Using 5G Network For Electricity
5G is unintentionally giving us an opportunity to mine electricity. The frequencies the network uses are full of energy just begging to be used. And scientists might have cracked how to do exactly that.
Credit: Christopher Moore, Georgia Tech.
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Our world is filled with electromagnetic signals that are waiting for us to use them for their energy. All we need is the ideal technology. A team from Georgia Tech now has such a technology. And it’s simple and practical. It’s a 3D printed rectifying antenna (rectenna). This is an antenna that is capable of converting electromagnetic radiation into DC electricity. And this particular one is just the size of a regular playing card. It mines energy from 5G networks and uses it to run electronic devices.
Wireless networks have been in the spotlight for those searching to use the energy of electromagnetic waves to get usable energy for some time. Some projects looked into Wi-Fi networks, others into TV or radio networks. There even was a technology that tried to prolong the battery life of phones by using the radio waves generated by the phone itself.
Now, 5G networks are changing everything. As they were designed for fast communication their waves carry a lot of energy. This, probably unintentionally, created an incredible opportunity for electromagnetic wave energy miners. Now, they can develop devices that mine the energy of electromagnetic waves that will be much more efficient than any previous technologies.
A team from Georgia Tech solved this using a technology called Rotman Lens. This commonly used component of current radars and systems for electronic combat. To simplify, these lenses allow the radars or rectennas to cover a much larger area without the need to move or rotate. The result of their attempts is a 3D-printed and flexible system capable of mining the energy of 5G networks coming from any direction while mining out 21-times more energy than our so far best similar systems.
But, if you are thinking that we will be able to run our cars on 5G network-based energy you will be disappointed. The new rectenna is capable of mining roughly 6 microwatts from a 5G transmitter that’s 180 meters far away. But that’s still better than nothing. Nonetheless, this energy should be enough for small sensors and IoT devices as well as some types of wearable devices.
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I once heard a story (not sure if its true) that someone put large coils underneath high voltage electricity wires running through their property. They were able to generate/mine the electricity from these coils. The electricity company thought it was theft, as opposed to using a free resource as it does put some load on the network. I wonder where the line between theft and using energy from the air really is? wrapping a coil around the electricity wire on the street is probably theft, but a small coil to power a small portable IoT device... now that seems more reasonable.
I like the idea of mining electricity from transmitted 5G signal, but you can only get a fraction out of it. To be able to get a fully usable amount of electricity, you need to be able to create a device that is highly sensitive and reactive to electromagnetism in free space.
I don't think we will ever be able to use the full amount of energy and I even think that would be counterproductive as it would have to fully absorb the radiowaves blocking them from reaching your devices.
Nonetheless, I do assume the scientists are working on ways to gather more of the "spare" energy.
I couldn't agree more with your statement. What are your thought about harvesting energy from natural occurring electromagnetic waves?