Oppo Zero-Power Tag tracker would save landfills from millions of AirTag-style batteries
The Zero-power Communication technology that Oppo issued a white paper on last year is now bearing fruit in the form of an actual Zero-Power Tag prototype device. Oppo is demonstrating its first battery-free tracker based on the zero-power technology at the MWC 2023 expo and we got a chance to preview it in its booth.
The way the tag works is that by "leveraging key technologies such as RF signal harvesting, backscattering, and low-power computing, it harvests radio waves from the surrounding area to power its own functionality and communicate battery-free in order to meet the diverse needs of IoT in the coming 6G era." Where does the Zero-Power Tag get the energy to do its tracking duties without an autonomous power source like a battery?
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...
The Zero-Power Tag exhibited was in the form of a prototype plastic rectangle with the chip inside, but Oppo told us that it may actually come in the form of a sticker that can be applied anywhere. As one not-so-futuristic use case scenario the tracker could be applied to "endangered birds" to keep tabs (or, rather, tags) on their migratory habits at all times.
With the Zero-Power Tag, Oppo is envisioning a world where the myriad of IoT devices that are starting to inundate us won't use as many polluting batteries. Apple's AirTags, for instance, use coin batteries that last about a year and then have to be tossed, but innovative ideas like Oppo's Zero-Power Tag could one day prevent millions of batteries from going to the landfills.
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