New technology enables texting even after cellphone battery dies

PTI Aug 14, 2013, 04.42PM IST
(The new communication technique,…)

WASHINGTON: Internet-of-things! Researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist, have developed a new technology that lets wireless devices communicate with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power.

The new communication technique, called "ambient backscatter," takes advantage of the TV and cellular transmissions that already surround us around the clock.



"We can re-purpose wireless signals that are already around us into both a source of power and a communication medium," said lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, from the University of Washington.

"It's hopefully going to have applications in a number of areas including wearable computing, smart homes and self-sustaining sensor networks," said Gollakota.

"Our devices form a network out of thin air. You can reflect these signals slightly to create a Morse code of communication between battery-free devices," said co-author Joshua Smith.




Groups of the devices were tested in a variety of settings, including inside an apartment building, on a street corner and on the top level of a parking garage.


