5G Power Harvesting Supports IoT Ideas, Self-Driving Cars
A billion devices supporting a future "Internet of Things" means billions of batteries that have to be replaced, says Georgia Tech senior researcher Aline Eid in the above video. To address the environmental cost of such enormous battery use, Eid and her team at the Georgia Tech ATHENA lab found a way to turn 5G networks into a wireless power grid. The team's flexible Rotman lens-based rectifying antenna, which harvests power in the 28-GHz band, supports IoT applications in wearables, smart cities, and self-driving cars.
Transcript
00:00:00 my name is manos sanzeris i'm ken buyers professor in flexible electronics with school over hc at georgia tech we have a very unique achievement of our lab being able to uh power different wireless devices by just using 5g energy so it's a way to eliminate batteries it's a very uh very unique example
00:00:23 in the way that it combines for the first time for major technologies it's a ld manufacturing 3d printing energy harvesting flexible hybrid electronics and wireless communications this is we could find applications in pretty much any wireless device around us ranging from internet of thing nodes
00:00:47 smart cities smart houses autonomous cars sensors operating in very rugged environments that you cannot have batteries as well as web electronics there's lots of discussion about biomonitoring and this system could very easily get integrated with your clothes or in some wearable configurations
00:01:13 monitor your glucose monitor your blood pressure monitor uh minerals monitor how tired you are and everything can be done without the battery literally you can have systems working for years without needing to recharge the battery every electronic device around us needs power to function
00:01:35 remember those terrible times when your phone your watch your airpods we're on the brink of death now imagine having to deal with billions of devices for example sensors by 2025 you'll be surrounded by them that is the promise of the internet of things billions of devices means billions of batteries being
00:01:56 continuously replaced continuously discarded at a huge cost to our environment but what if there's actually power that is all around us from which you can harvest the power and convert it to usable dc power yes that is the 5g wireless power grid surrounding us
00:02:16 and with this system we are allowing 5g by base stations to not only give us data but also be providers of power we are creating the next at georgia tech