Power from the Air Waves

We are living in a world full of internet connected gadgets and that ultimately require power to work. A battery or at least a power cord is required for the gadget to work. Gadgets work and communicate over a network using energy only is indirectly harvested by radios, TVs, phones and more. Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a technique that demonstrates that Internet connected devices like camera, sensors work the same way.  

Transferring power without any physical contact of the device with power switch is not a new thing. The main problem is that it is really difficult to for a device without any conventional power source to communicate as radio signals is very power intensive. Also the airwave including TV, radio and more hold very little energy.  

How does it work and Potential Future ?  

Shyamnath Gollakota has proved that it is possible for weak radio signals to fulfil the requirement for a internet gadget with the help of his colleague Joshua Smith. They used a principle called backscattering to prove their theory. The basic phenomenon includes for a device to power up its circuit is to absorb some energy from the signal that is going to be modified. According to the researchers small Wi-Fi devices could be extremely cheap (Less than a dollar). We are looking at a future in which devices like security cameras, sensors, smoke alarms and more would never need any batteries changed or power cord. 

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