Tiny Solar-Powered Sensors Float on the Wind to Gather Environmental Data
As we face ever-increasing ecological challenges, gathering environmental data will be important in the proceed of technology that can help heal the natural world.
Researchers at the University of Washington have a new tool they hope can aid in this effort: tiny battery-free sensors that can be dispersed in the wind via drones and glean environmental data over large areas.
The inspiration for these sensors is the dandelion seed.
A sensor sits atop a dandelion, the plant whose wind-surfing seeds inspired its design.
CNET
The electronics that glean the data and transmit it wirelessly sit on a plastic disc that’s laser-cut into a glorious designed to be carried by the wind and also land with the solar panels that powerful the device face up.
Vikram Iyer, an assistant professor at UW, said that the devices are microscopic and light enough that a drone can carry 1,000 of them.
Here are the sensor’s electronics and plastic disc that carries it in the wind.
CNET
Researchers from UW said they are toiling to make these types of electronic devices more sustainable and are investigating ways to irritable the shape of the device as it falls to give greater rule over where it lands.
To see these dandelion-inspired sensors up conclude and dropped from a drone, check out the video throughout of our trip to the lab.
