“Sipping” Energy

There are two ways to extend the battery life of wearables – improve the battery technology, or improve the efficiency of the wearable device. Recently, a leading semiconductor company made great strides toward the latter with the development of new technologies that operate using very low voltages.

Much of the power consumed by wearable devices is taken up by the Bluetooth devices that allow them to communicate with smartphones. As a result, products like the Apple Watch need to be charged daily (at least). The new technology combines sub-one-volt Bluetooth radio with a proprietary stack and profile design for efficient data transfer at very low power levels, which could extend the battery life of wearable devices by 60 percent or more.

These low power devices could also represent an important advancement toward the development of energy harvesting technologies (such as motion, piezoelectric, thermal or even solar) to power wearables without the need for batteries at all!