Today Internet has become one of the most aspect of everyone’s life. It is a technology without which survival is not possible. In today’s world 73% of work is done or is connected via Internet, all the information, routes, availability, etc are what makes internet the most important part of our life’s. But with the advancement and so dependence on internet it was every important to search for a technology that could provide internet on the go, without depending on wires and tie us down to one place. Then comes into the picture the life saver technology that changed the entire scenario of internet usage: “WI-Fi”.

What is a WI-Fi?

WI-Fi is the most popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide high-speed internet and network connections wirelessly. It doesn’t stand for “Wireless Fidelity”, as a common misconception, it simply stated as per WI-Fi alliance as “wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 802.11 standards“.

WI-Fi works with no physical wired connection between sender and receiver, it uses radio frequency (RF) technology that is a frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation. It usually consist of a router that is connected to the main hard-wire connecting us with the internet provider that acts as an access point to which any device with wireless network adapters can access.

Power Over WI-Fi (Po-WiFi)

With the development of technology a team of engineers at the University of Washington, have developed a new system called Power Over WI-Fi (Po-WiFi), that can power devices that are within a wireless network range using the inherent energy of WI-Fi signals. This technology was first announced by researcher earlier this year, is presenting a final paper next month at the Association for Computing Machinery’s CoNEXT 2015 conference in Germany. Vamsi Talla an electrical engineer and lead author of the study said that  “We made a system that can co-exist as a WI-Fi router and a power source — it doesn’t degrade the quality of your WI-Fi signals while it’s powering devices.”

Researchers found that the peak energy contained in regular WI-Fi signals is sufficient to charge low-power gadgets, but due to the way the signals are sent intermittently, energy leakage occurs. but By optimizing the router to send additional power packets on WI-Fi channels not in use and by integrating sensors into low-power devices so that they can feed on the signals, the researchers were able to make the signal strong enough and consistent to deliver power effectively.

However the Po-WiFi right now can only power small devices like cameras and fitness trackers, buts its utility for further development is what makes it even more important.

Here is a video explaining more about it: