Reducing the Carbon Footprint of IoT Devices.

Extending the active lifespan of the Internet of Things to build a more sustainable and circular economy.

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Our Vision

Sustainable Technology

The Hidden Environmental Cost of Our Smart World

The sleek, new gadget in your hand has a hidden environmental price tag, and it's far greater than you might think. We often focus on the energy our devices consume while they're on, but the vast majority of their carbon footprint is actually created before you ever press the power button. This "embodied carbon" is the result of mining raw materials, manufacturing components, and assembling the final product. With the number of active smart devices (or Internet of Things (IoT) devices) is expected to skyrocket to 30 billion by 2030, we're on a collision course with a tidal wave of electronic waste. Our culture of quick upgrades and short replacement cycles is a major culprit, turning yesterday's tech into today's trash. The IDEAL project is working to tackle this urgent issue, confronting the staggering environmental impact of our digital dependency head-on.

We envision a world where electronics are built to last. Our vision with the IDEAL project is to extend the lifetime of IoT devices from a few years to several decades.

This isn't just about making gadgets more durable; it's about a complete paradigm shift. We're forging a revolutionary combination of intelligent hardware that can predict and prevent its own failures, adaptive software that evolves with the device over time, and pioneering circular economy models that transform yesterday's technology into tomorrow's opportunities. By making devices last longer, we can drastically shrink their carbon footprint and pave the way for a truly sustainable digital future.

Societal Impact

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Environmental Sustainability

By extending device lifespans, we significantly reduce e-waste and the carbon emissions associated with manufacturing new devices. This directly contributes to a healthier planet and a more sustainable relationship with technology.

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Economic Innovation

IDEAL fosters new circular economy business models. Instead of a "produce and replace" cycle, we envision a future of "IoT-as-a-Service," where companies offer monitoring, adaptation, and repurposing services for long-lived devices, creating new markets and jobs.

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A Resilient Society

Our technology enables the repurposing of devices with reduced capabilities for new, suitable tasks. This creates a more resilient and resource-efficient infrastructure, ensuring that electronic resources are used to their fullest potential throughout their entire lifecycle.

How It Works

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1. On-Device Monitoring

We instrument integrated circuits with novel, ultra-low-power monitoring technology. This unobtrusive system continuously collects data on the device's health and performance without impacting its primary function.

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2. AI-Powered Diagnosis

The collected data is analysed by low-power Machine Learning nodes operating close to the device (at the "fog" or "edge"). This allows for the reliable and early detection of anomalies that indicate system degradation, long before a critical failure occurs.

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3. Self-Healing & Adaptation

Based on the diagnosis, the system determines the optimal strategy to address the issue. This can involve self-healing actions to mitigate faults or adapting the device's function to ensure its continued usefulness, effectively extending its active life and enabling future repurposing.

Our Multidisciplinary Team

The IDEAL project is a collaboration between leading researchers from the University of Essex, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Oxford. Our team brings together world-class expertise in hardware design, sustainable computing, formal methods, business models, and social sciences to tackle this complex challenge from every angle.

University of Essex University of Glasgow University of Oxford

Project Partners

This project is co-created and co-delivered with the support of 15 project partners from industry and research organisations, providing invaluable expertise, resources, and real-world case studies.

AMD Aquaterra Energy Codasip Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Njord Offshore Railscape Ltd Christie Group plc IG Doors Junari KOcycle CSIC JPL BAE Systems BT Wilkin & Sons Ltd.