While 6G wireless networks are still some way off, Visible Light Communication (VLC) is seen as a possible alternative to using the radio spectrum.
VLC is like a wireless version of fibre optics, using flashes of light to transmit information.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have invented a low-cost, innovative way to harvest the waste energy from VLC by using the human body as an antenna.
This waste energy can be recycled to power an array of wearable devices, or potentially even larger electronics.
“VLC is quite simple and interesting,” said Jie Xiong, a professor at UMass Amherst and the paper’s senior author.
“Instead of using radio signals to send information wirelessly, it uses the light from LEDs that can turn on and off, up to one million times per second.”
Part of the appeal of VLC is that the infrastructure is already everywhere – our homes, vehicles, streetlights and offices are all lit by LED bulbs, which could also...