Phys.og January 6, 2023 Despite intensive research and rapid progress in self-powered gas devices, most reported devices, specifically NO2 sensors for air pollution monitoring, have limited sensitivity, selectivity, and scalability. Researchers in Australia have demonstrated a photovoltaic self-powered NO2 sensor based on axial p–i–n homojunction InP nanowire (NW) arrays, that overcame these limitations. The device was designed by numerical simulation for insights into sensing mechanisms and performance enhancement. Without a power source, the InP NW sensor achieved an 84% sensing response to 1 ppm NO2 and recorded a limit of detection down to the sub-ppb level, with little dependence on […]
Tag Archives: IoT
Scientists Have Powered a Basic Computer With Just Algae For Over 6 Months
Science Alert May 13, 2022 An international team of researchers (UK, Italy, Norway New Zealand) has developed a bio-photovoltaic energy harvester system using photosynthetic microorganisms on an aluminium anode that can power a microprocessor widely used in Internet of Things applications. The proposed energy harvester has operated the microprocessor for over six months in a domestic environment under ambient light. It is comparable in size to an AA battery, and is built using common, durable, inexpensive, and largely recyclable materials… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Perovskite photovoltaics for a greener Internet-of-Things
Nanowerk April 28, 2022 An international team of researchers (UK, USA – City College of New York) reviewed the novel device concepts that comprise photovoltaic cells alone or in tandem with batteries or supercapacitors, acting as the main power supply to another microelectronic component, enabling self-powered electronics for the Internet of Things (IoT). They emphasize the specific requirements posed by such applications to pave the way to large scale commercialization. They highlighted the importance of supporting a greener IoT ecosystem by eliminating toxic materials and solvents in the device fabrication process…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Backscatter breakthrough runs near-zero-power IoT communicators at 5G speeds everywhere
Science Daily June 25, 2021 Backscatter radio is typically limited to data rates of hundreds of megabits per second because of the low frequency bands used and the modulation techniques involved. An international team of researchers (USA – industry, Georgia Institute of Technology, UK) designed and demonstrated a millimetre-wave modulator and antenna array for backscatter communications at gigabit data rates. It consists of a microstrip patch antenna array and a single pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor that supports a range of modulation formats including binary phase shift keying, quadrature phase shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation. The circuit is additively manufactured with […]
Anti-hacking based on the circular polarization direction of light
Phys.org November 6, 2020 Hardware-based Physical unclonable function (PUF) semiconductor chips have a unique physical code, however, the hardware structure had to be changed to increase the number of combinations of keys to enhance cryptographic characteristics. An international team of researchers (South Korea, USA – AFRL) has developed an encryption device that can greatly strengthen the cryptographic characteristics of PUFs selectively detecting circular polarization, without modify the hardware structure. They developed a phototransistor that can detect the circular polarization of light rotating in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. As a proof‐of‐concept, the chiral phototransistor arrays are demonstrated as a physically […]
Spray-on antennas could unlock potential of smart, connected technology
Nanowerk September 21, 2018 Researchers at Drexel University developed a method for spraying invisibly thin antennas, made from MXene (titanium carbide), a two-dimensional, metallic material. It is stronger than metals, metallically conductive and can be dissolved in water to create an ink or paint. The exceptional conductivity of the material enables it to transmit and direct radio waves, even when it’s applied in a very thin coating. Even transparent antennas with thicknesses of tens of nanometers were able to communicate efficiently. By increasing the thickness up to 8 microns, the performance of MXene antenna achieved 98 percent of its predicted […]
Enabling ‘internet of photonic things’ with miniature sensors
Science Daily September 12, 2018 In IoT there are vast numbers of spatially distributed wireless sensors predominately based on electronics which are often are hampered by electromagnetic interference. Researchers at Washington University developed whispering gallery mode (WGM) sensors resonating at light frequencies and at vibrational or mechanical frequencies. The 127 mm by 67 mm mainboard of the WGM sensor integrates the entire architecture of the sensor system. The sensor, made of glass, is connected to the mainboard by a single optical fiber. A laser light is used to probe a WGM sensor. Light coupled out of the sensor is sent […]
Internet of Things needs to use sound in ways computers and phones never have
Physorg March 15, 2018 Humans interpret their information about 40 milliseconds faster than visual cues. Sound alerts are only a small part of the picture. The bigger prize is enabling devices to “hear” – both other devices and other sounds in a house. This could be done relatively easily using similar technology to audio watermarking. Household devices require is a microphone, loudspeaker and relevant software… read more.
Energy-efficient encryption for the internet of things
MIT News February 12, 2018 Researchers at MIT have built a general-purpose elliptic-curve chip, hardwired to perform public-key encryption, that consumes only 1/400 as much power as software execution of the same protocols would. It also uses about 1/10 as much memory and executes 500 times faster. They will present their paper at the upcoming International Solid-State Circuits Conference… read more.
A fast-evolving new botnet could take gadgets in your home to the dark side
MIT Technology Review January 31, 2018 Since December, security researchers have been tracking a malware called Satori, which hijacks internet-connected devices and turns them into “zombies” that can be remotely controlled in unison. After finding a weak point in a device’s defenses, Satori probes to see if the owner has kept default passwords and settings, hoping to exploit these to gain control of the machine. If it succeeds, it then looks for other devices on a network and tries to infect them too. Some of Satori’s source code appear to be the same as that of Mirai, a botnet that […]