Energous and Atmosic are taking orders for a wirelessly powered sensor evaluation kit due to ship next month, they said Wednesday. The kit includes Atmosic’s ATM3 energy-harvesting Bluetooth Low Energy SoC and Energous’ 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter. The battery-free tech will let device developers explore how wireless power transfer can support sensors and tags not reliant on batteries or power cables in commercial, retail and industrial environments, they said.
Powermat bowed a hybrid wireless power solution that's based on magnetic induction, but allows a “broader scope of capabilities" than traditional Qi charging products, it said Tuesday. The hybrid wireless receiver, based on Powermat SmartInductive technology, falls “between inductive wireless charging and resonance,” which the company said delivers more power, more freedom of positioning, longer ranges between wireless power transmitters and receivers, and lower implementation costs. Powermat PMT 100 is targeted to medical, smart home and lifestyle devices, including fitness trackers and sensors, the company said. The PMT 100 receiver is designed for small form factor IoT devices for wireless power and charging, and it supports battery charging functionality and smart battery interfaces, it said. The technology doesn’t use a receiver microcontroller and has “minimal peripheral components,” Powermat said, enabling it to be used for the design of very small portable products. It can cut overall wireless power implementation costs by up to 50%, the company said. Maximum power output is given as 40 watts. It supports Litz wire or a printed circuit board coil and foreign object detection and is compatible with Powermat transmitters. The company didn’t respond to questions. Powermat recently announced a $25 million Series B round led by Hudson Sustainable Group and Foxconn Interconnect Technology.
China approved Energous’ 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter technology for IoT applications, the company said Monday. The technology supports next-generation applications including batteryless, cordless smart tags, electronic shelf labels, sensors and asset trackers that can be deployed in industrial, retail, enterprise and healthcare markets, it said.
Renesas Electronics’ wireless charging technology is in Wacom’s Active ES digital pen, Renesas said Friday. Its single-chip wireless power receiver IC offers small size and high efficiency vs. high-frequency charging, it said. The pen is charged while docked to a tablet or smartphone equipped with a Qi wireless charging transmitter, a spokesman emailed.
Energous and Atmosic Technologies announced a wirelessly charged sensor evaluation kit based on Atmosic’s ATM3 energy harvesting Bluetooth Low Energy SoC and Energous’ FCC-certified 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter. The kit is designed to help solve challenges of power in low-energy IoT devices with a wireless IoT sensor network solution that never needs a battery replacement, they said Wednesday.
Wireless power company WiGL is using Energous' WattUp technology to develop and deploy wireless power networks for military use in rugged environments, the companies said Monday. WiGL is developing a wireless power network that doesn’t use charging cables, open ports or battery doors in devices, “greatly reducing potential complications to their physical integrity while ensuring they are consistently and reliably charged at all times,” they said.
Energous received regulatory approval for its 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the wireless charging company said Wednesday. In addition to sending power, WattUp PowerBridge transmitters can be a data link for connected IoT devices such as sensors, electronic shelf labels, trackers, IoT tags and batteryless devices, the company said.
The U.S. wireless power transfer industry is “hampered in its ability to respond to customer demand” for WPT technologies by the current lack of a regulatory path at the FCC for the equipment certification of WPT transmitters that charge client devices under Part 18 at a distance over one meter, said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-226. Without FCC adoption of a regulatory path for WPT over one meter, company representatives told aides to FCC members, the U.S. could relinquish its “global leadership role with respect to WPT technologies.”
Energous won its first regulatory approval in Asia for RF-based power transfer at any distance. The OK in India for Energous’ 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter “opens new market opportunities for over-the-air power solutions” and follows similar approvals in Europe and the U.S., the company said Tuesday. Applications for the wireless charging technology include smart buildings, industrial IoT sensors and retail electronic displays, Energous said.
Energous’ 10W WattUp PowerHub received FCC Part 18 equipment authorization for 10W of conducted wireless power transfer, said the wireless charging company Wednesday. The approval nearly doubles the amount of power that can be transmitted wirelessly in the U.S. and “opens potential new opportunities for the wireless charging of billions of IoT devices across emerging consumer, retail and industrial markets,” said acting CEO Cesar Johnston.