Yorkshire Water is testing a vibration energy-harvesting PMG7 microgenerator (now replaced by the PMG17) from Perpetuum — a research spinoff from Southampton University and based in Southampton Science Park, England. The trial is part of an R&D project at Yorkshire Water to optimise its facilities, in part by increasing the reliability of its equipment. The company has previously installed conventional hard-wired systems but is now testing wireless sensors from RLW Inc. using the PMG7 as a power source.

From the press release:

"Perpetuum’s PMG7 microgenerator is powering wireless sensor nodes developed by RLW Inc of State College, Pennsylvania. The sensors record and transmit vibration and temperature data using only the existing vibration of industrial equipment to power itself without the need for additional power supply."

RLW manufactures a range of distributed intelligent sensors, including the S2NAP®. The S2NAP® is what RLW call a "unique distributed intelligence module that can rapidly translate large streams of complex data into meaningful results". The unit is generally set-up to act as a web host for direct connection to the internet and has the ability to interface with virtually any standard software package. The S2NAP® accepts data from up to 8 high-bandwidth sensors and any number of low bandwidth sensors. It runs on either AC or DC power and transmits its output over 802.11b, cellular network or wired Ethernet.