Murata has launched a new battery unit for wireless sensor nodes powered by energy harvesting technologies, called the UMAL and UMAC. The cylindrical UMAC was first revealed last year, but the flatter UMAL has been targeted at devices needing thinner designs. With the new batteries, Murata is aiming to supply developers looking for IoT designs that can harness sources of energy in their surrounding environment to operate. The quick charge times and long storage capabilities mean that devices using such batteries would be able to turn kinetic, solar, or RF energy into battery reserves, to enable more powerful or higher levels of wireless communication than a pure-battery solution. The IoT end-nodes require a remote means of gathering energy, either as…