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I learned about this through a classmate doing a presentation on his work for this project (at MIT). Iirc, they used modified android devices with larger batte
by rcheu 10y ago
I learned about this through a classmate doing a presentation on his work for this project (at MIT).
Iirc, they used modified android devices with larger batteries. The devices mostly slept and occasionally woke up to check in so they lasted awhile. I don't remember the specifics of how they communicated unfortunately. I'm somewhat surprised this article is out. When I heard about it (~1 year ago), I thought they weren't going to release the data because it technically acquired illegally with the tracking devices.
- deckar01 10y agoWhat laws did they violate? Just to disambiguate my tone, I don't doubt they could have violated laws, I'm just not very knowledgable in this area of the law and would like to learn more.
- jhallenworld 10y agoMy guess: shipping a lithium ion battery improperly.
- Scoundreller 10y agoNaw, lithium ion batteries have a high self-discharge rate. Not a good idea for this kind of project. Since we're talking eWaste, my guess is a bunch of 6V alkaline batteries strung together in an old CRT monitor.
- jhallenworld 10y agoIt's a good idea to use primary cells for this case, but did they?
- Scoundreller 10y agoThey seem to be vague about the device and its batteries, but they do say they utilized an external battery. With no mode of recharging, why bother with rechargeables?
- marincounty 10y agoLithium ion batteries have the lowest rates of self-discharge.
- rcheu 10y agoMy understanding it was some sort of law related to the tracking feature, and possibly some sort of espionage related laws. This was a speaking class (6.UAT), so I don't know much about the details. Hopefully someone from the project shows up and can answer better.