World’s First Battery-Free Bluetooth Chip Pulls Power from the Air
On Monday, Israel-based semiconductor company Wiliot demonstrated a first-of-its-kind Bluetooth chip at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual retail expo.
The chip is paper-thin and about the size of a postage stamp. It can sense weight and temperature and is able to send encrypted information via Bluetooth a distance of about 3 meters. Rather than using some sort of battery to power this operation, the chip pulls energy from ambient Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals.
Following the NRF demonstration, Wiliot announced that it had raised an additional $30 million in funding, with tech powerhouses Amazon and Samsung both investing.
Wiliot is confident that its battery-free Bluetooth chips will help us realize the promise of a fully connected world.
“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,” Wiliot CEO and co-founder Tal Tamir said in a press release. “Products can share when they are picked up, their temperature, or when they need to be replenished.”
“Without batteries or other high-cost components,” he continued, “tags have unlimited power and lifespan, so they can be embedded inside of products that were previously unconnected to the Internet of Things.”
