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No-power Wi-Fi connectivity could fuel Internet of Things reality

Infrastructure-300x162UW News reports on UW’s WiFi Backscatter technology:

“Imagine a world in which your wristwatch or other wearable device communicates directly with your online profiles, storing information about your daily activities where you can best access it – all without requiring batteries. Or, battery-free sensors embedded around your home could track minute-by-minute temperature changes and send that information to your thermostat to help conserve energy …

“Now, University of Washington engineers have designed a new communication system that uses radio frequency signals as a power source and reuses existing Wi-Fi infrastructure to provide Internet connectivity to these devices. Called Wi-Fi Backscatter, this technology is the first that can connect battery-free devices to Wi-Fi infrastructure.”

Read the UW News release here. Read a related article in MIT Technology Review here. Visit the project website here.

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