Batteries and power supplies for wearable and ubiquitous computing

The paper discusses the energy storage requirements of wearable computer technology and identifies research topics for novel battery technologies. Three categories of devices with basically different battery requirements were defined. They comprise the wearable computer main unit, small devices which are distributed around the human body and active tags which enable situated and ubiquitous computing. There is a demand for small, high energy density rechargeable batteries which enable a flexible design and for very low cost thin primary batteries for smart label active lags. Prototypes of 120 /spl mu/m thick AgO-Zn batteries have been fabricated by a screen printing process. They can be directly integrated into plastic cards, smart labels and hybrid circuits.