Build Battery-Free Smart Locks With NFC Energy Harvesting Technology


Today, battery-powered smart locks with shared access capabilities have become increasingly popular in both consumer and industrial access control applications. However, battery-related issues frequently arise in many use cases. For outdoor applications, fluctuating temperatures and extremes can significantly reduce battery life. Indoor applications, on the other hand, can incur high battery re... » read more

Research Bits: Jan. 30


Etching tellurite glass Physicists from EPFL and Tokyo Tech propose a way to create photoconductive circuits, where the circuit is directly patterned onto a tellurite glass surface with femtosecond laser light. The exposure formed nanoscale tellurium and tellurium oxide crystals, both semiconducting materials. “Tellurium being semiconducting, based on this finding we wondered if it would ... » read more

Maximizing Edge Intelligence Requires More Than Computing


By Toshi Nishida, Avik W. Ghosh, Swaminathan Rajaraman, and Mircea Stan Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components have enabled a commodity market for Wi-Fi-connected appliances, consumer products, infrastructure, manufacturing, vehicles, and wearables. However, the vast majority of connected systems today are deployed at the edge of the network, near the end user or end application, opening... » read more

RF Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer Technologies: Latest Technology & Future Develop Opportunities


A new technical paper titled "RF Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer for Energy Autonomous Wireless Devices and RFIDs" was published by researchers at Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Universidade de Aveiro, The Hague, McGill University, University of Bordeaux, Polytechnique Montreal, and others. Abstract: "Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and wireless power transmission (... » read more

Options Widen For Optimizing IoT Designs


Creating a successful IoT design requires a deep understanding of the use cases, and a long list of tradeoffs among various components and technologies to provide the best solution at the right price point. Maximizing features and functions while minimizing costs is an ongoing balancing act, and the number of choices can be overwhelming. The menu includes SoC selection, OS and software proto... » read more

Research Bits: March 21


Micropatterning with sugar A scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) discovered a transfer printing process that can deposit microcircuit patterns on curved and textured surfaces using sugar candy. Transfer printing methods, such as flexible tapes, are often used for surfaces that are difficult to directly print on. But they have difficulty with conforming to ... » read more

Research Bits: Jan. 9


Making stretchy semiconductors Researchers from Pennsylvania State University, University of Houston, Purdue University, and Texas Heart Institute developed a new method to make soft, stretchable transistors easier and cheaper to manufacture. The lateral phase separation induced micromesh (LPSM) process involves mixing a semiconductor and an elastomer and spin coating the liquid mixture pre... » read more

Research Bits: Oct. 10


Disposable water-activated battery Researchers at Empa developed a water-activated disposable paper battery that could be used in low-power, single-use disposable electronics such as smart labels for tracking objects, environmental sensors, and medical diagnostic devices. The battery is made of at least one cell measuring one centimeter squared and consisting of three inks printed onto a re... » read more

Research Bits: Oct. 4


2D electrode for ultra-thin semiconductors Researchers from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Japan's National Institute for Materials Science, and Kunsan National University designed two-dimensional semiconductor-based electronic and logic devices, with electrical properties that can be selectively controlled through a new 2D electrode material, chlorine-doped tin diseleni... » read more

Research Bits: Aug. 23


Algae-powered microprocessor Engineers from the University of Cambridge, Arm Research, Scottish Association for Marine Science, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power an Arm Cortex M0+ microprocessor continuously for over a year. The algae, Synechocystis, is non-toxic and harvests energy from photosynthesis. The tiny electri... » read more

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