behind the proposed SmartPatch. The first is a storage-less and converter-less energy harvesting that does not require a battery nor a voltage converter for solar energy harvesting. The second is a switch-less user interface. These two technologies can significantly reduce both volumetric and gravimetric overheads as well as the manufacturing cost.

Energy Efficient System Optimization

The range of operations of electric vehicles (EVs) is a critical aspect that may affect the users attitude towards them. For manned EVs, range anxiety is still perceived as a major issue and recent surveys have shown that one third of potential users are deterred by this problem when considering the move to an EV. Similar consideration applies to aerial EVs for commercial use, where a careful planning of the flying range is essential to guarantee the service but also to avoid the loss of the EVs due to charge depletion during the flight. Therefore, route planning for EVs for different purposes (range estimation, route optimization and design optimization) is an essential element to foster the acceptance of EVs as a replacement of traditional vehicles. 

One essential element to enable such accurate planning is an accurate model of the actual power consumption. While very elaborate models for the electrical motors of EVs do exist, the motor power does not perfectly match the power drawn from the battery because of battery non-idealities.