Project RoMulus
Systematic design and economical manufacture for intelligent multi-sensor systems in small quantities
Experts from research and industrial settings have explored new technologies and design methods which will support production of systems combining multiple sensors and offering robustness and energy-efficiency. Without such systems, status monitoring and quality assurance are unthinkable for digitised production processes. With them, the trail is blazed for Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution. A further aim of the current work was to achieve systematic design and economical manufacture for these systems.
UHF RFID chip for battery-free operation of commercial sensors in I4.0 applications
IMMS has developed an energy-efficient UHF RFID transponder chip which enables different types of commercially available digital I2C sensors requiring varied power levels to be operated on a passive basis. In this case, the chip is equipped with a flexible on-chip I2C master and a power management unit which can be individually configured. The developed chip requires no maintenance or power supply and can therefore be easily integrated into various products, machines and objects in a wide variety of application scenarios for sensor data acquisition. Such an RFID transponder IC was previously not available. More detail can be found in this annual report article on RFID.
Tool for efficient design of 3D MEMS acceleration sensors
Furthermore, IMMS has developed further the design tool from the MEMS2015 project for 1-dimensional acceleration sensors to achieve for multi-dimensional acceleration sensors a tool for automated sensor design and largely automated layout design. First, the original tool was laid out for use in house to design 3-dimensional acceleration sensors which would extend the functionality of TPMS (tyre-pressure-monitoring systems). More detail can be found in this annual report article on MEMS.
Acronym / Name:
RoMulus / UHF RFID chip for battery-free operation of commercial sensors in I4.0 applications and systematic design of multi-sensor systemsDuration:2015 – 2018
Project website:RoMulus
Application:
Automation technology and Industry 4.0Research field:Integrated sensor systems
Related content
Reference
Sylvo Jäger, microsensys GmbH
“For a number of years now, we have been appreciative of our cooperation with IMMS. The Institute is for us an innovative technological partner in our own geographical area, capable of supporting us not only in implementing various development tasks in the ASIC design field but also of coordinating joint projects which benefit from industrial and public subsidy.”

Modeling and Optimization of Supply Sensitivity for a Time-Domain Temperature Sensor
Jun Tan1.2021 17th International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods and Applications to Circuit Design (SMACD), Proceedings in: 423 Seiten, 140 x 124 mm, Slimlinebox, CD-Rom, ISBN 978-3-8007-5588-2, E-Book: ISBN 978-3-8007-5589-9, ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9547935, 19 - 22 July 2021, Erfurt, Germany, online
1IMMS Institut für Mikroelektronik- und Mechatronik-Systeme gemeinnützige GmbH, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany.Entwurf, Evaluierung und Optimierung von HF- und UHF-RFID-Sensorsystemen
Björn Bieske1. Tom Reinhold1. Jun Tan1.Analog 2020, 17. ITG/GMM-Fachtagung, Analoge Schaltungen: Schlüsselsysteme für Automotive, IoT und zukünftige drahtlose Technologien, 28-30 September 2020, online
1IMMS Institut für Mikroelektronik- und Mechatronik-Systeme gemeinnützige GmbH, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany.Flexible PXI-Plattform für Evaluierung und Test von HF- und UHF-RFID-Sensorsystemen
Björn Bieske1. Tom Reinhold1. Jun Tan1.32. GI/GMM/ITG-Workshop Testmethoden und Zuverlässigkeit von Schaltungen und Systemen (TuZ 2020), 16. - 18. Februar 2020, Ludwigsburg, Germany
1IMMS Institut für Mikroelektronik- und Mechatronik-Systeme gemeinnützige GmbH, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany.UHF-RFID-Chip zum batterielosen Betrieb kommerzieller Sensoren für I4.0-Anwendungen
Muralikrishna Sathyamurthy1.Markt&Technik, Ausgabe 07/2020, 14. Februar 2020, Seite 40-42
1IMMS Institut für Mikroelektronik- und Mechatronik-Systeme gemeinnützige GmbH, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany.

Event,
CiS Workshop 2023
Workshop Simulation & Design 2023 at CiS Forschungsinstitut für Mikrosensorik

Event,
Analog 2020
Zwei Vorträge auf der 17. ITG/GMM-Fachtagung Analog 2020, Analoge Schaltungen: Schlüsselsysteme für Automotive, IoT und zukünftige drahtlose Technologien

Event,
TuZ 2020
32. GI/GMM/ITG-Workshop Testmethoden und Zuverlässigkeit von Schaltungen und Systemen

Event,
elmug4future 2019
Two presentations at the Technology Conference on Condition, Health and Quality Monitoring – Sensors, Methods and Applications

Press release,
Energieeffizienz für serielle Inter-Chip-Kommunikation mit kommerziellen drahtlosen Sensoren
iENA-Silbermedaille für Latch-basierten aktiven Ultra-Low-Power-Pull-Up-Emulator

Press release,
Highly accurate and battery-free measurement via RFID
IMMS PhD candidate defends dissertation on precise passive RFID sensor technology

Press release,
Best Paper Award Runner-Up for MEMS-ASIC-Gesamtdesignmethodik
Implemented acceleration sensor to validate the novel method

Press release,
RoMulus research project: Intelligent sensor systems for Industry 4.0
Reducing development and manufacturing costs
Contact
Contact
Eric Schäfer, M. Sc.
Head of Microelectronics / Branch Office Erfurt
eric.schaefer(at)imms.de+49 (0) 361 663 25 35
Eric Schäfer and his team research Integrated sensor systems, especially CMOS-based biosensors, ULP sensor systems and AI-based design and test automation. The results are being incorporated into research on the lead applications Sensor systems for in-vitro diagnostics and RFID sensor technology. It will assist you with services for the development of Integrated circuits and with IC design methods.
Funding
The RoMulus project has been supported within the Research Programme ICT 2020 by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the reference 16ES0362.