Project Summary

To tackle the future of freight challenge, this project introduces an innovative solution: light-powered wireless mesh freight tracking for both outdoor and indoor use. The existing battery-powered solutions face limitations in scalability and sustainability, which this approach overcomes. The use of Lightricity’s PV technology, with its exceptional efficiency (>30%), makes it possible to power the wireless mesh nodes without batteries. This project is developing a proof of concept for this unique solution, which has the potential to revolutionise freight tracking and significantly contribute to reducing carbon emissions in the logistics industry.

Project Achievements

Notable innovations and results from this project: 1. proprietary battery-less energy harvesting architecture with back-up storage covering bridge periods of darkness; 2. PV cell-integrated light concentrating micro-optics; 3. retrofittable, miniaturised PCB and enclosures for ceiling-mounted (under light fixtures) and asset-mounted devices. These results enable multi-purpose, battery-free mesh networks that are simultaneously applicable to tracking, wayfinding and building sensor systems. When fully productised, the project innovations will enable the majority of network infrastructure to avoid battery or mains power.

Conclusions

This project developed and demonstrated highly innovative power options to enable the practical, maintenance-free and sustainable deployment of mesh IoT network topologies for applications such as asset tracking, sensing and wayfinding. This is beyond the state of the art where battery and mains power are major constraints on deployment. Having reached TRL 4, further technology development will pave the way for us to offer companies nationally and internationally a self-powered mesh hardware solution for incorporation in their own solutions and services.

Next Steps

Post-project demonstration to end-users are planned, to ultimately enable us to enter the supply chain as a tracking hardware supplier for a wide range of transport applications. Our post-project route to market and commercialisation plans are: 1) develop production prototype (Q4/2023-Q1/2024); 2) scale up from prototype manufacturing to volume; 3) production process (Q2/2024-Q4/2024); 4) customer trials (Q3/2024-Q1/2025); 5) set up production and test facilities (Q1/2025—Q3/2025); 6) first volume commercial deployments and exploitation (Q3/2025-onwards). We are in discussions with two potential organisations (under NDA) who expressed an interest in trialling our light-powered mesh solution with their customers.