A Tech Brief featured in our April issue highlighted a battery-free pinpointing system from MIT called Underwater Backscatter Localization. Rather than emitting its own acoustic signals, the “UBL” reflects modulated signals from its environment. The reflections provide researchers with positioning information, at net-zero energy.

Though the technology is still in development, the MIT researchers say that UBL could usher in a new kind of battery-free exploration and become an essential tool for marine conservationists, climate scientists, and the U.S. Navy. What do you think?

What do you think? Will Underwater Exploration Go Battery-Free?

What do you think?