Oppo has revealed futuristic scenes in its "Zero-Power Communication" white paper.
How it works
Unlike the traditional method, Zero-Power devices can harvest ambient radio signals broadcast from sources such as TV towers, FM radio towers, cellular base stations, and WiFi access points (APs) as their source of power.
After harvesting the energy from existing radio waves, the device can modulate ambient radio signals with its own information and transmit these signals outwards in a process known as backscattering communication.
When designing Zero-Power Communication networks, it is necessary to consider the coexistence of Zero-Power communication systems and existing 4G/5G systems apart from unlicensed and licensed bands.
Zero-Power Communication systems can be constructed in a framework that uses cellular communications, sidelink communications, or both in hybrid.
Manifold use
In the near future, IoT devices will be able to harvest energy directly from Bluetooth, WiFi, and cellphone signals, resulting in excellent features such as smaller size, better durability, and lower cost, Oppo said.
Electronic tags are applied to locate the items without replacing or recharging the tag battery.
Meanwhile, every endangered migratory bird will be equipped with long-distance tracking devices. Therefore, the number of batteries will be significantly reduced. Those are the futuristic scenes pictured in OPPO's "Zero-Power Communication" white paper.
Zero-Power Communication tags can be attached to easily lost items, enabling them to be located easily in a long distance without ever changing battery.
Zero-Power devices have excellent features such as being battery-free, highly compact, low power consumption, and low cost, the paper said.
Zero-Power Communication technology avoids the need for batteries by harvesting ambient radiofrequency energy in the environment to generate power, resulting in highly compact, efficient, and low-cost devices. Such properties have benefits in commercial applications such as warehousing, logistics, and agriculture and in wearable devices, smart homes, and other cutting-edge consumer applications.
Zero-Power Communication mainly utilizes RF power harvesting, backscattering, and low-power computing technology.
The OPPO Research Institute officially released its new white paper on Zero-Power Communication. The paper examines the technical positioning of Zero-Power Communication technology in the context of current unmet demand in the IoT space while outlining a future roadmap for the technology to develop in coexistence with other communications systems of the future.
Henry Tang, OPPO's Chief 5G Scientist said, "Zero-Power Communications technology offers a means for electronics manufacturers to remove batteries from their products, reducing their costs and environmental impact in the process. As such, Zero-Power Communications is one of our core focus areas as we move into the B5G/6G generation."
Current tech issues
While passive communication technology already exists today in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, the current technology suffers from problems such as short communication distances, low efficiency, and small system capacity. This presents significant challenges when applying RFID technology to specific or complex applications such as industrial sensor networks, low-cost and high-capacity logistics and warehousing, low-cost and low-power smart homes, and miniature wearable technology.
Oppo said it has already successfully built its own Zero-Power Communication system and demonstrated the feasibility of the concept as a viable approach to future communications networks.
