Wi-Fi Is Possible With 10000 Times Less Power Usage

By Florin Ivan

Posted on December 12, 2016

While consumer electronics manufacturers are doing their best to improve battery life, engineers are fighting to make services take up less power. For example, a team from University of Washington has succeeded in making Wi-Fi transmissions happen with 10,000 times less power than they usually need #todaymagic

Called “Passive Wi-Fi”, the technology integrates easily with routers and smartphones, without sacrificing battery life. The fact that this achievement can change the smartphone scene in a blink made the MIT Technology Review include it in their top 10 breakthrough technologies of 2016.

But how does it work? Well, you know how wireless Internet needs a digital frequency and an analogue radio frequency to send information to a phone? While the digital frequency has no consequence on your battery life, the analogue radio one can drain it. But what can you do? To receive Wi-Fi, you need this two as well as a receiver on your phone, right?

Not quite. Engineers found a way to decouple analogue and digital, assigning all analogue functions to one plug in device. That device generates the Wi-Fi signal thanks to sensors and the information sent is reflected and absorbed by a low-power digital switch, the “passive wi-fi”. In turn, this bounces the data to your smartphone with a total consumption of 15 to 60 microwatts of power.

Best of all, the Passive Wi-Fi isn’t just a theory or a lucky discovery. The team has done tests in the real world and the reflectors can work with devices found at up to 100 feet distance! With a bit of luck, we could soon see the tech on the shelves.