On this page you will find information about the optional battery data analysis using the RWTHapp for battery research projects at ISEA.

 

Important

No personal or location data is stored. The data is purely technical and battery-related and is processed using a device-specific data ID.

This feature is only available in the Android version of the RWTHapp.

• How does the battery data analysis work?
• How does the analysis help users?
• How does the data contribute to research?
• Participation & deactivation

How does the battery data analysis work?

With the new feature, you allow the RWTHapp to read technical battery data from your smartphone and transmit it to ISEA in pseudonymized form. This includes, for example:

• State of charge and capacity
• Battery voltage, current, and temperature
• Number of charge cycles as well as the battery’s status and state of health
• Device type, manufacturer, and operating system

The app collects the battery data in the background and transmits it at regular intervals to servers of RWTH Aachen University.
After a successful upload, the locally stored battery data on your device is deleted.

• The upload volume is small: about 2 MB per month.
• This has only minimal impact on your device’s battery life.
   

How does the analysis help users?

Using the collected data, researchers at ISEA can train aging models for batteries. The goal is to better predict the lifetime of smartphone batteries based on real usage. For you, this means:

• You can better estimate when a battery replacement or device change is worthwhile.
• In the future, work is being done to show you individualized forecasts of your device’s battery aging in the RWTHapp.
• If you later want to write a research thesis using real data, you will benefit from the datasets.
   

How does the data contribute to research?

Your pseudonymized battery data helps the RWTH battery community and international researchers develop and improve battery models based on real application data. The processed datasets are published scientifically and made accessible to the community. You can find more information about the research project on the Center for Ageing, Reliability and Lifetime Prediction of Electrochemical and Power Electronic Systems (CARL) website or on RWTH Publications.
 

Participation & deactivation

You can find the option directly in the RWTHapp settings (from version 2.51.0):

1. Open the RWTHapp.
2. Tap Menu in the navigation bar.
3. Tap the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen.
4. Under Research data projects, tap Battery data.
5. Scroll down. At the end of the page, select the button Grant access to battery data.
6. Please disable battery optimization for the RWTHapp so that the app can collect data in the background.

Depending on your device, additional settings may be necessary. You can find guidance in the app and on the website Don't Kill My App!.

You can disable access to your battery data at any time in the app. To do so, follow the instructions above. In step 5, the button Revoke access to battery data will be shown.