Battery-free sensor-carrying device floats in the wind

Wireless sensors can monitor how temperature, humidity and other environmental conditions vary across large swaths of land such as farms or forests. These tools have applications in areas such as monitoring climate change and digital agriculture, but deploying sensors across a large area can be time-consuming and expensive.

Inspired by how dandelions use the wind to distribute their seeds, the team’s sensor-carrying device is around 30 times as heavy as a 1 mg dandelion seed, but can reportedly travel up to 100 metres in a moderate breeze once released by drone.

The device can hold at least four sensors. It uses solar panels to power its onboard electronics and can share sensor data up to 60 metres away, researchers said. The device uses backscatter, a method involving sending information by reflecting transmitted signals, to wirelessly send data back to researchers.