On January 20, OPPO Research Institute officially released the white paper "Zero Power Communication", which for the first time explained the technical positioning and development prospects of zero power communication technology in detail, and gave direction guidance for the coexistence and integration of it and future communication networks, which will help further promote the popularization and landing of "zero power communication technology".
OPPO's "Zero Power Communication" white paper depicts such a future scenario, Where IoT devices will be able to obtain energy directly through Bluetooth, WiFi, and mobile phone signals, thus achieving a smaller size, longer life, and lower cost. Loss-proof electronic tags for tracking the location of items will not require batteries replacement, every endangered migratory bird can carry ultra-remote monitoring equipment, and the number of batteries that cannot degrade environmentally friendly will be greatly reduced.
At present, most electronic equipment relies on battery power, in the size of the equipment, production cost, service life, ease of use, recycling and other aspects of the problem, OPPO "zero power communication" white paper mentioned in the zero power communication can change this situation.
Zero-power terminals have features such as battery-free, extremely small size, ultra-low power consumption, and extremely low cost
It is understood that zero-power communication can collect and utilize RF energy in the environment, bringing battery-free, extremely small size, ultra-low power consumption, and extremely low cost to zero-power terminals. It can not only reduce costs and increase efficiency for vertical fields such as intelligent warehousing, intelligent logistics, and smart agriculture, but also bring cutting-edge technology experiences such as wearable devices and smart homes to more users.
At present, the passive communication technology represented by radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has problems such as short communication distance, high cost, and the need for additional radio frequency sources, and it still faces great challenges in special applications such as the industrial Internet in harsh environments, low-cost and high-capacity logistics and warehousing scenarios, low-cost and low-power smart homes, and very small size wearables.
Unlike traditional passive communication technologies, zero-power terminals can harvest RF energy from wireless signals emitted from existing ambient RF sources such as TV towers, FM towers, cellular base stations, and WiFi access points, and backscatter communication by modulating incoming wave signals. When designing a zero-power communication network, it is necessary not only to consider the unlicensed frequency band and the authorized frequency band, but also to study its coexistence with 4G/5G systems.
Based on the needs of different scenarios, the white paper develops a combination of cellular-based, side-line-based, and hybrid cellular-based communication for zero-power communication.
Among them, the cellular-based zero-power communication system is suitable for industrial IoT scenarios with harsh environments, huge quantities and high maintenance costs, reducing manpower and equipment investment. The side-line communication between terminals meets the needs of low-cost short-distance communication, and realizes functions such as intelligent reading, environmental monitoring, and intelligent control in smart homes and wearable scenarios. In addition, the two systems can also be flexibly adapted and combined to create communication conditions for more application scenarios.
Zero-power communication is mainly based on RF energy harvesting technology, backscattering technology and low-power computing technology
Tang Hai, chief 5G scientist of OPPO, said: "From 1G to 4G, it has undergone four technological changes of analog, digital, data and broadband, and the pursuit of higher transmission data rate is the theme of "unchanged" mobile communication technology. But as we move into the next decade, the industry as a whole will need to rethink what the new needs and drivers will be? OPPO believes that in addition to pursuing higher data transmission rates, next-generation communication technologies should also focus on how to allow more people to enjoy the convenience of technology and create positive and more sustainable values for society. Zero-power communication technology can help the micro-electronic products on the market to get rid of the battery, greatly reducing the maintenance cost and pollution hazards of the terminal, and is one of the core technical solutions that OPPO pays attention to in the B5G/6G stage. ”
At present, OPPO has successfully built a zero-power communication system and completed the verification of the principle of zero-power communication technology. In addition to technical self-research, OPPO also leads the research proposal of zero-power communication in the international standard organization 3GPP as the main standard promoter, and successively expounds the zero-power communication technology concept in academic conferences such as the Future Forum and ICCC, contributing to the communication industry ecology.
From the successive releases of the "6G AI-Cube Intelligent Network" and "Zero Power Communication" white papers, it can be seen that OPPO is continuously exploring and investing in the field of communication technology, and the official said that it will promote the landing of zero-power communication technology within 3-5 years to achieve a smarter, more convenient and green communication experience.