Perpetual Smart Signage using Ambient Energy Harvesting [Poster Abstract]

Power is a key constraint in the implementation of pervasive displays. This work takes the approach of eliminating bat-teries on a display platform through the combination of two trending technologies: Bistable electrophoretic displays, and ambient radio energy harvesting. An electrophoretic (E-ink, E-paper) display is used as part of a sensing, computation, and communication platform. The platform takes advan-tage of the non-volatile nature of electrophoretic displays to enable extremely low power operation, making possible the use of ambient radio frequency energy as a power source to enable battery-free operation and long lifetime. A local user interface, onboard physical sensors, and radio link allow for exciting applications which all require no battery replace-ment or maintenance. 1