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steve jenkin | 3 Jun 2011 02:45
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[clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

From the 'allthingsd' D9 conference.
Solves a universal problem ("Oh No, I've forgotten my charger").
Did they win a UPenn innovation contest?

"UBeam, a company co-founded by recent University of Pennsylvania
graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck, thinks it may have a solution:
Wireless charging stations."

"Perry and Dweck will demo the uBeam charge system, which consists of a
charge station and a battery adapter. The plug-in charge station is
designed to transmit ultrasound waves, which are converted to
electricity by the adapter."

System: Roof-mounted transmitter charges batteries in charging
station(s). Insert "USB adaptor" into battery/station to charge device.

Site:
<http://www.ubeam.org/the-technology.html>

Text of demo.
<http://allthingsd.com/20110602/demo-at-d9-ubeam/?refcat=d9>

Video:
<http://video.allthingsd.com/video/d9-video-ubeam-demo/7332C7FB-8AEC-409D-9CA5-5A1DA2DBF0D1>

===================================================

=> I don't know about the system efficiency and power density of this
device.  They talk about 3.5 hours to charge the remote battery.
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Arjen Lentz | 3 Jun 2011 03:30
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Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

Hi Steve

----- Original Message -----
> From the 'allthingsd' D9 conference.
> Solves a universal problem ("Oh No, I've forgotten my charger").
> Did they win a UPenn innovation contest?
> 
> "UBeam, a company co-founded by recent University of Pennsylvania
> graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck, thinks it may have a
> solution: Wireless charging stations."

It's not entirely new. Several years ago there was a startup doing this as well, essentially using an
induction coil and they had a simple modification which made pretty much any mobile work with it. Doing it
efficiently means adding some extra magic with frequency and such, and that appears to be what current
research (and product) development is focusing on.

The company that had it first appeared at the time to not take the swift way to market properly - I don't
remember their name right now, but it appears that others have caught up with them anyhow.

Given that mobiles are going to charge from USB (with the EU directive enforcing that) it not only means no
more plug-mess, but it also means they'll all eat a standardised 5V in. So at least for mobiles, modifying
them to deal with plug-less charging is going to be easy.

Cheers,
Arjen.
--

-- 
Arjen Lentz, Exec.Director  <at>  Open Query (http://openquery.com)
Remote expertise & maintenance for MySQL/MariaDB server environments.

Follow us at http://openquery.com/blog/ & http://twitter.com/openquery
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Jim Croft | 3 Jun 2011 03:32
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Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

cooking everyone in the room?

jim

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 10:45 AM, steve jenkin <sjenkin@...> wrote:
> From the 'allthingsd' D9 conference.
> Solves a universal problem ("Oh No, I've forgotten my charger").
> Did they win a UPenn innovation contest?
>
> "UBeam, a company co-founded by recent University of Pennsylvania
> graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck, thinks it may have a solution:
> Wireless charging stations."
>
> "Perry and Dweck will demo the uBeam charge system, which consists of a
> charge station and a battery adapter. The plug-in charge station is
> designed to transmit ultrasound waves, which are converted to
> electricity by the adapter."
>
> System: Roof-mounted transmitter charges batteries in charging
> station(s). Insert "USB adaptor" into battery/station to charge device.
>
> Site:
> <http://www.ubeam.org/the-technology.html>
>
> Text of demo.
> <http://allthingsd.com/20110602/demo-at-d9-ubeam/?refcat=d9>
>
> Video:
> <http://video.allthingsd.com/video/d9-video-ubeam-demo/7332C7FB-8AEC-409D-9CA5-5A1DA2DBF0D1>
>
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Arjen Lentz | 3 Jun 2011 03:46
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Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

Hi Jmi, all

> cooking everyone in the room?

Ya, having looked at the video, it seems like an atrociously bad idea for that reason and more.

See with an induction plate you can detect the presence of a device and regulate and even switch the system
on/off. With the uBeam, it'd have to be on all the time and it's putting energy (in the form of the ultrasound
waves) out all the time in to the room. The transmitter can't tell when there's an actual receiver, so it's a
huge waste of energy for most of the time.

I think there are other issues with pumping lots of ultrasound into a room, but on the basis of energy wastage
alone this is a serious problem. Not all tech is good.

Cheers,
Arjen.
-- 
Arjen Lentz, Exec.Director  <at>  Open Query (http://openquery.com)
Remote expertise & maintenance for MySQL/MariaDB server environments.

Follow us at http://openquery.com/blog/ & http://twitter.com/openquery

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Robert Edwards | 3 Jun 2011 04:13
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Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

On 03/06/11 11:46, Arjen Lentz wrote:
> Hi Jmi, all
>
>> cooking everyone in the room?
>
> Ya, having looked at the video, it seems like an atrociously bad idea for that reason and more.
>
> See with an induction plate you can detect the presence of a device and regulate and even switch the system
on/off. With the uBeam, it'd have to be on all the time and it's putting energy (in the form of the ultrasound
waves) out all the time in to the room. The transmitter can't tell when there's an actual receiver, so it's a
huge waste of energy for most of the time.
>
> I think there are other issues with pumping lots of ultrasound into a room, but on the basis of energy
wastage alone this is a serious problem. Not all tech is good.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Arjen.

Looks like a fairly typical American solution in the obscene waste of
energy to give an incremental improvement in "quality of life". Very
non-subtle.

