Everactive Awarded Additional Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Contract, This Time to Identify the Next Batteryless Sensing IoT Applications for U.S. Air Force
1,200 of the Company’s Continuous Steam Trap Monitoring and Machine Health Monitoring Sensors Already Deployed at Hill Air Force Base
Everactive, a technology company that sells category-defining batteryless, wireless Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, announced today it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract through AFWERX, the U.S. Air Force technology accelerator, to identify additional batteryless sensing applications for the U.S. Air Force.
The company is currently performing on a Phase II SBIR contract, validating its batteryless Steam Trap Monitoring and Machine Health Monitoring systems at Hill Air Force base. Everactive has already deployed its sensors to continuously monitor 650 steam traps and 550 rotating machines throughout the base, which covers one million acres with 1,700 facilities.
Building on the success of that contract, the company has entered a new Phase I SBIR contract to identify additional use cases, beyond steam traps and rotating machines, that will benefit from its batteryless technology, and where a compelling ROI can be demonstrated. Phase I represents this discovery process; Phase II would fund the development of the newly identified applications and their demonstration at an Air Force Base.
For depots like Hill, the Air Force is investing heavily in IoT technologies to provide better ways to manage systems and to orchestrate the data. But, with a base the size of Hill, there is still a lot of machinery and infrastructure that does not have any data collection capabilities. To add battery-powered devices to monitor those assets would defeat the purpose, simply adding a new maintenance event: replacing sensor batteries.
Everactive sensors, though, are powered exclusively through low levels of harvested energy, eliminating batteries completely. The wireless sensors transmit data continuously up to 250 meters to Everactive’s IoT gateways, and then onto the cloud, where the company analyzes the data to provide actionable insights to maintenance and reliability professionals.
“Without technology like Everactive, maintenance personnel must manually inspect systems, which is time intensive and may not occur often enough to identify issues prior to failure,” said Nickolas King, Base Energy Manager at Hill AFB. “Everactive’s ability to deliver real time monitoring and insights through a batteryless solution is compelling as it eliminates the maintenance and disposal of the batteries that would otherwise be required for a full scale deployment.”
“It is an honor to have been selected as part of the SBIR program, and especially the opportunity to continue with the U.S. Air Force to develop new, valuable applications using our batteryless technology,” said John Greenfield, Vice President of Business Development and Partnership at Everactive. “We believe our batteryless technology can provide the U.S. Air Force and other Department of Defense branches with significant cost savings, efficiency and valuable insights across maintenance processes and we are confident our technology will show that at the completion of the SBIR contracts.”
For more information about Everactive’s batteryless solutions, visit https://everactive.com/.
About Everactive
Everactive produces data intelligence for the physical world. Operating without batteries, the company’s always-on wireless sensors deliver continuous cloud-based analytics at a scale not possible with battery-powered devices. Everactive’s end-to-end solutions are built upon groundbreaking advances in ultra-low-power circuit design and wireless communication that allow it to power its Eversensors exclusively from harvested energy. The company has developed the required networking and cloud software to deliver an out-of-the-box service focused on providing high-value insights from newly generated and self-sustaining data streams. For more information, please visit: www.everactive.com.