Some battlefield sensors that used to run out of power in months (if not weeks) can now keep providing valuable intelligence for up to four years before their coin batteries need to be replaced. That’s one of the more dramatic results of DARPA’s Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operations (N-ZERO) program, which concluded in May 2020.

DARPA began the initiative in 2015 with a goal of finding ways around the lifetime limitations of IoT battery power so that sensors could be deployed in the field to detect events like vibration, light, sound, or other battlefield signals without having to be frequently replaced.

Battery lifetimes can now be extended by using sensors that only wake up to record a triggering event, such as a sound, or to periodically (instead of continuously) monitor a battlefield or other concern, said DARPA.

Troops are now able to gather intelligence without having to venture into a potential combat zone themselves. They also have the reassurance that they would be moving into hazardous areas far less often to replace “battery-dead” sensors.