KOTENSE Project Battery-Free Wireless Sensor Solutions with Multi-Protocol Communication
About the Project
KOTENSE (Estudio tecnológico de soluciones inalámbricas sin batería con diferentes protocolos de comunicación) is an R&D project led by Kliskatek aimed at developing the next generation of battery-free wireless sensor nodes for industrial IoT applications.
The project addresses one of the most critical challenges in the massive deployment of IoT sensors: the dependency on batteries, which limits scalability, increases maintenance costs, and generates electronic waste. KOTENSE investigates how to overcome these limitations by combining optimized RF energy harvesting with advanced communication protocols.
The Challenge
The Industry 4.0 transformation demands millions of connected sensors across factories, infrastructure, transportation, and urban environments. However, current battery-powered solutions create a bottleneck: battery replacement in hard-to-reach locations is expensive, time-consuming, and unsustainable. Existing battery-free alternatives based on UHF RFID, while promising, still face significant constraints in communication range, speed, flexibility, and reader cost.
Our Approach
KOTENSE builds on Kliskatek’s prior work in hybrid RFID-BLE architectures to develop two new battery-free sensor nodes:
BLE_RF — A battery-free sensor node that uses a custom-designed discrete RF energy harvester combined with Bluetooth Low Energy for data transmission. By eliminating the traditional RFID downlink and relying solely on an RF continuous wave for energy harvesting, BLE_RF extends the communication range beyond current commercial RFID transceiver limitations while enabling the use of low-cost Bluetooth readers.
I40_RF — A battery-free sensor node featuring an alternative communication protocol specifically optimized for Industry 4.0 use cases where Bluetooth may not be the optimal choice, addressing requirements such as enhanced security, noise robustness, or lower latency in demanding industrial environments.
Key Innovation Areas
Discrete RF Energy Harvester Design — We are researching and developing optimized discrete RF harvesting topologies that free us from the limitations and scarcity of commercial RFID transceiver chips, enabling greater design flexibility and extended range.
Energy-First Design Methodology — Unlike conventional low-power design approaches that focus on power consumption, KOTENSE develops a novel energy-oriented methodology that optimizes the total energy budget of the sensor node, leading to more efficient designs for energy-constrained systems.
Antenna Optimization for Industrial Environments — We evaluate and characterize different antenna topologies to identify the best configurations for real industrial settings, considering gain, input impedance, and bandwidth as key parameters for harvester co-design.
Multi-Protocol Communication — Beyond Bluetooth, KOTENSE explores alternative communication protocols that better serve specific industrial requirements, always with energy consumption as the differentiating factor.
Target Applications
KOTENSE technology is being developed with a focus on industrial scenarios where battery replacement is costly or impractical. Key application areas include real-time temperature monitoring of busbars in electrical switchgear to prevent overheating and arc flash incidents, predictive maintenance of rotating machinery and industrial equipment, structural health monitoring of bridges, tunnels, and critical infrastructure, tire pressure and temperature monitoring in mobility and transportation, and smart grid fault detection in energy distribution networks.
Project Data
Project title: Estudio tecnológico de soluciones inalámbricas sin batería con diferentes protocolos de comunicación.
Acronym: KOTENSE
Reference: ZL-2025/00844
Led by: Kliskatek S.L.
Duration: 2025
RIS3 Priority: Industria Inteligente (Smart Industry)
Key technologies: Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Nanotechnology
Scientific Dissemination
The results of this project are being disseminated through scientific publications, international conferences, and Kliskatek’s digital communication channels. Notable activities include the organization and participation in the workshop “Wireless and Batteryless Sensors: Towards AIoT” at the IEEE SENSORS 2025 conference in Vancouver (Canada), an invited talk at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Forum on Urban Intelligence and Industrial Innovation in Macao (China), and the submission of a scientific paper to the IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification.
Funding
This project is funded by the HAZITEK 2025 programme of the Basque Government, as part of its support for business R&D projects aligned with the Basque Country’s Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (PCTI 2030).
Proiektu hau Eusko Jaurlaritzaren HAZITEK 2025 programak finantzatzen du, Euskadiko Espezializazio Adimendunaren Estrategiarekin (RIS3) eta Zientzia, Teknologia eta Berrikuntzaren Planarekin (ZTBP 2030) lerrokatutako enpresa I+G proiektuak babesteko.
Este proyecto está financiado por el programa HAZITEK 2025 del Gobierno Vasco, en el marco del apoyo a proyectos de I+D empresarial alineados con la Estrategia de Especialización Inteligente de Euskadi (RIS3) y el Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (PCTI 2030).
