Internet connectivity to battery-less devices

Surabhi 10:17 PM Gadgets No comments

Internet connectivity to battery-less devices!?

Soon we will be able to connect to the internet without using any batteries in their devices.
A new communication system in which radio signals are used as power source and which then reuses existing WI-Fi infrastructure to provide internet connectivity to the battery-less devices.This way communication was termed as 'Wi-Fi' back scatter.It was bought up by the engineers from the University of Washington.According to the engineers, this technology will play a major role in the concept of 'Internet of things'.

About:

As said by Mr.Shyam Gollakota, a University of Washington assistant professor of computer science and engineering,"If Internet of Things devices are going to take off, we must provide connectivity to the potentially billions of battery-free devices that will be embedded in everyday objects,”He also added “We now have the ability to enable Wi-Fi connectivity for devices while consuming orders of magnitude less power than what Wi-Fi typically requires.”

This new way of communication will be soon published at the he Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Data Communication‘s annual conference this month in Chicago. The team behind 'Wi-Fi' back scatter technology plans to set up a start up company on the same very soon.

Research and Development:

Wi-Fi back scatter is based on old research according to which low powered devices such as wearable devices or temperature sensors had the capability to run without batteries or cords.This was possible with the help of radio signals in the air.The new research has taken this old research to the next level by providing these devices with internet connectivity.

Challenges:

This technique had to face a set of challenges as providing Wi-Fi connectivity was not an easy task since it required a lot of power consumption.The engineers build an ultra-low power tag prototype that also consisted of an antenna and circuitry that helped Wi-Fi enabled devices to consume less power.Actually Wi-Fi signals moving between the router and the smartphone are looked by these tags.

This Wi-Fi back scatter can provide communication with a Wi-Fi device at a rate of 1kbps with about 2 meters of distance between the devices.The researchers are planning to extend the range to about 20 meters.They will also have patents filed on the technology.

Co-author Joshua Smith, a University of Washington associate professor of computer science and engineering and of electrical engineering said, “You might think, how could this possibly work when you have a low-power device making such a tiny change in the wireless signal? But the point is, if you’re looking for specific patterns, you can find it among all the other Wi-Fi reflections in an environment."

Thanks to back scatter, soon we will be able to access internet with the help of a wrist watch or any such wearable devices and that also without batteries!

If Internet of Things devices are going to take off, we must provide connectivity to the potentially billions of battery-free devices that will be embedded in everyday objects,” said Shyam Gollakota, a UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering. “We now have the ability to enable Wi-Fi connectivity for devices while consuming orders of magnitude less power than what Wi-Fi typically requires.” - See more at: http://www.digit.in/internet/wi-fi-backscatter-gives-internet-connectivity-to-battery-less-devices-23505.html#sthash.6NIPfo8O.dpuf

Internet connectivity to battery-less devices