New way of communication: Interscatter read more at here http://spinonews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/640

University of Washington engineers introduced a new way of communicating that allows devices such as brain implants, contact lenses, credit cards and smaller wearable electronics to talk to everyday devices such as smartphones and watches.

This new Interscatter communication works by converting Bluetooth signals into Wi-Fi transmissions over the air. Using only reflections, an interscatter device such as a smart contact lens converts Bluetooth signals from a smartwatch.

The team of UW electrical engineers and computer scientists has demonstrated these types of power-limited devices can talk to others using standard Wi-Fi communication. Users to generate Wi-Fi signals using 10,000 times less energy than conventional methods.

Vamsi Talla, research associate in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering said, instead of generating Wi-Fi signals on your own, our technology creates Wi-Fi by using Bluetooth transmissions from nearby mobile devices.

The team's process relies on a communication technique called backscatter, which allows devices to exchange information simply by reflecting existing signals. Because the new technique enables interscatter communication.

The team developed an innovative way to transform the Bluetooth transmission into a single tone signal that can be further manipulated and transformed. By backscattering the single tone signal, the contact lens can encode data, such as health information it may be collecting into a standard Wi-Fi packet that can then be read by a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Bluetooth devices randomize data transmission using a process called scrambling. This scrambling process to send out a single tone signal from Bluetooth-enabled devices using a software app.

The team developed a technique called “single sideband backscatter”, means we can use as much bandwidth as a Wi-Fi network and you can still have other Wi-Fi networks operate without interference.

Battery life is very important in implanted medical devices, since replacing the battery in a pacemaker or brain stimulator requires surgery and puts patients at potential risk from those complications. Interscatter can enable Wi-Fi for these implanted devices while consuming only tens of microwatts of power.

The team build credit card prototypes that can communicate directly with each other by reflecting Bluetooth signals coming from a smartphone.