Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2022 - 12

5Wsheadline headline
headline headline line
of Floating
Sensors
Who
A University of Washington engineering team has
drawn inspiration from how dandelions use the wind
for seed distribution to develop tiny battery-free devices
that could help distribute wireless sensors across
large areas.
What
The system is about 30 times as heavy as a 1 milligram
dandelion seed but can still travel up to 100 meters in
a moderate breeze, about the length of a football field,
from where it is released by a drone. Once on the
ground, the device, which can hold at least four sensors,
uses solar panels to power its onboard electronics
and can share sensor data up to 60 meters away. Because
the devices have electronics on board, it's challenging
to make the whole system as light as an actual
dandelion seed. The researchers tested 75 designs to
determine what would lead to the smallest " terminal
velocity, " or the maximum speed a device would have
as it fell through the air. To measure how far the devices
would travel in the wind, the researchers dropped
them from different heights, either by hand or by
drone on campus.
Where
University of Washington, WA
The researchers tested 75 designs, some of which are shown here in
yellow. (Photo: Mark Stone/University of Washington)
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This battery-free device uses solar panels (black rectangles shown
here) to power its onboard electronics. (Photo: Mark Stone/University
of Washington)
Why
The floating sensors could create airborne instrumentation
networks and boost applications in environmental
monitoring and digital agriculture.
When
The devices shut off when the sun goes down and aren't
biodegradable, so the team is looking into improving
this initial design and making them more biodegradable.
The
device's onboard electronics include sensors, a capacitor to
store charge overnight and a microcontroller to run the system, all
contained in a flexible circuit. (Photo: Mark Stone/University of
Washington)
Contact Prabhpreet Gill, Technology Licensing Associate, Office of Technology Licensing, at psgill@princeton.edu,
609-258-3653, or visit https://innovation.princeton.edu
For more info contact dandelions@cs.washington.edu; 206-543-2580
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Tech Briefs, May 2022
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Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2022

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