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Nokia researchers power phone with radio waves

Cambridge-based researchers are looking to recharge phones through the air, without any cables.

By Nicole Kobie, 10 Jun 2009 at 14:47

Nokia researchers have created a prototype mobile phone that draws power from the air, charging up using radio waves.

Those radio waves come from sources like Wi-fi transmitters and TV masts, and are already used to power wireless sensors and RFID tags, according to the MIT journal Technology Review.

The researchers noted that phones must be off to charge, and require about 50 milliwatts. At the moment, the trials have managed about three to five miliwatts.

Despite this, Nokia researcher Markku Rouvala told the journal: "I would say it is possible to put this into a product within three to four years."

However, it’s most likey that radio waves would be used alongside another energy source – such as solar power – to fully charge a phone.

Click here for more cool tech shaping the future of mobile phones.

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