Radio Waves may power Smartphones in the future

                Marty Cooper, who built the first mobile phone in 1973, has revealed he is on the board of a company to solve his invention’s battery woes. Keeping your phone charger around is a real annoyance and it’s going to be an increasing problem.  Cooper is involved in Energous, a company that just won approval from US to test feasibility of charging using radio wave. At the moment, Energous uses a miniature transmitter that can power small gadgets like hearing aids using radio waves. Those devices need to be in direct contact with the transmitter to work.

                But Cooper thinks this technology could be revolutionary in the near future, when humans will have to juggle many devices. Steve Rizzone, CEO of Energous, said the next phase for the technology is to launch transmitters that can charge devices a few inches away by 2017 or 2018. The technology has some hurdles. It needs to be embedded in devices to work, which means getting manufacturers on board. Transmitters will need to be deployed for the technology to be useful.