In principle, the same technology could provide location information. The resulting binary code can carry information about ocean temperature or salinity. A receiver translates that sequence of reflections, called backscatter, into a pattern of 1s (for soundwaves reflected) and 0s (for soundwaves not reflected). Piezoelectric sensors can then use that charge to selectively reflect some soundwaves back into their environment. These materials generate their own electric charge in response to mechanical stress, like getting pinged by vibrating soundwaves. So, the team sought a battery-free way to use sound.Īdib’s group turned to a unique resource they’d previously used for low-power acoustic signaling: piezoelectric materials. For tracking devices that produce acoustic signals, “their batteries can drain very quickly.” That makes it hard to precisely track objects or animals for a long time-span - changing a battery is no simple task when it’s attached to a migrating whale. Sound waves travel faster and further underwater than through air, making them an efficient way to send data. If you had to hide from GPS, your best bet would be underwater.īecause radio waves quickly deteriorate as they move through water, subsea communications often depend on acoustic signals instead. Since its introduction in the 1970s and ’80s, GPS has changed the world. The technology, which relies on satellite-transmitted radio signals, is used in shipping, navigation, targeted advertising, and more. It’s nearly impossible to escape GPS’ grasp on modern life. Research Scientist Reza Ghaffarivardavagh led the paper, along with co-authors Sayed Saad Afzal, Osvy Rodriguez, and Fadel Adib, who leads the group and is the Doherty Chair of Ocean Utilization as well as an associate professor in the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. These advances are described in a paper being presented this week at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Hot Topics in Networks workshop, by members of the Media Lab’s Signal Kinetics group. Though the technology is still developing, UBL could someday become a key tool for marine conservationists, climate scientists, and the U.S. That provides researchers with positioning information, at net-zero energy. Rather than emitting its own acoustic signals, UBL reflects modulated signals from its environment. They’ve built a battery-free pinpointing system dubbed Underwater Backscatter Localization (UBL). But devices that generate and send sound usually require batteries - bulky, short-lived batteries that need regular changing. To track undersea objects like drones or whales, researchers rely on acoustic signaling. The navigation system depends on radio waves, which break down rapidly in liquids, including seawater.
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