Power, and wi-fi, from thin air - The Hindu

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Technology Internet
Power, and wi-fi, from thin air
PTI

Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have designed a system that uses radio signals as a power source to
low-power devices and existing wi-fi infrastructure to provide Internet connectivity to these devices.
Called wi-fi backscatter, the technology developed by University of Washington engineers.
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.
The work builds upon previous research that showed how low-powered devices such as temperature sensors or
wearable technology could run without batteries by harnessing energy from radio, TV and wireless signals.
This work takes that a step further by connecting each individual device to the Internet, which previously wasnt
possible.
They encode data by either reflecting or not reflecting a wi-fi routers signals, slightly changing the wireless signal
which can be detected by laptops and smartphones.
Keywords: Wi-fi backscatter, Internet connectivity, wi-fi infrastructure,
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12/5/2014 5:44 AM