SKT Teams Up With MediaTek, Nota To Develop On-Device AI-Based Smartphone Power Saving Technology

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology could soon help optimise the life of smartphone batteries.

Credit: SKT

SK Telecom (SKT) today announced that it's working with semiconductor giant MediaTek AI startup Nota to develop a smartphone power-saving technology leveraging on-device AI.

The South Korean telco said battery life is an important factor that affects customer experience, so it's devoting resources to develop solutions that can lower power consumption. It notes that there are already diverse efforts being implemented to prolong battery life, such as reducing the power consumption of displays, but its own efforts will be focused on communication technologies, specifically in the area of data transmission and reception.

Smartphones perform data transmission and reception while connected to the base station, and even after the completion of data transmission/reception, it stays connected to the base station for a period of time to standby for data that may occur in the future, which leads to non-negligible consumption of power.

SKT's technology is said to enable the smartphone to predict, in real-time, whether data transmission will occur within a certain period of time, giving control of an optimal connection status between the smartphone and the base station. If the prediction thinks that data is likely to occur, it will continue to maintain connection between the smartphone and the base station. On the other hand, if it thinks that data is unlikely to occur, it will disconnect from the base station, which prevents unnecessary consumption of power.

The three tech companies selected an optimal AI model and used techniques such as quantization and pruning to enable low-latency and low-power operation on smartphones. They then applied that model to a real smartphone modem to verify its real-time operation, and secured a level of prediction accuracy that can translate into smartphone power savings.

The breakthrough technology is set to be introduced at SKTs booth during MWC Barcelona 2024. That's where the telco likely plans to share more information about the technology, including what smartphone models would have it and when consumers can expect to benefit from it.

The collaboration also plans to improve the completeness of the technology by further advancing AI models and conducting tests for network interworking.

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• SK Telecom (SKT) today announced that it's working with semiconductor giant MediaTek AI startup Nota to develop a smartphone power-saving technology leveraging on-device AI.

• The technology is said to enable the smartphone to predict, in real-time, whether data transmission will occur within a certain period of time, giving control of an optimal connection status between the smartphone and the base station

• The South Korean telco plans to introduce the technology at MWC Barcelona 2024.