In Spain millions of phones are sold every year, but worldwide the figures are established in hundreds of millions. In fact, More than 1.2 billion smartphones are sold every twelve months.
This implies that Every year millions of devices stop having main useand they cornered in a drawer or, hopefully, they are inherited or recycled.
But even in the case of whatE a mobile has a second life In the hands of another person, that person will have set aside his previous device.
That is why the policies of recycling and mobile use for a longer and more sense. And the European Union is pushing to it.
The question is how to reuse different mobiles in something that is useful in day to day. We can use it as a music player, intelligent assistant … or data center.
Reusing mobiles
In this idea, two researchers from the Tartu UniversityHuber Flores and Zhigang Yin. It is a simple project but can be of interest in multiple scenarios.
In the publication Of this project the two scientists have made an approach to a double problem: the management of electronic waste and the need for greater data storage.
Several mobiles on the device that makes them a data center
The free android
Since artificial intelligence, data science and other technologies The amount of information that is managed and stored are increasingthis implies an increase in the use of resources.
More and more massive data centers are opened in most countries, and it seems that this trend will only go up, at least in territories such as Europe.
In addition, since devices improve rapidly, It is easier for the ancients to become obsolete beforegenerating an important accumulation of electronic waste.
The idea of these two scientists is Reuse smartphones classified as electronic waste and turn them into small data centersextending its life cycle at a very low cost: only 8 euros per device.
For this they have developed A prototype that uses the hardware of mobile phones with an exception, the battery. To avoid problems, it has been replaced by a unique feeding system, since the device combines several mobiles.
Data microcentros
“Innovation often does not begin with something new, but with a new way of thinking about the old, reimagining its role in the configuration of the future,” said Huber Flores, associate professor of pervasive computing.
Both he and his partner, Zhigang Yin, have shown that Ancient smartphones can be successfully reused to create small data centers capable of processing and storing data efficiently.
And the cost is not even a problem, because for about 8 euros per device the process can be carried out.
To reduce the risk of chemical leaks to the environmentthe researchers removed phones batteries and replaced them with external power supplies.
Subsequently, four phones were connected, They were placed housings and 3D printed supports and transformed into a functional prototype ready for reuse.
Prototype scheme
The free android
The uses of these small data centers are multiple. An example was the one carried out under water, where he participated in the monitoring of marine life, helping to count different marine species.
These types of tasks, which usually require a diver to record a video and raise it to the surface for analysis, was carried out without simply immersing the device with the appropriate sensors.
The most shocking thing about this approach is that It has been shown that, with minimal resources, these old mobiles can have a new purposecontributing to the development of digital solutions.
As Ulrich Norbisrath, associate professor of software engineering indicates, “sustainability is not just about preserving the future, but about reinventing the present, where yesterday’s devices become the opportunities of tomorrow.”
Reusing the old
This trend that we begin to see in an increasingly common way will be something that in the medium and long term will increase in importance.
The amount of electronic devices that are manufactured is only comparable to the amount of devices we stop using due to the evolution of technology.
A good example of this is the reuse of Electric car batteries that, after the entrance to their scrapping, are used in stationary facilitiesas in companies and homes.
It is about reusing the most important parts of each device, in the case of mobile phones its computing capacity and information storage, always being aware of its limitations.
