UC San Diego researchers have developed new battery-free RFID sensors capable of real-time data collection. This pioneering technology promises to revolutionize industries from agriculture to athletics.
Researchers at UC San Diego have made a significant breakthrough in sensor technology. A team from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has developed battery-free sensors that utilize widely available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to collect real-time data. This innovative approach could reshape how industries manage data collection, improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
“We wondered whether we could repurpose RFID tags to do battery-free sensing and tracking,” lead author Bhat, a doctoral student in electrical engineering, said in a news release.
The Power of Passive Sensing
Typically embedded in everyday items like clothing and transit cards, RFID tags are inexpensive and ubiquitous, costing only a few cents to a few dollars per chip. These tags can be read without direct power sources, making them ideal candidates for passive sensing systems.
“We wanted to know if our environment could be automated in a way that was battery-free, able to sense parameters like temperature and humidity, and could connect to the Internet of Things to send raw data to a reader that could make sense of it all,” Bhat added.
Innovative Applications and Broader Impact
The potential applications for this technology are vast. For instance, in agriculture, deploying numerous RFID-based soil moisture sensors across a field can provide granular data on water distribution, optimizing irrigation processes.
In sports, RFID tags embedded into athletes’ shoes could accurately measure jumping force, eliminating the need for expensive and stationary force plates. Similarly, parking facilities can benefit from occupancy detection using these sensors, providing real-time data on available spaces.
“AI is everywhere now,” added Dinesh Bharadia, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, emphasizing the significance of data collected by these sensors. “Using batteryless sensors lets us collect a lot of information that’s otherwise challenging to access — they can empower data collection, and this innovation marks a really important direction for the future.”
Conclusion: A Forward-Looking Innovation
This cutting-edge research, presented and published in the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems, showcases how passive, low-cost sensors could drive the next wave of technological advancements.
By leveraging commonly available RFID tags, the team has opened new horizons for data collection and real-time environmental monitoring.