Some computers are already small enough to match into our pockets , and researchers at the University of Washington Sensor Lab found a way to make them even small : get rid of the battery . As report byFast Co. Design , the team ’s Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform ( WISP ) gets its might by harvesting radio wave from the air .
for function , the WISP gathers energy from a standard radio frequence designation , or RFID lector . From there it ’s able-bodied to generate enough electrical energy to do low - key processing project like keeping course of sensing element data .
It has around the same bandwidth as Bluetooth Low Energy mode and the same clock amphetamine as the processor in a Fitbit . While it ’s not powerful enough to pave the manner for battery - free smartphones any prison term presently , it could be used for more downcast - tech applications . Architects could build the light - weighting computers into concrete structures as a direction of monitor a building ’s status after an earthquake without direct it aside . It could also be used as a sensor in fitness wearables and medical implant that get over a patient ’s wellness .
Researchers have been work on WISP for a decade , but they just recently develop the characteristic that would make all these applications more practical . WISP can now be reprogrammed wirelessly , so if user wanted to update it after instal the sensor in a edifice , or someone ’s body , it would n’t need to be plugged in .
WISP is n’t the first barrage - free sensing element of its sort . A few years ago , research worker developed a RFID - powered " smart hard lid , " that beeps when hazardous equipment is nearby . But in terms of barrage - loose technology , WISP ’s wireless feature is a find . you may get a close flavour at the equipment in the video above .
[ h / tFast Co. Design ]
standard trope courtesy of University of Washington .
