# Department of Microelectronics

**Source**: https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/theme.php?id=53
**Parent**: https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/

**[Department of Microelectronics](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/)** 

[Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science](http://ewi.tudelft.nl)

# Autonomous sensor systems

**Contact:** [Karen Dowling](https://ei.tudelft.nl/People/bio.php?id=857)

Sensor systems are used for measuring, monitoring and control. Autonomous sensor systems are sensor systems in which distributed sensor nodes contain local signal and data pre-processing capabilities. Thus, self-testing, auto-calibration, filtering, data compression, etc., within sensor nodes without or with very limited external intervention is crucial. In many applications, wiring is not possible, unreliable or undesirable, which makes the powering of sensors a major issue and calls for ultra-low power electronics and smart design at all levels in the system.

In IoT applications, sensors operate in a network. Limited power resources favor power-efficient communications. Sensors can communicate only with neighboring nodes, creating a dynamic and complex network that relies on self-organizing and self-healing capabilities.

In biomedical applications, the sensors need to be miniaturized and packaged to be bio-compatible or implantable, as e.g. with smart (multi-modal) catheters or electroceuticals, which combine sensing, local data processing, and actuation.

In other applications (autonomous driving or flying enabled by a variety of radar sensors distributed over many nodes), the focus is on robustness and reliability in view of a very dynamic network, and optimal fusion of different sources of information. With TUE we collaborate on a program to realize a low-frequency radio telescope in space using a swarm of nano-satellites (OLFAR). Emerging technologies such as neuromorphic computing and structured data science are expected to play an important role in future.

## Projects under this theme

[### Sustainable Power Solution for Smart Bearings in Wind Turbine Generators

In this project, we develop energy harvesting devices and integrated circuits and systems for sensor rollers used in giant wind turbine generators.](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=249&ti=53)
[### AQUAFIND

Distributed localisation and formation control of drones](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=242&ti=53)
[### ShapeFuture

Robust inference and decision making for automated vehicles.](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=230&ti=53)
[### Model-driven decision lab

Data and model-driven decision making for the Dutch police](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=239&ti=53)
[### Towards robust perception of radar images

Machine learning and Signal Processing for radar systems
(digital radar, millimeter-wave radar), automotive sensors, and related applications](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=238&ti=53)
[### Reliable POwerDown for Industrial Drives

The pioneering EU research project R-PODID started on the 1st of September 2023. This KDT JU co-funded project aims to develop an automated, cloudless, short-term fault-prediction for electric drives, power modules, and power devices, that can be integrated into power converters.](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=221&ti=53)
[### Moonshot

Science, technology and Social solutions for Lunar missions](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=218&ti=53)
[### Signal processing for environment-aware radar

In future, cars will exploit multiple radars towards autonomous driving. Before this becomes a reality, several challenges will have to be solved.](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=204&ti=53)
[### AGRARSENSE](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=213&ti=53)
[### Sustainable and Miniature Power Solutions for Future Internet-of-Things](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=248&ti=53)
[### Odour Based Selective Recognition of Veterinary Diseases](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=202&ti=53)
[### Delft Sensor AI Lab

Bringing AI to sensor networks](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=190&ti=53)
[### Cooperative Relative Navigation of Multi-agent Systems

Develop algorithms for multi-target position, time and orientation tracking in a mobile network of multi-agent systems](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=191&ti=53)
[### Next-generation chip assembly processes

Developing technology for ultra-high throughput and sustainable chip assembly processes.](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=198&ti=53)
[### Compact modelling of high-tech systems for health management and optimization along the supply chain](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=180&ti=53)
[### In-vehicle health monitoring](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=166&ti=53)
[### Coded-Radar for Interference Suppression in Super-Dense Environments

CRUISE will address the challenges regarding spectrum crowding and ensures proper radar signal detection, accurate ranging, Doppler and azimuth measurements, and object classification in a highly-occupied frequency spectrum](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=152&ti=53)

## History

[### Automotive Intelligence for Connected Shared Mobility

Architectures for embedded
intelligence and functional virtualization for connected and shared mobility using trustworthy AI](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=186&ti=53)
[### Distributed Artificial Intelligent Systems

Running existing algorithms on vastly distributed edge devices](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=187&ti=53)
[### Challenging environments tolerant smart systems for IoT](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=163&ti=53)
[### Intelligent Reliability 4.0](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=167&ti=53)
[### Airborne data collection on resilient system architectures

Develop algorithms to realize efficient, robust, cost-effective perception and control for autonomous navigation of drones](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=160&ti=53)
[### Graphene Flagship core 3: Transferless graphene in sensing applications](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=165&ti=53)
[### Internet of Things (IoT) security through machine learning and data sharing](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=164&ti=53)
[### NewControl

Virtual platforms for perception and control in highly automated vehicles, based on safety by design](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=139&ti=53)
[### High Performance Vehicle Computer and Communication System for Autonomous Driving](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=150&ti=53)
[### Solid State Lighting reliability for automotive application](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=144&ti=53)
[### PIPP OLFAR: Breakthrough technologies for Interferometry in Space

Combine multiple satellites into one single scientific instrument: a radio telescope in space](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=124&ti=53)
[### Programmable Systems for Intelligence in Automobiles

(a) fail-operational sensor-fusion framework, (b) dependable embedded E/E architectures, (c) safety compliant integration of AI approaches for object recognition, scene understanding, and decision making](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=120&ti=53)
[### Monolithically integrated SiC sun sensor for Space](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=126&ti=53)
[### Task-cognizant sparse sensing for inference

Low-cost sparse sensing designed for specific tasks](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=101&ti=53)
[### Low-frequency distributed radio telescope in space

Below 15 MHz, the ionosphere blocks EM signals from the sky. Therefore, can we design a radio telescope in space, using a swarm of inexpensive nano-satellites? Accurate localization and clock recovery is important.](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/Research/project.php?id=5&ti=53)

### News

[#### "Interferometry in space" project granted

NWO-PIPP grant for Raj Rajan

More ...](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/News/indexitem.php?mi=734)

[#### Record presence for the department at ISSCC 2026

At this year’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) - the world’s leading conference on chip design (the Chip Olympics), TU Delft presented a record 14 papers and 1 forum talk, out of a total of 39 accepted EU papers.

More ...](https://microelectronics.tudelft.nl/News/indexitem.php?mi=733)