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First battery-free cellphone makes calls by harvesting ambient power

32 points by the_duke 9y ago

TD-Linux 9y ago
It seems that this operates on the same principle as The Thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) Several devices in the ANT catalog also rely on radio reflection, for example this video transmitter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog#/media/File:NSA_RAGEMASTER.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog#/media/File:NS...
camtarn 9y ago
Previous: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 It's not a cellphone. It's basically an backscatter analog audio bug which doesn't even operate on cellphone frequencies, and which has a range of only ~15 metres.
- Animats 9y ago
  True. If they could make a Bluetooth earpiece powered this way, though, they'd have a product.
  - throwanem 9y ago
    Would they? Those drop out often enough already, without being subject to the vagaries of the local microwave environment in order to power themselves at all. Don't get me wrong - I love my Rowkin Mini, and a self-charging Bluetooth earbud would be an awesome thing to have! I'm just not sure how realistic a prospect that really is.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  of-course this is false marketing, common among university researchers to generate the most buzz. More accurately, this should be called a cordless landline.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  It seems to me that wired article should be considered the duplicate post, since this is the source article.
pp19dd 9y ago
Hmm. Think this is a far stretch from being a cellphone prototype. What I'm seeing is a wireless microphone with a number pad prototype. I get that the implied concept is to take power hungry components and offload them to a nearby transmitter device, but we have that already: a wireless phone.
jankotek 9y ago
> "power gathered from ambient radio signals transmitted by a base station up to 31 feet away" Seems pretty useless. Better would be to use capacitor and crank handle. And first GSM phones were also battery free. It was van stuffed with equipment powered by a generator ;-)
IncRnd 9y ago
"The team designed a custom base station to transmit and receive the radio signals. But that technology conceivably could be integrated into standard cellular network infrastructure or Wi-Fi routers now commonly used to make calls." This is not a cellphone. It is not groundbreaking or new technology. They've made a radio.

32 points by the_duke 9y ago

It seems that this operates on the same principle as The Thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) Several devices in the ANT catalog also rely on radio reflection, for example this video transmitter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog#/media/File:NSA_RAGEMASTER.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog#/media/File:NS...

camtarn 9y ago

Previous: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14659236 It's not a cellphone. It's basically an backscatter analog audio bug which doesn't even operate on cellphone frequencies, and which has a range of only ~15 metres.

Animats 9y ago
True. If they could make a Bluetooth earpiece powered this way, though, they'd have a product.
- throwanem 9y ago
  Would they? Those drop out often enough already, without being subject to the vagaries of the local microwave environment in order to power themselves at all. Don't get me wrong - I love my Rowkin Mini, and a self-charging Bluetooth earbud would be an awesome thing to have! I'm just not sure how realistic a prospect that really is.
em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
of-course this is false marketing, common among university researchers to generate the most buzz. More accurately, this should be called a cordless landline.
em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
It seems to me that wired article should be considered the duplicate post, since this is the source article.

pp19dd 9y ago

Hmm. Think this is a far stretch from being a cellphone prototype. What I'm seeing is a wireless microphone with a number pad prototype. I get that the implied concept is to take power hungry components and offload them to a nearby transmitter device, but we have that already: a wireless phone.

jankotek 9y ago

> "power gathered from ambient radio signals transmitted by a base station up to 31 feet away" Seems pretty useless. Better would be to use capacitor and crank handle. And first GSM phones were also battery free. It was van stuffed with equipment powered by a generator ;-)

IncRnd 9y ago

"The team designed a custom base station to transmit and receive the radio signals. But that technology conceivably could be integrated into standard cellular network infrastructure or Wi-Fi routers now commonly used to make calls." This is not a cellphone. It is not groundbreaking or new technology. They've made a radio.