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Accidental Discovery Leads to Tiny, Battery-Free Tracking Device

By Christie Nicholson - August 22, 2013

in Tech

Something very strange happened in the R&D lab of a UK-based electronics engineering company. A research team at Roke Manor Research was working on text-based radio frequency systems when a team member suddenly detected a signal—coming from a random bag of components off to the side. A small movement had apparently turned mechanical energy into electrical energy within the bag.

After figuring out how this phenomenon occurred, a Roke team subsequently harnessed it and created a new tiny tracking device. Their invention works over a greater distance than most existing tags, and here's the killer quality that makes it really different from nearly all tracking devices: It works without batteries.

The device is called Agitate and it's a self-charging miniature device, no larger than a quarter. The agitate tag's signal "can be tracked through walls and up to 20 kilometres in built-up areas," writes the company, "with an estimated range of 200 kilometres in free space."

So how does it work? Basically Agitate is made of two plates, one is metal and the other a charged material. When either of the two plates are moved, even just slightly, mechanical energy is turned into electrical and is used to transmit a radio pulse. The signal only lasts a few seconds but is more powerful than a cell phone. And it's very precise—the shorter the radio pulse, the more precise the signal to a specific location.

A tag like this could be used to track just about anything, from objects to pets to people. (The device can endure a washing machine, so it can even be sewn into clothing.) But the applications go beyond tracking, as you'll see when you think about how it works: You shake it and it starts emitting a signal. Imagine a bridge, building or other rigid structure loaded up with Agitate tags. When anything that's not supposed to shake starts to shake, it would be helpful, possibly even life-saving, to know about it.

What would make a swarm of Agitate tags very feasible are the extremely low production costs; Roke is estimating just five cents per unit. With such an affordable and powerful device, the teams at Roke—who are tweaking it even further, making it more powerful and precise—are hoping people like you will come up with innovative and creative uses for Agitate. So, any ideas?

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Joseph Gauci

8 years ago

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I found 1 sewn into my jacket there yesterday came home today i was about to cut it out someone beat me to it big hole where it used to be i live alone.

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Jeff

10 years ago

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I have a use for an ongoing surplus of these devices. How do I purchase them and where?
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Melissa

11 years ago

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Could they be used as-is to track a vehicle? And could I get one?

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Fen

11 years ago

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Would be great to tag pets in order to locate them if they wander away from home.
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John

11 years ago

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Our worst nightmares come true. Welcome to the Police State, folks. And check your clothing.
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Shaun

11 years ago

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During the Christchurch earthquakes signals from seismographs were used to generate texts sent to search & rescue teams going into damaged buildings, giving them up to 10 seconds advance notice of the arrival of an aftershock. The temporary system was patchy in its coverage, depending on the epi-centre location, and wasn't available to protect the public at large. Now the city is starting the rebuild I can imagine these devices incorporated into new structures giving a much better wide swarm coverage for the future.
Christchurch has had over 12,600 shallow earthquakes in the last 3 years, about a dozen a day, so this device would be real handy. The attached url is slow to load, but fascinating to watch on fast forward, leave the sticky dots function ticked to see the overall pattern.
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DonPepe

11 years ago

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I wonder how long the charge lasts between movements.
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gregb

11 years ago

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This is called an "electret power generator", which generates power when a capacitor with a built in charge is vibrated. A hundred year old technology.
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Tom Mc

11 years ago

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I think this is a great idea to track movements of people as a whole. It can be used by our government to understand the habits of people going about their daily lives and later used against us.
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Aaron

11 years ago

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Parents should sew them into their kids sneakers or clothing in order for police or rescue teams to track them in the event they are taken or become lost. Could also be used by hikers or outdoorsman when needed to be rescued.
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Tomas

11 years ago

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And does the signal got some "signature", so that if i would have it on everything and everyone use it everywhere, i could find one particular thing? or it would just simply reacto on every signal from anyone 200 km away?
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Matt

11 years ago

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Our American "friends" at the NSA are going to LOVE this...
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amy

11 years ago

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why not use thousands of them to create free electricity???
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