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Researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF) have developed a new system for harvesting energy from ambient radio waves — promising a more efficient and compact alternative to current systems, and focusing on the future needs of the Internet of Things (IoT).
"The growth [of wireless systems in the Internet of Things] is also limiting availability in the radio frequency spectrum," Reza Abdolvand, professor and chair of the UCF Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, says of the research. “One reason is that today’s systems use part of their limited power budget to sense and monitor the amount of signal power they transmit and receive instead of solely amplifying the signal. This sensing is both for regulation purposes and maintaining transceiver performance.”
By contrast, the system developed at UCF aims to combine power-harvesting and spectrum-sensing, creating a fully passive module suitable for ultra-low-power applications — in particular sensor networks and other widely-deployed parts of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The team's prototype works by taking advantage of the energy exchange mechanism between microacoustic waves and electrons, generating DC energy that can be read for the purposes of monitoring the wireless spectrum or transferred to a subsequent stage for use as a power source — and all in a component with a "sub-millimeter footprint."
One example application provided by the researchers is as a replacement for wake-up radios — creating devices that draw absolutely zero power while inactive and then burst into life upon receiving harvestable energy, which can be pulled from other modules nearby.
Based on technology developed by postdoctoral researcher Hakhamanesh Mansoorzare, UCF has filed for a patent on the system and is looking to provide access to prototypes with a view to finding partners for commercial licensing or research collaboration. Additional information is available on the project's technology sheet.
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Researchers Develop a Smaller, More Efficient Tool for Smartly Harvesting Energy for the IoT – Hackster.io
