Brain-Inspired Wireless Sensing with Neuromorphic Cameras

For decades, smart environments have promised kitchens that know when appliances are running, workshops that track which tools are in use, and buildings that sense how people move through them. Yet most buildings remain largely ''dumb.'' The obstacles are familiar: sensors require batteries and maintenance, the wireless spectrum is crowded, and continuously operating cameras and radios consume more power than perpetual deployment can afford. All of these obstacles share a common root: conventional sensing systems sample the world continuously, burning power and bandwidth even when nothing is happening. Biology solved this problem differently. The retina in the human eye doesn't refresh at a fixed rate. It responds asynchronously to change, staying quiet until something moves and then signaling only where and when it did. What if our sensing infrastructure worked the same way?