What is our primary use case?
I have been integrating Atmosic Technologies' solutions into our developments for about two years now. It was after a thorough evaluation of their BLE chips, particularly those offering energy harvesting capabilities, that we decided to adapt some of our flagship products.
Our main interest in Atmosic Technologies lies in the ability to design connected devices that are truly autonomous. By integrating energy harvesting, especially solar, we can significantly reduce the maintenance related to battery replacement, which also reduces the environmental footprint of our deployments.
We recently developed asset-tracking beacons for industrial environments using Atmosic Technologies. These beacons integrate Atmosic Technologies' BLE chips with a solar energy harvesting module. This allows these devices to regularly broadcast their position without requiring battery replacement, which is critical in hard-to-reach areas.
What is most valuable?
Atmosic Technologies' technical development support has been very valuable for our engineering team. It allowed us to quickly optimize the integration of the energy harvesting features while maintaining the system's radio performance. It is truly a solid partnership that enables us to push the limits of autonomy for IoT.
In my opinion, the most remarkable feature of Atmosic Technologies is undoubtedly their integrated energy harvesting technology. The ability to harvest ambient energy, whether light or RF energy, to directly power devices is a real game changer. It enables the creation of sustainable and virtually maintenance-free solutions, which is a major asset for the industrial Internet of Things.
In practice, this energy harvesting feature has allowed our teams to design much more compact devices, since we have been able to reduce the size, or even eliminate, certain batteries. In terms of maintenance, it almost completely eliminates replacement needs, which is a major cost saving in large-scale deployments or in hard-to-access locations.
The low power consumption of devices based on Atmosic Technologies' technology is truly impressive. It allows the devices to maintain constant connectivity while preserving energy, which is essential to ensure stable performance in varied usage scenarios.
The major positive impact of Atmosic Technologies lies in the improvement of operational efficiency. By integrating their solutions, we have made our devices autonomous and significantly reduced maintenance costs related to frequent battery changes, which has allowed our team to focus on innovation rather than logistical management.
In the context of our industrial beacon deployments, we observed a reduction of nearly 80% in field maintenance interventions during the first year. This represents significant savings in labor time and travel costs, which allows us to dedicate more resources to innovation and the development of new products.
What needs improvement?
Although Atmosic Technologies already offers very advanced solutions, I think that the integration of additional communication protocols, or greater flexibility in managing multiple energy sources, could be beneficial. This would further broaden the use cases and make it possible to adapt to even more varied environments.
It would be interesting to explore other types of energy sources to integrate, such as vibrations or thermal gradients, to further increase the versatility of harvesting solutions in specific conditions. This would strengthen overall autonomy in environments where light or RF energy are less available.
An improvement could focus on developing multimode capabilities, allowing the chips to support other communication protocols in addition to Bluetooth BLE, which would greatly increase their versatility in different connectivity environments.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in the field of electronic engineering for a little over ten years. I have had the opportunity to work on various IoT-related projects, which has allowed me to closely follow the evolution of power management and connectivity technologies.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Atmosic Technologies' solution stability is a strong point in our current deployments. We have subjected it to varied and demanding conditions in the field, and it has consistently demonstrated high reliability, both in terms of connectivity and energy harvesting performance. It is this robustness that allows us to meet our longevity commitments.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Atmosic Technologies' ability to adapt to increased load is an aspect we find very satisfactory. Their architecture is designed to be scalable, which allows us to consider major deployments with many devices without fearing performance degradation. Intelligent energy management and stable Bluetooth communication ensure that the network remains robust, even with high connection density.
How are customer service and support?
Atmosic Technologies' customer support is of a very high standard. Their team of engineers and support staff is extremely responsive and competent, providing precise answers and sound advice throughout the development and integration process. This has been crucial for quickly resolving the technical challenges we encountered.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before opting for Atmosic Technologies, we used standard BLE chips from other manufacturers. We decided to switch in order to integrate energy harvesting capabilities directly into our designs. Atmosic Technologies' solutions offered much better energy efficiency and superior solar harvesting performance, which was essential to meet the autonomy requirements of our new products.
Before choosing Atmosic Technologies, we evaluated other solutions from well-known manufacturers in the Bluetooth BLE field, such as Nordic Semiconductor or Texas Instruments. What ultimately convinced us to choose Atmosic Technologies was their unique architecture, designed for energy harvesting, which very efficiently integrates solar or RF energy harvesting directly into the chip. This seemed to us the best option for achieving our autonomy objectives for long-term industrial deployments.
What was our ROI?
The experience related to cost and pricing with Atmosic Technologies has overall been competitive. Although the initial investment may appear comparable to other cutting-edge solutions, the long-term savings, thanks to reduced maintenance costs and fewer field service interventions, have fully justified the choice of Atmosic Technologies, providing an excellent return on investment.
On our industrial beacon deployments, we measured an 80% reduction in field maintenance interventions during the first year. This translates into substantial savings in labor time and travel costs, which confirms the strong return on investment of these solutions.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before committing to Atmosic Technologies, we evaluated several other leading BLE solutions on the market, notably chips from manufacturers such as Nordic Semiconductor or Texas Instruments. Although these alternatives have a solid reputation, they did not offer the same level of optimization for ultra-low-power energy harvesting, nor such an advanced integrated architecture for combining power management and connectivity. Atmosic Technologies truly offered the most complete combination for our long-term industrial needs.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend that a company considering adopting Atmosic Technologies proceed step by step, starting with a thorough assessment of their specific needs, particularly regarding autonomy and the available energy sources. It is also very important to work closely with their technical support team to optimize the integration of energy harvesting. It is a powerful technology that offers new perspectives for the industry, provided it is carefully adapted to your existing architecture.
Our selection criteria for Atmosic Technologies are mainly based on the excellence of their energy efficiency and the performance of their energy harvesting capability. In a market where reducing dependence on batteries is crucial, Atmosic Technologies stands out with BLE chips that consume up to 10 times less energy in active mode than other standard solutions. This extreme efficiency, combined with their solar energy harvesting technology, allows us to design connected devices that can operate almost autonomously and without recurring maintenance intervention.
I rate Atmosic Technologies a solid 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Their innovative approach to energy efficiency and energy harvesting is truly ahead of the market, perfectly addressing the most critical challenges of the Internet of Things. I am giving a 9 because the technology is of very high quality and brings major advances, but there is always room for future evolution, in particular to integrate an even broader range of energy sources or additional protocols, which would allow aiming for perfection over an even wider spectrum of applications.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
