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DAC
2006
ACM

Systems for human-powered mobile computing

15 years 3 days ago
Systems for human-powered mobile computing
This article outlines several projects aimed at generating electrical energy by passively tapping a variety of human body sources and activities. After summarizing different energy harvesting modalities and techniques, I spotlight work done in my research group at the MIT Media Laboratory, including a system that scavenges electricity from the forces exerted on a shoe during walking. This system uses a flexible piezoelectric foil stave to harness sole-bending energy and a reinforced PZT dimorph to capture heel-strike energy. The piezoelectric generators drive a battery-less, active RF tag, which transmits a short-range wireless ID while walking, thereby enabling location based services and active environments. Other systems that we have developed are also discussed, including a battery-less pushbutton that can send an RF ID code with a single push, sensor nodes that harvest mobility rather than energy, and power management schemes that exploit sensor diversity to achieve energy effici...
Joseph A. Paradiso
Added 13 Nov 2009
Updated 13 Nov 2009
Type Conference
Year 2006
Where DAC
Authors Joseph A. Paradiso
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