RF and TV Waves Harnessed for Battery-Free Wireless Devices

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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University of Washington scientists are developing a prototype that utilizes ambient backscatter, from radio and TV waves to power devices without an external power source. Rumor is they got the idea from the Zero Point Modules on Stargate SG1. :D
 
If you withdraw energy from a transmission of Radio and TV waves, would that negatively effect the signal quality for anyone behind you in a direct line from yourself to the transmitter? Like would it effectively ruin the signal for my neighbour's "rabbit ears" on either the left, right or across the street?
 
WBurchnall said:
If you withdraw energy from a transmission of Radio and TV waves, would that negatively effect the signal quality for anyone behind you in a direct line from yourself to the transmitter? Like would it effectively ruin the signal for my neighbour's "rabbit ears" on either the left, right or across the street?
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Probably not in any measurable way, however if this scales up too much and does affect signals expect the FCC to terminate this with extreme prejudice.
 
WBurchnall said:
If you withdraw energy from a transmission of Radio and TV waves, would that negatively effect the signal quality for anyone behind you in a direct line from yourself to the transmitter? Like would it effectively ruin the signal for my neighbour's "rabbit ears" on either the left, right or across the street?
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It's no different than any other antenna, it just the signal for energy instead of amplifying and using the information. The will yield an incredibly small amount of power, however. It's not going to charge phones, the best it might do is make some glorified RFID tags.
 
Obi_Kwiet said:
It's no different than any other antenna, it just the signal for energy instead of amplifying and using the information. The will yield an incredibly small amount of power, however. It's not going to charge phones, the best it might do is make some glorified RFID tags.
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May not charge a cell phone but if my remote never needs batteries again then I like it!
 
Interesting, i thought this would be similar to the batteryless radios that require gigantic antennas to work. But since they don't have to power a speaker they can be used for digital transmissions instead.
 
Sounds similar to the "free energy circuit" chain email my dad got years ago. Might be able to pull a tiny bit, but not going to power a house. Worth investigating, but probably way better off harnessing EM energy above the ozone layer.

Somewhat related: An "unstable" ex-customer of mine said that he stuck a voltmeter between the ocean and the beach, and claimed that he'd be rich (tried explaining salt and electrolytes, but he was too busy having an acid flashback to listen).
 
I've had a couple mW easy in the longwire when the bands are up good so I'm sure it would work pretty well in an urban area, from the looks of it they are going for high VHF, closer you are to the emitters the better of course.
 
This is old old old. How can they pretend this is new stuff?

Built one of these in the early 90s out of a magazine article, and standing less than a block away from an am radio station and power was in micro watts. Maybe the tech is better today but this is not a new idea.
 
Eickst said:
This is old old old. How can they pretend this is new stuff?

Built one of these in the early 90s out of a magazine article, and standing less than a block away from an am radio station and power was in micro watts. Maybe the tech is better today but this is not a new idea.
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Yeah except this isn't just about powering, this is about using existing signals to in effect send a signal
 
@Eickst
The old tech was just a radio receiver. This one uses smaller antennas and the cards communicate with each other.
 
Oh hell, coming soon to a wallet near you... credit cards you don't have to swipe. Scary.
 
lol, just noticed the title

look out for those TV waves...RF is fine though
 
Since these things are using "back-scatter" (noise), they might just help clean up the bands a bit. If there are enough of them.
 
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