Sense More.
Maintain Less.

AetherNode uses a battery-minimized architecture. The primary energy store is a supercapacitor-based buffer, which replaces the conventional battery as the central energy element. An auxiliary backup may be included in certain configurations, but it plays a secondary role — the node is designed to run on harvested energy, not scheduled battery replacements.

Solar energy is the primary source, captured through a panel integrated into the enclosure. A vibration-based energy harvesting module provides supplemental power — particularly useful in industrial environments with mechanical activity. Both sources feed into a shared power conditioning stage before reaching the supercapacitor buffer.

LoRa requires local gateway infrastructure, which adds cost and a potential single point of failure. A SIM module connects the node directly to the cellular network, enabling data transmission to the cloud backend from any location with mobile coverage — without any on-site gateway hardware. This simplifies deployment significantly and improves geographic flexibility.

The STM32 microcontroller continuously reads the supercapacitor voltage. This voltage level maps to one of four operational states: Harvest (conserve everything), Sense (activate priority sensors), Transmit (send collected data), or Protection (shut down non-critical functions to prevent damage). The transition thresholds are defined in firmware and the system responds in real time — there is no fixed schedule or timer-based activation.

The current platform integrates a temperature and humidity sensor, a vibration sensor, and a light intensity sensor. These cover the primary monitoring use cases. The Adaptive Sensor Priority system determines which sensors activate first depending on available energy — vibration and temperature are typically designated as high-priority for industrial deployments.

When no energy is being harvested, the node draws down its supercapacitor buffer. As voltage falls, the Energy State Engine progressively reduces activity — first suspending transmission, then pausing non-critical sensors, and finally entering Protection mode to prevent undervoltage damage. Data collected before the shutdown remains queued and is transmitted once energy recovers.

The backend monitoring dashboard is accessible via web browser on any device. A dedicated mobile application is under consideration for future development. It would surface node status, energy levels, sensor readings, and alert notifications — the same data visible in the backend, optimized for handheld use.