Communications of the ACM
Internet of Things Sensors Could Connect via Ambient Radio Waves
Disney Research has developed a way to communicate using the ambient radio waves generated by television and radio broadcasting and cellular telephony.
Credit: Disney Research
Disney researchers have developed an ultra-low-power system of sensors that transmit data to a central receiver by reflecting the ambient radio waves from the commercial broadcasting systems already in office environments.
"Our idea is to reuse all the radio signals that are around us as a medium for transmitting data, much like sending ripples across a pond," says Disney researcher Alanson Sample.
The researchers demonstrated the system in an indoor office environment, using ambient signals from 14 radio towers as well as two mobile phones.
They found the use of multiple backscatter channels boosts the signal-to-noise ratio, substantially improving the sensitivity of the backscatter reader and decreasing the dead zone. The researchers say this enables the system to operate on real-world ambient sources and significantly extends the range to up to 50 meters when using ambient signals generated by mobile phone uplink traffic.
From EurekAlert
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