IoT Product Engineering for Commercial Deployment: Smart Lock Power Optimisation and Embedded Systems Development
Introduction: The Challenge of Extending Battery Life in Commercial IoT
A battery-operated hostel lock originally delivered only 15 days of backup. Short battery life, driven by motor inefficiency, high development-board draw, and suboptimal sleep strategies, made the solution commercially unviable. The client required a 15 week target, necessitating extensive IoT product engineering and a system-level power audit.
Solution Overview: System-Level Optimization of Actuator and Power
EurthTech audited the lock's system and identified three key efficiency levers: actuator choice, power conversion, and system idle draw. The redesign targeted a 15 week life by replacing the high-draw motor with a low-current solenoid actuator and replacing linear regulation with a high-efficiency buck converter. This systematic approach is a core part of developing reliable Edge AI embedded systems.
Technical Implementation: Embedded Systems Development and Firmware
Our embedded systems development included redesigning the control PCB to remove dev - board overhead and enable deep-sleep modes with wake - on - BLE. We tuned switching thresholds and implemented low-power driver firmware with a stateful wake/sleep strategy. The combined hardware and firmware changes dramatically reduced the system's quiescent current, proving that modest hardware changes and system-level power audits yield far greater gains than incremental firmware micro-optimizations.
Results & Impact: Operational ROI and Maintenance Reduction
The combined hardware and firmware optimisations successfully extended the expected battery life beyond the 15 week target under 10 uses/day — a >7-fold increase in uptime. This dramatically reduced the frequency of battery swap maintenance, improved operational ROI, and made the solution viable for large-scale smart infrastructure solution deployment in hostels and commercial properties.
Scalability & GIS Context: Deliverables included a revised schematic, PCB layout, firmware with power regression tests, and a maintenance plan. Ensuring the reliability and low-maintenance operation of geographically distributed assets like smart locks is critical for large portfolios, aligning with the Predictive maintenance AI IoT approach and the asset management systems of a smart city solutions provider.