This Mastodon post hit #1 on Hacker News today, I think people around here would be interested.
Then you look at the $350 price point and walk away.
I just googled “low power camera module” and found this consuming 14ma. That would leave 166ma available for encoding/signaling circuitry.
So you could dangle a camera off of a single strand of fiber with zero EM interference in transmission for miles. Sounds like a good application for deep sea use.
Maybe not miles. Even in Fiber Optics, there is a degree of attenuation / power loss as the cable absorbs some light and emits it as heat. But you might get a good enough distance before enough energy dissipates.
Multimode cable tho, doesn’t go very far
1.5W of 800nm infrared light
I don’t know why this is so big. Apologies.
Don’t worry. Its infrared. You’ll never see it coming (and probably never see anything else coming after it either…)
So only 30% efficient?
It’s power over light. You’re gonna lose some of it.
It’s incredible you can do this at all really.
$350 and 30% efficient today, $3.50 and 90% efficient* in a decade. Gotta start somewhere.
*
Not an actual prediction of future price and performance in case someone starts looking at the second set of numbers. Just saying if it works well enough to be sold to home users, I expect continued development and production lines to have an impact. Also does not account for inflation. Terms and conditions may apply, see your local dealer for details, void where prohibited by law and all other standard disclaimers.
