Economical Wi–Fi

Computer scientists and engineers from the University of Washington revealed that it is possible to generate Wi–Fi transmissions using 10,000 times less power than the current methods. The technology termed as ‘Passive Wi–Fi’ also consumes 1,000 times less power than other wireless communication platforms such as bluetooth and zigbee.

Although lower than the maximum Wi–Fi speed, the new technology is capable of transmitting signals at up to 11 megabits per second. It would, however, be 11 times faster than the bluetooth. Moreover, researchers figured out that these Wi–Fi sensors and smartphones can communicate from a distance of about 100 feet away.

To achieve this low power technology, the team looked into the digital and analog radio transmissions, wherein the analog system was made to produce signal at a specific frequency to be transmitted to a single device in the network, which is plugged into the wall. Thereafter, an array of sensor produced Wi–Fi signals using very little power by simply reflecting and absorbing the signal with the help of a digital switch.