Researchers at the University of Washington, USA, have successfully tested a phone that doesn’t need a battery.
This is a leap forward in technology that gradually eliminates the worry of running out of battery. Instead of using a conventional rechargeable battery, this phone collects energy from the surrounding environment to provide necessary operations.
They experimented with calling using the Skype application, a demonstration of the possibility of commercialization of this product. According to Associate Professor Shyam Gollakota, this phone is the first in the world that does not use batteries.
People abandoned traditional audio-converting technology, instead comparing the difference between the vibrations of the voice and the signal waves of the mobile station. This process encodes the voice into the reflected radio signal and this uses very little power.
To receive the signal, the phone decodes the radio signal into vibrations to feed into the speaker. In the test, a switch that toggles between the two functions is used.
With available components, the team has demonstrated the functionality of this unique phone. Not only making regular calls, it can also use the functions of the Skype software. Another advantage of this technology is taking advantage of available telecommunication and Wifi hotspots.
Currently, the phone still needs power to operate and consumes about 3.5 microWatt. This amount of electricity can be supplied in two ways: One is by utilizing the radio power of the base stations, the other is by solar cells.
Other non-battery technologies often require consecutive charge and use cycles. Meanwhile, the phone must meet the ability to maintain a continuous call. This is the biggest challenge to getting the battery out of the phone completely.
As the next step in the research, they will try to increase the distance between phone use and secure encryption of call information. They have also set a goal of making video calls with this phone.