April 19, 2006
[Web Exclusive] Wireless Sensing Spawns The Connected World
Seamless connectivity between people, objects, and events—such a climate once seemed so daunting. Not any more, thanks to rapid-fire advances made in sensor, computing, and communications technologies, let alone the pervasive use of the Internet. Entirely new applications will embed computing power and wireless communications in our daily lives. Advances in both telecom and the Internet will converge to deliver ubiquitous wireless sensor networks and...
April 19, 2006
[Web Exclusive] The Promise Of Harvested Energy
Nature possesses a boundless amount of harvestable energy that can be harnessed to power wireless sensor networks. Potentially, it can eliminate the need for batteries in tethered electronics and solve many power-supply and dissipation problems in one stroke. Vibration, strain and inertial forces, heat, wind, light, and magnetic fields can all be tapped for this purpose. Piezoelectric materials, for example, can convert mechanical motion into electric currents and...
