EnABLES: European infrastructure powering the internet of things

The mission of EnABLES is to open up key research infrastructure in the Internet of Things (IoT) to all European researchers, from both academia and industry. Six research Institutes together with 5 knowledge hubs are providing access to researchers to enable them to create 'self-sustaining' energy solutions to 'power the internet of things' based on energy harvesting, storage, micro-power management and system integration activities. This paper provides an overview of the reasons why EnABLES is needed, particularly for enabling researchers address key challenges such as extending battery life of wireless IoT edge devices, and, where possible, eliminating the need for battery replacement. The ultimate goal of EnABLES is to create a 'starting community' to foster collaborations to address these challenges and opportunities & accelerate technology development. The 2 primary approaches used in EnABLES are outlined:(i) A transnational access (TA) and virtual access (VA) program open to all external stakeholders to do free-of-charge feasibility studies leveraging from the facilities and expertise of EnABLES partners. (ii) Joint Research Activities (JRAs) between partners. (Some examples of JRA activities are outlined at high level). Simulations and data libraries are retained in an open access repository with an emphasis on creating standardized and interoperable parts and understanding their system level behaviour. EnABLES also fosters internal collaboration between partners (JRAs) guided by needs and opportunities. A key goal of the project is to create standardised and interoperable libraries of parts & simulation tools for optimising system level performance.