Washington: In a first such demonstration, an Indian-origin researcher has developed a system that uses Wi-Fi internet signals to beam power to remote devices such as a surveillance camera.
Developed by doctoral student Vamsi Talla and colleagues at University of Washington in Seattle, the system is known as power-over-Wi-Fi.
The idea is simple in concept. Wi-Fi radio broadcasts are a form of energy that a simple antenna can pick up.
Until now, Wi-Fi receivers have all been designed to harvest the information that these broadcasts carry.
Mr Talla simply connected an antenna to a temperature sensor, placed it close to a Wi-Fi router and measured the resulting voltages in the device and for how long it can operate on the remote power source alone.
Even more ambitiously, the team also connected a camera to their antenna.
This was a low-power sensor capable of producing 174 x 144 pixel black and white images, which requires 10.4 milliJoules(mJ) of energy per picture.
To store energy, they attached a low leakage capacitor to the camera which activates when the capacitor is charged and continues operating until the voltage drops to 2.4 Volts.
The images were stored in a 64 KB random access memory (RAM). In the subsequent tests, the camera performed remarkably well.
"The battery-free camera can operate up to [about five metres from the router, with an image capture every 35 minutes," Mr Talla told MIT Technology Review.
By adding a rechargeable battery, he increased the distance to seven metres.
The router could even power the camera through a brick wall, demonstrating that it would be possible to attach the device outside while keeping the power supply inside.
"The technology would be hugely useful for surveillance, perhaps connected to a movement sensor to trigger the camera when something moves in its field of view," Mr Talla noted.
The team also connected their antenna to a Jawbone fitness tracker and used it to recharge the battery that powered it.
"Using this, we charge a Jawbone device in the vicinity of the power-over-Wi-Fi router from a no-charge state to 41 per cent charged state in 2.5 hours," the team pointed out.
According to the MIT report, power-over-Wi-Fi could be the enabling technology that finally brings the "Internet of Things" to life.
Developed by doctoral student Vamsi Talla and colleagues at University of Washington in Seattle, the system is known as power-over-Wi-Fi.
The idea is simple in concept. Wi-Fi radio broadcasts are a form of energy that a simple antenna can pick up.
Mr Talla simply connected an antenna to a temperature sensor, placed it close to a Wi-Fi router and measured the resulting voltages in the device and for how long it can operate on the remote power source alone.
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This was a low-power sensor capable of producing 174 x 144 pixel black and white images, which requires 10.4 milliJoules(mJ) of energy per picture.
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The images were stored in a 64 KB random access memory (RAM). In the subsequent tests, the camera performed remarkably well.
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By adding a rechargeable battery, he increased the distance to seven metres.
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"The technology would be hugely useful for surveillance, perhaps connected to a movement sensor to trigger the camera when something moves in its field of view," Mr Talla noted.
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"Using this, we charge a Jawbone device in the vicinity of the power-over-Wi-Fi router from a no-charge state to 41 per cent charged state in 2.5 hours," the team pointed out.
According to the MIT report, power-over-Wi-Fi could be the enabling technology that finally brings the "Internet of Things" to life.
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