The Institute - March 2018 - 15

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Standard to Boost
Battery Life of IoT Devices

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N T E R N E T O F T H I N G S 
devices likely will be ubiquitous
soon-in homes, offices, grocery stores, and hospitals-with
many applications designed
to improve our quality of life and
make the services we use more efficient. But before the devices can be
implemented effectively, their short
battery life must be addressed.
It's been estimated by the IEEE
802.11ba standards task group that
half of Internet-connected sensors
and devices will run on batteries by
2020-which is concerning because
replacing batteries is costly. Putting
them on sleep mode helps, but that
lowers device performance.
That's why the IEEE Standards
Association (IEEE-SA) and the
task force are working on a new
standard for low-power radio
receivers. IEEE Wake-Up Radio
technology could significantly
increase battery life, from just
a few hours to almost two years,
and could allow some devices
to remain accessible at all times
without draining their battery.
IEEE-SA and IEEE Educational Activities released a report
in November explaining how
the Wake-Up Radio standard
works and exploring its potential
applications.

THE CONCEPT

Most smart devices connecting
to the IoT rely on three radios:
short-range Bluetooth, mediumrange wireless local area network
(WLAN or Wi-Fi), and longerrange cellular radio. Wi-Fi, which
carries the lion's share of digital
data, has a reputation for consuming a lot of battery power.
Various amendments to IEEE
802.11 have called for transmitting
data at lower power when appropriate. But such transmissions
also lower data rates-which in
turn necessitates longer transmissions and requires more power.
One solution for conserving
power is to put the Wi-Fi radio in
sleep mode. In this power-saving
setting, the IEEE Wake-Up Radio
wakes up every few milliseconds
to see if a signal is trying to get
through. The receiver listens
for a signal that informs the
device that information is being
sent its way, and wakes up the
Wi-Fi radio so that the data
exchange can begin. An alwayson 100-milliwatt Wi-Fi radio can
drain a 3-volt 130-milliamperehour battery in about four hours.
By adding a second low-power
IEEE Wake-Up Radio receiver, the
battery life could be stretched to

694 days, according to the IEEE
802.11ba standards task group.
"IEEE Wake-Up Radio is
an add-on to existing IEEE
802.11 radios that substantially
improves power-saving performance of IEEE 802, removing the
need to compromise between
power savings and latency,"
Senior Member Adrian Stephens,
chair of the IEEE 802.11 working group, said in a news release.
"This makes the technology suitable for a new class of batterypowered devices that will drive
innovation and exciting new
applications in the market."
As engineers continue to streamline signal handling, consumers
can look forward to thousand-fold
increases in battery life and years
of operation on a single charge,
according to the report.
IEEE Wake-Up Radio will
greatly reduce the need for frequent recharging or replacement
of batteries while still maintaining
optimal performance.
The November report says that
IoT devices that run over shortrange wireless networks-like
those used in transportation and
logistics, health monitoring, and
smart homes-will benefit the
most from the new standard. ◆
MAR CH 2018 TH E IN STITUTE

15

http://theinstitute.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-internet-of-things http://theinstitute.ieee.org/static/special-report-the-internet-of-things http://standards.ieee.org/news/2017/WakeUp_Radio.html http://theinstitute.ieee.org http://standards.ieee.org/news/2017/WakeUp_Radio.html http://standards.ieee.org/news/2017/WakeUp_Radio.html http://www.ieee802.org/11/Reports/tgba_update.htm http://www.ieee802.org/11/Reports/tgba_update.htm http://standards.ieee.org/ http://www.globalspec.com http://standards.ieee.org/ http://www.ieee.org/education_careers/education/education_resources.html http://www.ieee.org/education_careers/education/education_resources.html http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8055459/ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8055459/ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8055459/ http://theinstitute.ieee.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Institute - March 2018