Seattle-based tech firm Ixana is at CES 2024 demonstrating its Wi-R communication chip, which “reduces energy consumption by 100x compared to radiative wireless technologies like BLE, Wi-Fi, cellular, Zigbee and Z-Wave, enabling a paradigm shift in wearable technology,” according to the company, which nabbed a CES Innovation Award. The 4Mbps YR22 Wi-R chip offers “continuous charging-free body-worn health monitoring, video streaming for extended reality, and intuitive human-computer interaction,” Ixana says, explaining it works via algorithms that run via distributed computing on battery-powered devices.

One observer attending the CES Innovation Awards showcase on behalf of ETC called Ixana’s tech “conductive networking” that “turns your body into a short range transceiver with 4Mbps bandwidth.”

“Wi-R pioneers a new era of ubiquitous computing with seamless connectivity” for markets including AR/VR, audio, physically secure electronics, automotive, healthcare and medical sensors, smartphones and wearables, the startup explains in its CES Innovation Award submission.

“Building on the buzz of CES 2023’s Wi-R reveal, Ixana soars further with a prestigious CES 2024 Innovation Award” for a product in the embedded technologies and computer hardware category, Ixana writes in a blog post celebrating the win.

Ixana founder and CTO Shreyas Sen says what makes the Wi-R compelling is not only energy efficiency, “but its role as an enabler for manufacturers to unlock performance and innovation in a wide range of applications.” By “solving the challenge of energy consumption,” Ixana frees manufacturers of enterprise and consumer goods to “design wearables that can be charging-free,” the company points out.

CoinDesk calls the technology “promising,” and says it “could help power the future metaverse” with wireless tech that “uses the human body as a conductor,” making possible “a new generation of sleeker VR and AR devices.” The non-radiative technology can also enable “all-day video streaming for real-time AI,” the company says, explaining the tech in a white paper.

Ixana will be showcasing the Wi-R platform at the CES 2024 Innovation Awards Showcase at Booth 61249 (Venetian Expo) and in a Venetian suite.