Battery-Free Cell Phone

It's amazing to think that the universe will be a better place as a result.

Are they now working on the next step, the bionic implant phone? Loneliness will never be the same again.

..."The battery-free phone prototype can operate on power gathered from ambient radio signals transmitted by a base station up to 31 feet away."..

So no display? No internet? No apps?.....that's not a cellphone, it's a walki-talki....

CAN YOU HEARME NOW!!!!!

Technically, it's not your normal cell phone that you can take almost anywhere. It requires a base station to provide the energy and interface to the cellular network, so it's more like a wireless handset.

"The UW researchers demonstrated how to harvest this small amount of energy from two different sources. The battery-free phone prototype can operate on power gathered from ambient radio signals transmitted by a base station up to 31 feet away."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170705164453.htm

They have separated the digital part of a phone, which requires little power, from the analog part, which requires a lot more power. The digital part is in the handset, and the power hungry analog part is in the base station, which connects to the cellular network The handset communicates with the base station by modulating the impedance of the antenna and the base station detects the variation in reflected power.

In Passive Wi-Fi, power-intensive functions are handled by a single device plugged into the wall. Passive sensors use almost no energy to communicate with routers, phones and other devices. Image: University of Washington

http://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/passive-wi-fi/

Still, a pretty impressive feat.

Regardless, the POWER has to come FROM some place, another source, like: other transmitters or the sun.

Ain't nothin' absolutely FREE.

...but the only cell phone towers that can pick it up look like this:

Ain't technology wonderful....?

Actually, if the power is that low, it might be possible to power the same cell phone using a phonon cell of that power using magnesium-matrix-copper setup. The matrix gets better and better at conducting until around 80 °C, when the hydration "boils" off. A cell with a 1.5 V open circuit, and Is (short-circuit) of about 10.0 mA, should be able to output 0.75 V at 5.0 mA, or about 3.75 milliwatts indefinitely. Obviously, a battery made of several of these cells would have a higher voltage, at the expense of output impedance.

Surely that would be convenient, and the cell would last about a year or two, perhaps, with the heat of riding on a sunlit dashboard providing full recharge between calls. Some cells could be designed to perform much better than that if needed.

I realize that, yes, there is already microwatts of incident power nearly everywhere, but I would hate to be the one in the dead zone needing to get a call out, but fat chance of hitting a cell phone tower out there.

With the need to have relay stations every 31 feet or so, being in a dead zone might actually be a relief, rather than a liability.

At least that would make police tracking of cell phones a total and complete breeze.

Isn't that what "we" are all aiming for? A completely free, yet safe society where only the criminal element needs to worry?

Something like the movie Aeon flux. You dont say a word about the government because they will know what you said and who you are, well end up exterminated prior to crime committed or rebellion perhaps.

It is because of goobers like you that some governments are starting to set up "thought police".

Your thinking is entirely full of worms. Too much cheap hooch, bad saki, etc.

The next big thing is converting the talking into binary signals and send it million miles away. Now your wife knows you wanna do a thing or two. Or girls who wanna lay over send it in a hush. Wow

What are you talking about, Mr. King of the Intestines.

And it might be best if you refrain from using the second person (singular or plural) pronoun, and state this in your own terms, how it might affect you, not someone you assume something ridiculous about.