Name in original language
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Initiative overview
CONNECT, a leading research centre, focuses on addressing key challenges in edge computing, especially within its Sustainable Internet of Things (IoT) research area. As IoT devices become increasingly common in everyday life—used in homes, cities, industries, and agriculture—they often operate in environments where energy supply is limited and connectivity can be unreliable. This creates a pressing need for smarter, more energy-efficient, and adaptable technologies that can work independently at the edge of the network without constant human intervention or connection to centralized data centres.
One of the main objectives of CONNECT’s research is to develop devices that are completely energy autonomous, meaning they can harvest and store energy from their surroundings and manage power intelligently to last for their entire operational lifetime. This involves creating advanced power-management algorithms that help devices use energy efficiently and avoid wasting power. Additionally, CONNECT works on building efficient communication protocols and networking methods to connect these edge devices reliably to broader networks, even in challenging conditions where bandwidth or connectivity may be limited.
The research also focuses on designing highly flexible and reconfigurable devices. These devices use low-power hardware platforms combined with software that can be easily updated or changed, allowing them to adapt to different tasks or environments over time without requiring physical changes. This flexibility is critical to support the wide variety of IoT applications and to extend the usefulness and sustainability of the devices.
