New wearables ‘could be powered by the way a person walks’

Specific characteristics of the way a person walks could be used as a means of powering and authenticating wearable devices, thanks to the development of new technology.

Researchers from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have produced a technique called kinetic energy harvesting to translate a person's motion into electrical energy.

Accelerometers have previously been used to capture an individual's gait in terms of motion and velocity, but generally this has reduced the battery life of wearable devices, whereas the new system does the opposite.

Additionally, the technology has the potential to capture specific elements of an individual's gait and unique energy generation pattern for use as a form of authentication.

In a trial on 20 users, the new system achieved an authentication accuracy of 95 percent and reduced energy consumption by 78 percent, compared to conventional accelerometer-based authentication techniques.

Professor Dali Kafaar, leader of CSIRO's Networks Research Group, said: "With many of us already tracking our health using wearable devices, there is a great opportunity to explore new authentication methods based on our movements."

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