Battery technology breakthrough could spark new generation of smart glasses

Researchers in the US claim they have created a way to stream HD video that uses 10,000 times less power than current technologies.

A team of engineers at the University of Washington have developed a technique that enables wearable cameras such as smart glasses or Snapchat’s Spectacles to send video to a connected smartphone for processing.

The result is a camera system that requires far less power to run, and could be a breakthrough for smart glasses.

The smartphone then processes the video instead, saving power previously used up on the camera.

As a result, the researchers said they had found between 1,000 and 10,000 times less power used on the wearable device compared current streaming technologies.

Shayam Gollakota, co-author of the research and an associate professor at the university’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, said the backscatter technology had until now been considered too low-power to work with video.

“The fundamental assumption people have made so far is that backscatter can be used only for low-data rate sensors such as temperature sensors,” he said.

“This work breaks that assumption and shows that backscatter can indeed support even full HD video.

“This video technology has the potential to transform the industry as we know it. Cameras are critical for a number of internet-connected applications, but so far they have been constrained by their power consumption.”

In terms of what it could mean going forward, the team said the next step is to make wireless video cameras that are completely battery-free, opening up wider use cases.

Research co-author and engineering professor Joshua Smith added: “Just imagine you go to a football game five years from now.

“There could be tiny HD cameras everywhere recording the action: stuck on players’ helmets, everywhere across the stadium. And you don’t have to ever worry about changing their batteries.”