If the energy emitter were able to detect the presence of batteries
needing charging and direct the energy directly to that device for as
long as it took to recharge, then it would be a major improvement in
energy efficiency. But when you have lots of nuclear power stations,
who cares about wasted energy?

Cheers,
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Stephen Gibson | 3 Jun 2011 08:51
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[clug] Adding n-wireless network to g

Hi,
   Not a Linux question, but I would appreciate your wisdom, advice
and/or recommendations.

I would like to add a n-wireless network to my current g system, for
transferring video files: 

    mythtv-backend  -(wireless)->  router  -(wireless)->  UPnP TV

My current set up:

    mythtv-backend  -(CAT5)->      router  -(g-wireless)-> UPnP TV

works, but I would like to relocate the backend.

My current ADSL modem router is a Telstra gateway2wire which normally 
connects at ~5000/400  (from memory), but will quite happily switch down 
to ~2000 at night and annoyingly occasionally break the ADSL connection 
requiring ~1-2 minute reset. This may simply be line/exchange related.

Checking the web, there are 3 options for adding n-wireless:
(1) Replace the ADSL modem with a n/g modem
(2) Bridge the current modem and add a n-router
(3) Add a n-access point

Some hardware options appear to be:
(1) Billion 7800N (2.4GHz)   $160 msy
(2) Linksys E2000 (selectable dual band)   $116 msy   /  Asus RT-N16 $150 msy
(3) Netgear WNHDE111(5GHz)  ~$100
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Alex Satrapa | 3 Jun 2011 10:13
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Re: [clug] Adding n-wireless network to g

On 3 Jun 2011, at 16:51, Stephen Gibson wrote:

> I would like to add a n-wireless network to my current g system, for
> transferring video files: 
> 
>   mythtv-backend  -(wireless)->  router  -(wireless)->  UPnP TV

Or alternately:

 router -+--> UPnP TV
         \--> MythTV server

> Since many n-routers can act as access points, I guess option (3) can
> be deleted.

What do you mean by that statement? All WiFi equipped routers act as wireless access points.

> Replacing the modem provides the possibility of improved connection
> speed and stability. But, I have read that concurrent g-wireless
> connections may slow the n-wireless network.

Any WiFi router that has only one radio will either do 802.11n or 802.11g, but not both simultaneously. Some
WiFi routers have two radios (eg: Apple AirPort Extreme, Cisco E3000[1])

> I now realise that adding a n-router will not help the n-/g- conflict,
> since I guess the modem (2.4GHz g-) wifi must be turned off.

You can have an 802.11n and an 802.11g network running at the same time if you have two separate WiFi routers.

> Anyway, does anyone have any experience with n-network performance when
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Michael Carden | 3 Jun 2011 11:28

Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Robert Edwards <bob@...> wrote:
> But when you have lots of nuclear power stations,
> who cares about wasted energy?

I believe the industry term is "Base Load".

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Ben Nizette | 3 Jun 2011 12:43

Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)


On 03/06/2011, at 11:30 AM, Arjen Lentz wrote:

> Hi Steve
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From the 'allthingsd' D9 conference.
>> Solves a universal problem ("Oh No, I've forgotten my charger").
>> Did they win a UPenn innovation contest?
>> 
>> "UBeam, a company co-founded by recent University of Pennsylvania
>> graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck, thinks it may have a
>> solution: Wireless charging stations."
> 
> It's not entirely new. Several years ago there was a startup doing this as well, essentially using an
induction coil and they had a simple modification which made pretty much any mobile work with it. Doing it
efficiently means adding some extra magic with frequency and such, and that appears to be what current
research (and product) development is focusing on.

You mean the one you saw was induction charging?  They're the only ones I'd seen up till now as well.

This one is ultrasound, though I don't know why anyone would use it (and too lazy to read the web site!).

> 
> The company that had it first appeared at the time to not take the swift way to market properly - I don't
remember their name right now, but it appears that others have caught up with them anyhow.
> 
> Given that mobiles are going to charge from USB (with the EU directive enforcing that) it not only means no
more plug-mess, but it also means they'll all eat a standardised 5V in. So at least for mobiles, modifying
them to deal with plug-less charging is going to be easy.
(Continue reading)

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steve jenkin | 4 Jun 2011 05:28
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Re: [clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

Ben Nizette wrote on 3/06/11 8:43 PM:

> This one is ultrasound, though I don't know why anyone would use it
> (and too lazy to read the web site!).

Non-engineers,
recent undergraduates,
"Exciting Undergrad Invention Competition",
plus 'see our prototype built from off-the-shelf bits'.
and dare I say, Americans...

Just in case you noticed, I think Gender plays no part.
These were smart people attempting to solve a "felt need" (& immediate
problem) albeit outside their

I heard a great quote from an Engineer a long time back:
"Engineers get to do for a Dollar what any fool can do for $100".

These days I'd add other constraints:
 - Safely ["do no harm"]
 - Reliably ["keep working" & "don't fail catastrophically"]
 - Efficiently & Effectively  ["do it well", "do it right"]
 - maybe 'appropriately' - hi-tech good in space, bad in 3rd world.

> The Xi Collaboration is a step in this direction that actually has a
> bit of momentum, hope to see good quality inductive charging in the
> next year or two!

My Google-Fu is weak :-( I found nothing about this name.
Got a link?
(Continue reading)

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