A battery-free, wireless underwater camera

Jeremy Gray · Issue 129, Nov/Dec 2022 · pp. 39–41

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have built a battery-free, wireless underwater camera that could assist scientists in exploring unknown regions of the ocean, monitoring pollution and surveying the effects of climate change. Scientists estimate that more than 95% of Earth’s oceans haven’t been observed. That’s a significant amount. We’ve explored the surface of Mars more than we’ve investigated Earth’s oceans. Part of the reason for the lack of observation is the challenge of powering an underwater camera. Researchers have used vessels to recharge cameras or observed with a camera tethered to a ship to solve the issue. However, that’s a limiting factor. To overcome the issue, MIT researchers have developed a battery- free, wireless underwater camera that is roughly 100,000 times more energy- efficient than other undersea cameras. The new, autonomous camera rec…