International audienceThe aim of this paper is to show the possibility to harvest Radio Frequency (RF) energy to supply Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in outdoor environment. In those conditions, the number of existing RF bands is unpredictable. The RF circuit has to harvest all the potential RF energy present and cannot be designed for a single RF tone. In this paper, the designed RF harvester adds powers coming from an unlimited number of sub-frequency bands. The harvester's output voltage ratios increase with the number of RF bands. As an application example, a 4-RF band rectenna is designed. The system harvests energy from GSM900 (Global System for Mobile Communications), GSM1800, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and Wi-Fi bands simultaneously. RF-to-dc conversion efficiency is measured at 62% for a cumulative -10 dBm input power homogeneously widespread over the four RF bands and reaches 84% at 5.8 dBm. The relative error between the measured dc output power with all the 4 RF bands ON and the ideal sum of each of the four RF bands power contribution is less than 3%. It is shown that the RF-to-dc conversion efficiency is more than doubled compared to that measured with a single RF source, thanks to the proposed rectifier architecture
In this paper, we present the first realisation and experimentation of a new eye tracking system using an infrared (iR) laser pointer embedded into a wireless smart contact lens. We denote this contact lens prototype as the cyclops lens, in reference to the famous hero of the X-Men comics. The full eye tracker device combines the smart contact lens and its eyewear, which provides a primary source of energy and the beam detection system. We detail the assembling and encapsulation process of the main functionalities into the contact lens and present how a gaze tracking system is achieved, compared to existing conventional eye-tracking ones. Finally, we discuss future technical improvements.
In this paper, we demonstrate the first attempt of encapsulating a flexible micro battery into a contact lens to implement an eye-tracker. The paper discusses how to scale the battery to power various circuits embedded in the contact lens, such as ASIC, photodiodes, etc., as well as how to combine the battery with external harvested energy sources. The fabricated ring battery has a surface area of 0.75 cm2 yielding an areal capacity of 43 µAh·cm−2 at 20C. Based on simulated 0.35-µm CMOS ASIC power consumption, this value is large enough to allow powering the ASIC for 3 minutes. The functioning of the micro battery is demonstrated by powering an orange LED.
Most eye trackers nowadays are video-based, which allows for a relatively simple and non-invasive approach but also imposes several constraints in terms of necessary computing power and conditions of use (e.g., lighting, spectacles, etc.). We introduce a new eye tracker using a scleral lens equipped with photodiodes and an eyewear with active illumination. The direction of gaze is obtained from the weighted average of photocurrents (centroid) and communicated through an optical link. After discussing the optimum photodiodes configuration (number, layout) and associated lighting (collimated, Lambertian), we present prototypes demonstrating the high performances possibilities (0.11° accuracy when placed on an artificial eye) and wireless optical communication.
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