Using Wi-Fi to Power IoT
Rich Pell, EETimes
6/11/2015 00:00 AM EDT
An article in the MIT Technology Review presents a power-over-Wi-Fi system that uses existing Wi-Fi chipsets in wireless routers to deliver far-field wireless power to various sensors as well as to recharge coin cell batteries at distances up to 28 feet.
The power-over-Wi-Fi system — or "PoWiFi" for short — is a University of Washington (Seattle, WA) research project aimed at powering the Internet of Things (IoT) using Wi-Fi signals. Its concept is that Wi-Fi receivers could, in addition to retrieving the information being transmitted over Wi-Fi, be designed to harvest the energy in these signals as well.
The biggest hurdle in achieving this is the discontinuous nature of normal Wi-Fi signals — data is often broadcast in bursts, on a single channel. Initial testing with a temperature sensor that had been fitted with a Wi-Fi antenna showed that while voltage across the sensor often came close to the 300 mV needed for the sensor to operate it was not enough.
![]() |
E-mail This Article | ![]() |
![]() |
Printer-Friendly Page |
Related News
- Newracom Announces Availability of Ultra-Low Power ARM Core Based Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n MAC/PHY/Subsystem and RFIC IP for Internet of Things Applications
- Atmel and MXCHIP Collaborate to Bring Ultra-low Power Wi-Fi Platform With Secure Cloud Access for Internet of Things Applications
- Ceva Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth IPs Power Bestechnic's New Combo Products
- Ceva Extends its Connect IP Portfolio with Wi-Fi 7 Platform for High-End Consumer and Industrial IoT
- Wi-Fi 6 (ax)/BLE/15.4 22nm Combo RF IP Core, for IoT Application is Available for Immediate Licensing
Breaking News
- JEDEC® and Industry Leaders Collaborate to Release JESD270-4 HBM4 Standard: Advancing Bandwidth, Efficiency, and Capacity for AI and HPC
- BrainChip Gives the Edge to Search and Rescue Operations
- ASML targeted in latest round of US tariffs
- Andes Technology Celebrates 20 Years with New Logo and Headquarters Expansion
- Creonic Unveils Bold Rebrand to Drive Innovation in Communication Technologies
Most Popular
- Cadence to Acquire Arm Artisan Foundation IP Business
- AMD Achieves First TSMC N2 Product Silicon Milestone
- Why Do Hyperscalers Design Their Own CPUs?
- Siemens to accelerate customer time to market with advanced silicon IP through new Alphawave Semi partnership
- New TSN-MACsec IP core for secure data transmission in 5G/6G communication networks