DTx researcher Sofia Paiva and Algoritmi Centre researcher Rui Almeida won the podium in the local final of the EDP University Challenge, on October 7. The researchers, who had the guidance of Prof. Jorge Cabral (Centro Algoritmi) and the support of Sérgio Branco (Centro Algoritmi), is thus qualified for the global final, to be held on 29 October.
This award-winning project developed a NB-IoT Multi-Purpose Sensor, a small sensor with energy autonomy of at least 5 years and with data transmission through NB-IoT.
Recognising that communication is the most energy consuming operation on a IoT device, NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) brings a reduced physical layer and the ability to use existing mobile network infrastructure to reduce the energy consumption of this process, while also reducing the production and maintenance costs of such devices. By reducing the energy consumption of communication, it is possible to design smaller IoT sensors, as it allows the use of more compact batteries, maintaining an autonomy of at least 5 years. The longer this autonomy, the lower the maintenance costs associated with IoT devices.
Through the creation of an extensive network of sensor devices, which collect data in the most diverse environments; the use of micro-services and non-relational databases, which make processing and storage faster, more distributed and secure; the use of ML (Machine Learning), both in the Cloud and in nodes, it is possible to create dynamic networks, which over time can act quickly on the environment where they are implemented, saving, in the future, even more energy and traffic, and increasing performance.
EDP University Challenge is an initiative of EDP – Energias de Portugal, whose aim is to contribute for the development of excellence in the complementary academic training of students at the undergraduate, postgraduate and master’s levels. This competition also aims to reward the academic and scientific aspects of the work presented by the groups participating in this initiative, promoting greater interconnection between universities and the business world. This is an initiative of international scope, taking place in Portugal, Spain and Brazil.
Ph: Luís Vale
