Engineers made a battery-free radio the size of an ant

[ETRJ]

This is the promise of the near future: all of your gadgets — from your smartphone to your fridge — will be able to talk to each other, wirelessly communicating whether you're around or not. We're almost there, but a new device from Stanford and University of California, Berkeley, professors may speed things along. Engineers from the schools have designed a radio the size of an ant.

NO EXTERNAL POWER REQUIRED

The tiny chips, which are powered by harvesting radio signals and don't require external power, are small enough to fit on gadgets in your home, but still powerful enough to send and receive transmissions. The hope, according to the creators, is for device-makers to start using the chips in gadgets for the Internet of Things. Add one of the chips to a lightbulb, and make your stuff a little a smarter — able to communicate with you and all the electronics around you.

There are, of course, already wireless devices that do that. This invention hopes to differentiate itself by being cheap — it only costs a few cents to produce — and by being small enough to go anywhere. Will that work? Check back in the near future.

YouTube video:

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/14/6145213/tiny-battery-free-radio

Mod note: Please do not copy-paste the article into your post, include some original thoughts.  Read the pinned thread in the News section entitled "Read before posting in this section". —Mod Glenwing

[Kyuubixchidori]

problem would be signal strength I believe. pretty much useless if it has to be as close as nfc to work

[snes]

will be able to talk to each other, wirelessly communicating whether you're around or not.

I'm not sure, whether or not I want them to. Maybe I'm just getting old...

[PokémonTrainerFour]

pretty much what @Kyuubixchidori said, if range on these suck, it won't be worth it.

[Yoinkerman]

WHAT IS THIS, A RADIO FOR ANTS?

[Real_PhillBert]

Cool, But I cant say I see an application.

[luke_2bossly]

no way

[Builder]

"...the size of an ant."

 

Herein lies the problem, my friends.

[XTankSlayerX]

Okay, somethings might be small; You still might be able to use em well.

 

But this. This is just kinda stupid... What you going to use it on? How?

[bob345]

How does this differ from normal RFID chips? They also receive their power in the same manner and they have been around for quite a long time.

[Mister Snow]

problem would be signal strength I believe. pretty much useless if it has to be as close as nfc to work

Well, not exactly. I believe that it can receive a signal like any other device but it can't transmit that far which is not a problem if you use it as a wireless controller on all sort of things. It has great potential in smart home sector.

[mr moose]

I don't see the point in this.  Normally I am quite good at dreaming up uses for devices but this one has me stumped.

[ionbasa]

How does this differ from normal RFID chips? They also receive their power in the same manner and they have been around for quite a long time.

The coil required on most RFID chips:

This new technology though may be used in say a smart watch, or maybe in a medical field (pacemaker). At first glance, it doesn't seem like much, but there are actually quite a lot of useful ways to use a radio that small.

 

Although as others have pointed out, the transmit power levels may be really weak. 

[elkenrod]

Some people really lack imagination.

[Stylez]

looks interesting

[Myo]

Sweet article!

 

EDIT: Wan show viewers incoming!

[iFrostbite]

Omg thats awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

[darth343]

Maybe they dont have to send that far? Maybe there is some kind of hub which connects to them and receives the signals 

[mr moose]

Some people really lack imagination.

really?  why?

 

EDIT: if you are referring to people not being able to think of a use for it maybe you should list some uses that existing technology can't already accomplish.

[LukeTim]

How does this differ from normal RFID chips? They also receive their power in the same manner and they have been around for quite a long time.

 

The only difference appears to be the size. This effectively is just RFID... just very small, so presumably it operates at a much higher frequency than regular RFID.

[Polkagrisen123]

Cool, and for those of you that think this is useless, maybe we dont need THIS thing but the thing is that they can develop this thing much further