The University of Washington is reporting that they've shattered the long-range communications barrier for devices that consume almost no power:

University of Washington researchers have demonstrated for the first time that devices that run on almost zero power can transmit data across distances of up to 2.8 kilometers — breaking a long-held barrier and potentially enabling a vast array of interconnected devices.

For example, flexible electronics — from knee patches that capture range of motion in arthritic patients to patches that use sweat to detect fatigue in athletes or soldiers — hold great promise for collecting medically relevant data.

But today’s flexible electronics and other sensors that can’t employ bulky batteries and need to operate with very low power typically can’t communicate with other devices more than a few feet or meters away. This limits their practical use in applications ranging from medical monitoring and home sensing to smart cities and precision agriculture.

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The team’s latest long-range backscatter system provides reliable long-range communication with sensors that consume 1000 times less power than existing technologies capable of transmitting data over similar distances. It’s an important and necessary breakthrough toward embedding connectivity into billions of everyday objects.

The long-range backscatter system will be commercialized by Jeeva Wireless, a spin-out company founded by the UW team of computer scientists and electrical engineers, which expects to begin selling it within six months.

The really interesting part is the cost: 

The sensors are so cheap — with an expected bulk cost of 10 to 20 cents each — that farmers looking to measure soil temperature or moisture could affordably blanket an entire field to determine how to efficiently plant seeds or water. Other potential applications range from sensor arrays that could monitor pollution, noise or traffic in “smart” cities or medical devices that could wirelessly transmit information about a heart patient’s condition around the clock.

“People have been talking about embedding connectivity into everyday objects such as laundry detergent, paper towels and coffee cups for years, but the problem is the cost and power consumption to achieve this,” said Vamsi Talla, CTO of Jeeva Wireless, who was an Allen School postdoctoral researcher and received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the UW. “This is the first wireless system that can inject connectivity into any device with very minimal cost.”

The full system is detailed in this paper: LoRa Backscatter: Enabling The Vision of Ubiquitous Connectivity

This post could rightly live in any number of our groups here on WILDLABS because the potential applications are incredibly broad. Given the low cost and that it'll apparently be commercially available within 6 months - do you think we'll see these sensors being deployed for conservation applications in the near future? Are there potential applications you think could be game changers for conservation?