Time reversal technique could allow for some pretty crazy tech.

Researchers at the University of Maryland have demonstrated a method that allows power, sound, or images to be transmitted to an object without knowing exactly where it is, and without affecting objects around it.

One day the technology may be able to be used to direct microwaves to cancer cells to heat and destroy them, without affecting nearby tissue. It could also be used to transmit power to a smartphone, without even knowing where it is.

So how does it work?

When a signal is transmitted through the air, it scatters before some of the signal is picked up by an antennae. By recording the signal and transmitting is backwards that scatter is reversed, and it can be sent back as a focused beam in space and time. This method also creates a secure communications channel, as other receivers won’t know how to read the signal.

“Time reversal has been around for 10 to 20 years but it requires some pretty sophisticated technology to make it work,” Anlage says. “Technology is now catching up to where we are able to use it in some new and interesting ways.”

The team acknowledges that all their work so far has been in controlled conditions in labs, and “It will take more research to figure out how to develop treatments. I’m sure there are other uses we havent thought of.”

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