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Turning Your Home Wiring Into a Giant Antenna

Posted by timothy on from the that'll-really-shake-up-the-powerline-cancer-folks dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this IBT snippet: "Imagine if you could run a wireless sensor device for years without ever having to replace the battery. Turns out, the idea of a battery-less wireless device might not be too far off. Researchers at the University of Washington and the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a small node sized device that uses the residential wiring from a building or home and transmits information to and from almost anywhere else from within. The device is called Sensor Nodes Utilizing Powerline Infrastructure, or SNUPI. It uses basic copper wiring as a giant antenna to receive wireless signals at a set frequency. When the device is within 10 to 15 feet of electrical wiring, it uses the antenna to send data to a single base station." (For "node-sized," think "size of a breakfast cereal prize.")

6 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting by iONiUM · · Score: 1, Interesting

    This is actually a pretty cool idea. It means in any populous area you wouldn't need wireless hubs or cell towers anymore, just the whole city would be humming.

    Of course, if there is indeed any higher risk of cancer from radio waves, well... I pity everyone who lives there :)

    1. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      "Of course, if there is indeed any higher risk of cancer from radio waves, well... I pity everyone who lives there :)"

      Radio waves are already being generated by the wiring, albeit at much lower frequencies (e.g., 60Hz).

    2. Re:Interesting by by+(1706743) · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Radio waves are already being generated by the wiring, albeit at much lower frequencies (e.g., 60Hz).

      You insensitive clod!

  2. Bet the HAM guys are gonna love this by Nursie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They already get upset enough about HomePlug style ethernet-over-power devices.

    1. Re:Bet the HAM guys are gonna love this by Oloryn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      With the power levels being used, interference to ham operation isn't likely to be a problem. What's likely to be more of a problem is - how RFI-susceptible are the receivers going to be? They appear to be targeting the upper short-wave and lower VHF region (10-40Mhz). These receivers need to be pretty sensitive to pick up the low-level signals being sent by the sensors. If a neighbor (or the occupant) fires up a legal-limit ham transmitter (or a CB with an illegal amplifier), will they be selective enough to remain operational in the presence of that strong signal? The devices they built run in the 27Mhz area. I wonder if they've tested how they work if a nearby CB transmitter is operating, or if a a ham transmitter is operating on 10 meters?

  3. seems an old idea... by dslmodem · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have been working in a DSL company a few years back. For DSL systems, the AM signals could be an issue since they can couple into the long twist pair lines and then, be fed into receiver. So far, I got the idea to utilize the long wires (phone lines, power line, etc) to perform short range radio communications or sensors with other devices. Problems? Many. Overall, it is very hard to control, i.e. taking a lot of noise/interference and emitting a lot of energy (could affect other devices).

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    ^(oo)^pig~