传感器的电路，永不停止聆听|电子设计

UB20M电路的突破板，这是一种新型的电压检测器，其发明者声称它可以延长传感器的电池寿命。（图片由布里斯托大学提供）。

With the addition of a tiny circuit that consumes little more than the power of a human cell, the batteries inside sensors could last for years sniffing out chemicals, listening for voice control keywords, or feeling for earthquakes.

该巡回赛最近由英格兰布里斯托尔大学的研究人员推出，是对电压探测器的新旋转，该电压探测器可以监视汽车和工厂设备等物品内部电源的健康。但是，尽管这些设备通常会通过电池电量咀嚼，但新电路可以保持睡眠状态，直到被传感器的电捏唤醒为止。

这invention of the circuit is one of the latest attempts to improve sensors so that they can run for years without needing to be frequently recalibrated or recharged. That has become a major priority as companies deploy wireless sensors with an eye toward making从工厂到农场的一切都更加高效。

这UB20M, as the patent-pending circuit is called, only wakes up an electronic device when something like an accelerometer feels movement or a microphone hears a sound, generating a voltage. That allows a sensor to keep watching its surroundings, consuming so little standby power it might as well be asleep, the researchers said.

“这是因为它能够响应没有动力的传感器的微量功率，”布里斯托尔电能管理研究小组的研究人员之一伯纳德·史塔克（Bernard Stark）在一份声明中说。“该设备不需要电池或其他电源才能保持生命和聆听。”

Although sensors have grown cheaper and smaller over the years, it has proven difficult to make them more independent. Many companies are trying to make them more power efficient by using simplified wireless networks, energy harvesting chips that refuel batteries using light and vibrations, and设计使读数不易漂流的设计。

但是，布里斯托尔大学的研究人员正在解决这样一个事实，即保持传感器的能量和聆听的能量可以远远超过用于实际传感的能量。对于某些类型的无线传感器，例如安全摄像机或volcanic activity monitors, the battery expends lots of power listening for movements or short tremors.

UB20M电路只能消耗几百万亿瓦，并使用现有探测器花费的千分之一的能量唤醒设备，从而提供了Stark所说的“连续和自由的传感”。研究人员说，结果是电池寿命从几个月延长到数年。

这se benefits have not been lost on many other researchers and companies. A start-up called Vesper Technologies sells microphones that perform "quiescent sensing," in which the device turns itself on when it hears a sound. Matt Crowley, Vesper's chief executive, says that is indispensable for a new generation of devices, like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which can be controlled with your voice.

也有潜在的军事应用。佛r the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, that ability for sensors to be “asleep-yet-aware” could help soldiers identify improvised explosives. In 2015, the agency launched a program to design wireless sensors that could be sprinkled around a battlefield to listen for the particular radio signals that activate the explosives.

N-Zero项目经理Troy Olsson在一份声明中说：“正是等待特定的事件或活动限制了任务寿命并耗尽了这些基本电子产品的电池能量。”“我们的目标是使用正确的信号本身来唤醒传感器，这将提高传感器的有效性和战士的情境意识。”

该机构的目标是在2018年之前完成接近零的功率射频和传感器操作，即N-Zero项目。

布里斯托尔大学的研究人员正在寻找商业合作伙伴在连接的门锁，森林火灾传感器和其他应用中使用该电路。另一个自然拟合将是健身乐队，因为该巡回赛是作为Sphere的一部分而开发的，这是一项研究计划，旨在开发家庭健康监测的传感器。

更正：2017年2月15日。图像标题被添加到有关新电路的文章中，该文章的发明者声称它可以大大改善无线传感器的电池寿命。该文章还进行了更新，以包括该零件的申请专利状态。