HaiLa Technologies and e-peas Semiconductor Showcase First Battery-free, Wi-Fi-based Extreme-low-power Backscatter Chip Powered by Ambient Light

HaiLa Technologies Inc., a fabless semiconductor and software company focusing on hyper power-efficient wireless communications system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for IoT devices, and e-peas Semiconductor, an industry-leading provider of energy harvesting and processing solutions, have collaborated to show the path to extreme long-life energy storage for Wi-Fi connected wireless sensors. Solutions based on extreme low-power RF and highly efficient power management ICs fulfill a key requirement across multiple applications to reduce and eliminate reliance on standard batteries, both to mitigate sensor network operating costs and environmental waste.

The HaiLa BSC2000 RF Evaluation Chip is the first monolithic analog and digital implementation of HaiLa's passive backscatter technology adapted to Wi-Fi RF bands. Supporting an SPI interface, the chip brings seamless connectivity to a wide range of IoT devices, such as multi-channel temperature and humidity sensors, that offers a new paradigm in low-power wireless communications. In addition to reducing and eliminating disposable batteries, through repurposing existing Wi-Fi infrastructure HaiLa's technology paves the way for brownfield sensor deployments, further driving down costs.

Part of the Ambient Energy Managers (AEM) portfolio, the e-peas AEM10941 is an integrated energy management circuit that extracts DC power from up to 7 photovoltaic cell elements to simultaneously store energy in a rechargeable element and supply the system with two independent regulated voltages. AEM10941 PMIC for photovoltaic energy harvester allows battery lifetime extension and ultimately eliminates the disposable battery energy storage element in a large range of wireless applications.

"Leveraging the e-peas team's deep expertise in PMICs, we've been able to demonstrate an energy-harvested power source for Wi-Fi-based sensor connectivity," said Patricia Bower, VP Product Management, HaiLa Technologies, Inc. "This is a critical step forward towards HaiLa's mission to enable sustainable scaling of IoT on Wi-Fi and we're excited to show the joint solution at Sensors Converge."

"The close collaboration with HaiLa's team to showcase the power of our combined technologies demonstrates new possibilities to run autonomous Wi-Fi devices free of disposable battery and maintenance requirements," said Christian Ferrier, Chief Marketing Officer, e-peas S.A. "We're excited to contribute of the new era of new Wi-Fi devices powered by energy harvesting."

HaiLa's passive backscatter foundational technology is protocol-agnostic. As the most common wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in residential, enterprise and industrial environments globally, HaiLa has focused its first adaptation on Wi-Fi as a key infrastructure enabler for IoT deployments.

Visit HaiLa at Sensors Converge, Santa Clara Convention Center, booth 738, June 25 - 26.

About HaiLa Technologies Inc.
Founded in 2019 in Montreal, Canada, HaiLa is a fabless semiconductor and software company developing low power multi-protocol (like Wi-Fi) radio communication for IoT devices. Originally conceptualized at Stanford University, HaiLa is focusing on scaling IoT sustainably by using complementary methods to the way data is received and transmitted, removing the need for battery maintenance, and leveraging existing wireless infrastructures. Customers and partners are focused on the smart home and building automation spaces, along with consumer electronics, mobile, industrial, transportation, medical, and agriculture markets.

HaiLa has raised USD$16.8 million in funding, including non-dilutive financing from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and TechnoClimat Quebec. For more information, visit: https://www.haila.io/.

About e-peas
E-peas develops and markets disruptive ultra-low power semiconductor technology. This enables industrial and IoT wireless product designers to substantially extend battery lifespans and eliminate the heavy call-out costs of replacing batteries, without in any way compromising on reliability. Relying on 15 years of research and patented intellectual property, the company's products increase the amount of harvested energy and drastically reduce the energy consumption of all power consuming blocks within wireless sensor nodes. Headquartered in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, with additional offices in Switzerland and the USA, e-peas offers a portfolio of energy harvesting power management interface ICs, microcontrollers, and sensor solutions.