Muhammad Sarmad Mir, PhD Student at IMDEA Networks and one of the authors of the scientific paper “PassiveLiFi: Rethinking LiFi for Low-Power and Long Range RF Backscatter”
A research team of IMDEA Networks Institute has introduced Internet of Things (IoT) devices that communicate without any batteries and harvest energy and receive data through visible light
A team of researchers, led by Domenico Giustiniano, Research Associate Professor at IMDEA Networks Institute, Madrid, has presented important advances in the creation of sustainable wireless communication systems. This represents a new step towards making battery-free devices a reality, through the convergence of two emerging technologies: LiFi and radio frequency (RF) backscatter. Potential applications include smart homes, smart cities, and smart agriculture.
It is expected that more than 64 billion IoT devices will be deployed by 2025, and they will work with batteries. The chemical components of these batteries threaten to have a huge environmental impact on the Earth. There is a pressing need to find a solution for removing the batteries without affecting communication performance and IoT services.
IMDEA researchers propose that IoT devices will operate with the energy provided by Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and any other light source, and data provided by modulating these LEDs, a concept called LiFi, and that IoT devices will send data back by reflecting and modulating the RF coming signals already present in the environment, a passive and low-energy transmission technique called RF backscatter.
“Our work opens the door to long-range, battery-free Internet of Things applications retrofitting lighting infrastructure for communication, something that was not previously possible to achieve. It’s the result of three years of research; when we started, LiFi technology and RF backscattering were considered independent technologies, and we have shown that LiFi can solve the limitations of RF backscatter, and that LiFi can be applied to a new field, battery-free communication” says Dr. Giustiniano. The IMDEA Networks team (formed by Domenico Giustiniano, Borja Genovés Guzmán, and Muhammad Sarmad Mir) has enjoyed the collaboration of Dr. Ambuj Varshney (Uppsala University, and soon to be Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore).
“Solar cells have been widely used to harvest energy. In this work, we go a step further and demonstrate that they can be used efficiently and simultaneously as both a source of power harvesting and as a communications receiver. Our solution solves the trade-off between the captured energy required by the IoT device and the desired data rate, allowing our system to operate without using batteries,” says Borja Genovés Guzmán, Post-Doc Researcher at IMDEA Networks and one of the co-authors of the scientific paper.
The research (PassiveLiFi: Rethinking LiFi for Low-Power and Long Range RF Backscatter), which has demonstrated that power-constrained IoT devices can reach very long-range transmission without affecting their power consumption, will be presented at the prestigious international conference ACM MobiCom 2021.
Original Article: Wireless communication devices without batteries? Research and sustainability, united through light
More from: IMDEA Networks Institute | Uppsala University
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Sustainable wireless communication
- It's Time to Buy AT&T Stock Hand Over Fist
AT&T produced $3.1 billion in free cash flow during Q1, and it maintained its guidance calling for between $17 billion and $18 billion in free cash flow for the full year. With the stock trading for ...
- 10 Things That Make The Tesla Semi Truck Better Than Traditional Long-Haul Trucks
The Tesla Semi has certainly drawn its fair share of attention, but is it warranted? And could it be the death of traditional long-haul trucks?
- Charter Communications Inc (CHTR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript Highlights: Navigating ...
Internet Customer Loss: Lost 72,000 Internet customers in Q1. Mobile Line Additions: Added 486,000 mobile lines in Q1. Revenue: Flat quarter-over-quarter. Adjusted EBITDA Growth: Increased by 2.8%.
- The Week in Impact Investing: ImpactAlpha’s First Decade
TGIF, Agents of Impact! Read on for co-founder Zuleyma Bebell’s reflections on ImpactAlpha’s 10-year anniversary. In today’s brief: 🗣 Raise a glass. In ...
- Radome Market Set to Surpass US$ 15.1 billion Valuation by 2034
Growth in Wireless Communication: The ever-increasing demand for mobile data, 5G network rollout, and expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) fuels the need for reliable and protected antenna ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Sustainable wireless communication
[google_news title=”” keyword=”sustainable wireless communication” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Battery-free communication
- Sony Ult Wear Headphones review: A love letter to bass lovers
The Sony Ult Wear Headphones are tuned to deliver heavy bass. Beneath the thump, you'll find a comfortable pair of cans with a long battery life and solid ANC. However, the bass might be overwhelming ...
- Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after his return to New York from upstate prison
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his ...
- Steam Deck OLED vs LCD: A significant upgrade
The Steam Deck OLED isn't a complete overhaul of its LCD predecessor, but improvements in the right places make this upgrade a worthwhile choice. A bigger, more vibrant display is the most noticeable ...
- The walls of Apple’s garden are tumbling down
Apple’s answer has been to build the walls of its garden higher and higher, making sure customers use its own products and nothing else. Now, those walls are threatening to come tumbling down.
- A look at the protests about the war in Gaza that have emerged on US college campuses
Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of U.S. college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University.
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Battery-free communication
[google_news title=”” keyword=”battery-free communication” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]