This breakthrough wireless technology can make your smartphone or wearable device last up to five times longer on a single charge.
Scientists have created a new wireless technology that could one day rival mainstream wireless communications technology Bluetooth. This new technology requires very little power and can extend the life of your device up to five times on a single charge.Currently, the major wireless technologies embedded in devices such as smartphones, wearables, and smart home devices, including Wi-Fi, 5G, and Bluetooth,
rely on classic radio configurations. They transmit data through electromagnetic waves generated by modulation of electromagnetic fields.But alternative technologies rely on electric field modulation. Signal transmission equipment replaces the power amplifiers used in produce traditional wireless technology with voltage amplifiers that generate short-range electric fields.
These voltage amplifiers also weak electromagnetic fields, but the receivers (untuned electrodes rather than tuned (Conventional radio systems produce electric fields alongside electromagnetic fields, but they decay very quickly and are not used to transmit information.)The receiving device consumes power only when the receiving electrodes charge or discharge (a process called capacitive coupling), rather than continuously transmitting energy through the air as in classic radio configurations. As a result, the new technology, called Potential Sensing Communication (EPSComm) , consumes a fraction of the power of Bluetooth.
“This new technology means wearable and mobile devices will be able to run longer on a radio communication battery charge. More fundamentally, it will be possible to use smaller batteries and enable Further miniaturization of devices. This opens up new possibilities for tiny wearables such as ear- worn headphones (smart earbuds), smart rings, or even electronics integrated into clothing.” University of Sussex Wearable Technology Professor Daniel Roggen told Live Science in an email.
Related: Bluetooth: Who invented it and how does it work?Roggen’s team found in experiments that the optimized EPSComm consumes 10 times less power than Bluetooth, which he said could mean device batteries last four to five times longer between charges.EPSComm has data throughput of up to 600 kilobytes per second, which Roggen says is fast enough for audio, video and virtual reality (VR) applications. While Bluetooth now typically has higher data transfer rates, the first generation of Bluetooth was only capable of 125 kbps.
EPSComm’s electrical signal travels over a much shorter distance than Bluetooth, which is a trade-off, but it also means there’s less chance of eavesdropping or signal interference.Roggen said the new technology won’t completely replace Bluetooth, but may complement the wireless standard in future devices. For example, someone can use EPSComm to connect the headphones to a smartphone,
but if they leave, the system dynamically switches to a Bluetooth connection , which has a longer range.The team built multiple prototypes of the EPSComm device, but the transmitter and receiver measured approximately 1.2 by 1.2 inches (3 by 3 centimeters). It’s too big to fit into today’s smartphones or wearable devices, such as running headphones.After building a working prototype, the researchers are looking for industrial partners to reduce the size of the components so they can fit into small personal devices.