First ever battery-less, Bluetooth chip harvests energy from air

Every device or chip require battery to power itself, however, this might change, as a firm has created the world’s first battery-free paper-thin Bluetooth chip that harvests its energy from air.

Semiconductor company Wiliot has created the first ever paper-thin, postage stamp-sized Bluetooth chip that is able to operate completely without the need of a battery by pulling up energy from air.

The chip can harvest energy from the ambient radio frequencies surrounding us including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals. With the help of these frequencies, the chip can use them to power a Bluetooth-equipped ARM processor that can be connected to different sensors, explained The Verge.

The chip can sense weight and temperature and can send encrypted information via Bluetooth to a distance of about three meters. According to Wiliot, the size of the chip combined with the lack of any battery means that it can be produced cheaply and can be mounted on almost anything.

Paper-based batteries powered by spit

Since the chip can be connected to sensors, it can be used in connecting to temperature sensor, for example, and report when items get too hot or too cold. Connecting it to a pressure sensor would enable it to detect when a food container is empty and automatically order a replacement for it.

“Re-cycling the radiation around us to power sticker-size sensors can enable new ways for consumers to interact with products that were previously not feasible. Products can share when they are picked up, their temperature, or when they need to be replenished,” said Wiliot CEO and co-founder Tal Tamir.

Video Courtesy: Wiliot

Moreover, the Bluetooth chip can be embedded in consumer products to provide easy access to a digital manual when the original paper version is long lost. The chip can also be put on a clothing label and be used to communicate the optimal settings to a washing machine.

“Without batteries or other high-cost components, tags have unlimited power and lifespan, so [they] can be embedded inside of products that were previously unconnected to the Internet of Things,” Tamir continued.

Meanwhile, due to a $30 million financing, Wiliot now counts on Amazon and Samsung as its investors. The company hopes to offer the Bluetooth chips as a part of a limited release in 2019 before making them widely available in 2020.