Passive Wi-Fi breakthrough could revolutionise the Internet of Things

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By Matthew Griffin Connected Society 27th September 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, sensors are ubiquitous, but putting batteries in small sensors is impractical, now passive Wi-Fi that doesn’t need an energy source will change all that

For those that live in developed countries it has to be said that wireless internet, and Wi-Fi, is ubiquitous. But that said it consumes a lot of energy from our devices, which kills the battery life of our smartphones, smartwatches, and other smart gadgets, but now a group of researchers from the University of Washington have come up with a solution they call “Passive Wi-Fi.”

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The invention helps devices use Wi-Fi with 10,000 times less power than we normally use when we wirelessly connect to the internet, and when compared to other wireless technologies, like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connections, it still uses 1,000 times less power.

The team who presented their paper at the 13th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation, says the invention is already making waves because using Wi-Fi without virtually any power could revamp the Internet of Things by eliminating the need for a battery. As a result, passive Wi-Fi connections could help make devices extremely cheap, and as smart smoke detectors, watches, lights, and other home accessories get connected to the internet, keeping them cheap, and in some cases small, is crucial.

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One company, Jeeva Wireless, is already trying to bring “passive Wi-Fi” to the market, and so far the early tests are promising, and not only does this passive Wi-Fi use less energy, but it’s fast, too, a blistering 11 times faster than BLE.

“We wanted to see if we could achieve Wi-Fi transmissions using almost no power at all… that’s basically what Passive Wi-Fi delivers. We can get Wi-Fi for 10,000 times less power than the best thing that’s out there,” said co-author and assistant professor Shyam Gollakota.

As I’ve said many times before small developments can have great impacts, and I think this is another of those times, so next time you’re walking around town and pull up a list of Wi-Fi hotspots you might find yourself connecting to a coffee maker or a lamp post. I can see advertisers rubbing their hands with glee.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.