About the project

The project SENSORAÏM, aims to improve quality, efficiency and sustainability in viticulture by providing key data in real time across the whole vineyard, with autonomous sensors based on organic thermoelectric generator technology.

In a first step, temperature and humidity will be monitored by installing a network of distributed autonomous wireless sensors that communicate with a central server, and from there with the cloud and an application on the mobile phone of the winegrower. These data will help to prevent the effects of frost and drought, as well as to fine-tune the drop on demand watering of plants at the different regions of the vineyard, and obtain data to help preventing plagues. In a second phase, other parameters might be monitored, such as ground pH or nutrients as relevant parameters that will enable the implementation of real-time smart irrigation systems. 

The power autonomy of the sensor is achieved thanks to our unique generators. Throughout the past three years, we have developed a patented organic thermoelectric generator technology, a device that uses small temperature differences in the environment to generate enough power to supply simple sensors. Compared to traditionally used batteries, our solution is more environmentally friendly as it does not involve toxic elements, while also being cheaper in the long run, since our generators do not require maintenance.

The project, granted with 97,287.10 €, is led by Mariano Campoy-Quiles from the Nanostructured Materials for Optoelectronics and Energy Generation (NANOPTO) group, and counts with the participation of Bernhard Dörling, postdoc researcher at the NANOPTO group working in organic thermoelectrics.

The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) of the European Union, in the framework of the Operative Programme FEDER of Catalunya 2014-2020, by Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) and Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya.