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This Google patent may extend the battery life of your next smartwatch

By Rajiv Menon
1 min read
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In this article (4)

The tech world is never sleeping. Google’s latest patent has to do with a new antenna design for wearable devices like smartwatches.

The just-filled patent for the new design makes the antenna more compact and optimized for communications.

According to Google, the refreshed antenna design uses a microwave dielectric substrate with a high relative permittivity. That makes this particular antenna design special – it can store electrical energy (meaning better battery life) and transmit (send and receive) signals a lot better.

Google also says that the antenna design is extremely compact – with dimensions of less or equal to 8 mm in width and length. Impressive!

The search engine giant said some of the possible applications of this new design could be in the likes of a smart ring

Antennas are important in many ways in wearable tech. They are crucial for gathering data from tracking sensors (like blood pressure trackers or GPS functionality on fitness watches), and then transmitting them to the part of the device that does analysis or storage.

Questions & Answers

Q.

What is the key feature of Google's new antenna design?

A.

The new design uses a microwave dielectric substrate with high relative permittivity. This allows it to store electrical energy, improving battery life, and transmit signals more effectively.

Q.

How small is the new antenna design?

A.

The antenna design is extremely compact, with dimensions of less than or equal to 8 mm in both width and length.

Q.

Beyond smartwatches, what other devices could use this new antenna?

A.

Google suggests that this new design could also be applied to other wearable devices, such as smart rings.

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