ONiO is a Norway based tech development company focused on healthcare. Recently, OniO has created a microcontroller unit (MCU) named ONiO.zero that harvests energy from our surroundings and eliminates the need for batteries. ONiO.zero is an ultra-low-power MCU (microcontroller unit) that obtains power from background multi-frequency radio bands and can also be hooked up to external sources such as solar, piezoelectric, thermal, and voltaic cells.
The company was influenced by seeing batteries sit on shelves, most of which, for many years. This drains their power, reducing the quality and overall usage they are rated for.
ONiO.zero power chips are a very useful invention, especially for wearable medical devices. They can also easily be integrated into watches, building sensors, and other small electronics. This is a much more economically friendly power source than batteries are. ONiO power chips contain no lithium, no coin-cell, and no supercapacitor, yet still offer plenty of power.
ONiO Company quote:
Battery based solutions come with the inevitable caveat of battery replacement, which translates
to an incremental cost, throughout their ownership. ONiO.zero circumvents this pain point and slashes the cost of ownership. It can be used to power sensors and devices for years, without having to spare a thought about maintenance – deploy and forget.
ONiO’s Goal
To change the way energy is harvested directly, sensors store and process data locally through wireless transmission, and accomplish this at an affordable price for the consumer. This nearly eliminates the need for an operating system and uses only embedded programming.
In terms of sustainability, this device can assist in the reduction of 40 million tons of yearly electronic waste. Eliminating the need for batteries in electronics reduces the number of components that battery-powered devices require. Every year an estimated 55 billion dollars of raw resources are thrown away in our electronics.
One of the more interesting points to make about ONiO.zero is the amount of power the MCU has for how little electricity it requires.
Specifications
- Memory – they offer 1KB of mask ROM, 2 KB RAM, 8/16/32KB ULP Flash, 100,000 Writes, and Read supported down to 850mV.
- Radio – Crystal-less BTLE transmitter, along with programmable output power of (-40 to 0dBm). They also have an optional 433MHz MICS radio transmitter for medical devices.
- Energy Source – They come with an Internal RF Rectifier, multi-frequency that supports many bandwidths, 800/900/1800/ 1900/2400MHz bands (ISM and GSM). Voltaic cells down to 400mV (DC) Solar, piezoelectric and thermal (1V8 to 3.6V)
- Medical Devices – ensuring compliance with applicable standards and regulations such as IEC 60601 and FCC/ETSI.
- Peripherals – They meet the Industry Standard I2C, SPI, and UART. Asynchronous AES module for encryption/hash generation. GPIO with asynchronous interrupt/wake up. Programmable current source. Biasing external sensors.
- Operation Conditions – Voltage: 450mv – 1.8V. Operating frequency: Asynchronous to 24MHz. Operating temperature: -40 to 85°C (Industrial grade).
- Medical classification – According to ISO 13485:2016 Quality Management System (QMS) for Medical Devices ensuring compliance with applicable standards and regulations such as IEC 60601 and FCC/ETSI.
