Microsystems play an important role in the Internet of Things (IoT). In many unattended IoT applications, microsystems with small size, lightweight, and long life are urgently needed to achieve covert, large-scale, and long-term distribution for target detection and recognition. This paper presents for the first time a low-power, long-life microsystem that integrates self-power supply, event wake-up, continuous vibration sensing, and target recognition. The microsystem is mainly used for unattended long-term target perception and recognition. A composite energy source of solar energy and battery is designed to achieve self-powering. The microsystem’s sensing module, circuit module, signal processing module, and transceiver module are optimized to further realize the small size and low-power consumption. A low-computational recognition algorithm based on support vector machine learning is designed and ported into the microsystem. Taking the pedestrian, wheeled vehicle, and tracked vehicle as targets, the proposed microsystem of 15 cm3 and 35 g successfully realizes target recognitions both indoors and outdoors with an accuracy rate of over 84% and 65%, respectively. Self-powering of the microsystem is up to 22.7 mW under the midday sunlight, and 11 min self-powering can maintain 24 h operation of the microsystem in sleep mode.

Sensor nodes are critical components of the Internet of Things (IoT). Traditional IoT sensor nodes are typically powered by disposable batteries, making it difficult to meet the requirements for long lifetime, miniaturization, and zero maintenance. Hybrid energy systems that integrate energy harvesting, storage, and management are expected to provide a new power source for IoT sensor nodes. This research describes an integrated cube-shaped photovoltaic (PV) and thermal hybrid energy-harvesting system that can be utilized to power IoT sensor nodes with active RFID tags. The indoor light energy was harvested using 5-sided PV cells, which could generate 3 times more energy than most current studies using single-sided PV cells. In addition, two vertically stacked thermoelectrical generators (TEG) with a heat sink were utilized to harvest thermal energy. Compared to one TEG, the harvested power was improved by more than 219.48%. In addition, an energy management module with a semi-active configuration was designed to manage the energy stored by the Li-ion battery and supercapacitor (SC). Finally, the system was integrated into a 44 mm × 44 mm × 40 mm cube. The experimental results showed that the system was able to generate a power output of 192.48 µW using indoor ambient light and the heat from a computer adapter. Furthermore, the system was capable of providing stable and continuous power for an IoT sensor node used for monitoring indoor temperature over a prolonged period.

Wireless acoustic sensor networks (WASNs) and intelligent microsystems are crucial components of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. In various IoT applications, small, lightweight, and low-power microsystems are essential to enable autonomous edge computing and networked cooperative work. This study presents an innovative intelligent microsystem with wireless networking capabilities, sound sensing, and sound event recognition. The microsystem is designed with optimized sensing, energy supply, processing, and transceiver modules to achieve small size and low power consumption. Additionally, a low-computational sound event recognition algorithm based on a Convolutional Neural Network has been designed and integrated into the microsystem. Multiple microsystems are connected using low-power Bluetooth Mesh wireless networking technology to form a meshed WASN, which is easily accessible, flexible to expand, and straightforward to manage with smartphones. The microsystem is 7.36 cm3 in size and weighs 8 g without housing. The microsystem can accurately recognize sound events in both trained and untrained data tests, achieving an average accuracy of over 92.50% for alarm sounds above 70 dB and water flow sounds above 55 dB. The microsystems can communicate wirelessly with a direct range of 5 m. It can be applied in the field of home IoT and border security.

A low-g triggered micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) resonant acceleration switch is designed, fabricated and tested in this paper for near-zero power wake-up applications. The switch is actuated by ambient low-g vibration, consuming zero power while waiting for vibration at its resonant frequency. A cantilever beam and proof mass structure is adopted in the switch. The patterns of spiral cantilever beams are designed for low resonant frequency and threshold. Once the vibration with resonant frequency exceeds the acceleration threshold of the switch, the movable electrode becomes sufficiently displaced to contact the fixed electrodes and causes them to trigger. The dynamic responses of the switch are tested on a piezoelectric stack. The experimental results show that the switch closes under vibration at a frequency as low as 39.3 Hz and at an acceleration threshold of 0.074 g. A wake-up sensor node connected to the switch can awaken when the switch is under vibration as an intended characteristics.