Using a modern twist on a technology developed in the 1920s,
researchers at Princeton University have embedded ultrathin radios directly on
plastic sheets, which can be applied to walls and other structures. The
innovation could serve as the basis for new devices ranging from an invisible
communications system inside buildings to sophisticated structural monitors for
bridges and roads.
"We originally built this for energy management in a
smart building," said Naveen Verma, an assistant professor of electrical
engineering and one of the project's principal researchers. "Temperature
sensors and occupancy sensors communicate with a central management system
using distributed radio arrays that are patterned on wallpaper."