Long distance wireless charging could power your smart home

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Archos plans to release a security camera that, thanks to Ossia’s long-range wireless power supply, has no wires.

That is This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible technology coming.

After years of promising, promoting and developing, a technology is coming to market that can charge devices across the room or through the walls.

Ie and Energous, both proponents of nascent technology, have used CES 2022 to showcase new products that will continuously keep security cameras, smart doorbells, hearing aids and similar products charged by eliminating charging cables or pads.

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Cota, a wireless charging technology developed by Ossia, will begin appearing in the products of French electronics maker Archos later this year, Ossia CEO Doug Stovall said this week in an interview with CES in Las Vegas. . Products sporting Cota will include a fully wireless security camera, air monitoring sensor, and pet tracker hitting stores this year. Archos hasn’t disclosed pricing yet.

Stovall suggested that another Ossia partner – “think large Scandinavian-based furniture companies” – is working on commercializing his Cota Power Table, which uses Ossia’s technology to transmit power from the ceiling to traditional charging pads in the. phone. The table could be useful in businesses such as coffee shops, allowing customers to turn on without connecting.

Energous showed a number of devices using its WattUp charging technology, which also streams juice across a room. Products include EarTechnic hearing aids, Gokhale PostureTracker medical monitors and Williot smart tracking tags. Energous did not disclose prices and availability.

The launch of products using Ossia and Energous technologies highlights the maturation of charging systems that do not require a physical connection to a power source. Long-range wireless charging technology, such as Cota and WattUp, send beams of radio energy to devices that require modest amounts of power and are within a few meters of the transmitter. While not powerful enough to power a laptop or TV, the technology has the potential to make it easier to charge the growing number of low-power smart home and Internet of Things devices in homes, offices, and businesses. shops and factories.

“If you have smart locks, ring-style doorbells and other security cameras or baby monitors, the bills start adding up,” Stovall said. “Suddenly you have to start worrying about how to keep these devices alive.”

Ossia and Energous technologies detect devices and establish direct connections for more power and greater efficiency. That is, it also offers software that determines which devices are allowed to charge, so customers don’t have to worry about neighbors stealing their radio waves.

Another company, Powercast, is using radio energy to power electronic price tags in stores that autonomous and roaming aisle robots built by Badger Technologies can read to monitor inventory levels. Powercast also has consumer products in mind, as demonstrated by University of Arizona researchers who built Powercast-enabled medical sensors, which were exhibited at CES.

Unlike short-range wireless charging, which uses the Qi standard and requires devices to rest on a charging pad, long-range wireless is still a battle between proprietary technologies. In addition to Ossia, Powercast and Energous, start-up GuRu Wireless is also a contender. Short-range charging only took off in earnest after the industry set a single standard.

One obstacle to long-range charging in homes and businesses is cost. Charging transmitters, which transmit power to the devices, cost between $ 200 and $ 300 for Ossia’s technology. Ossia’s receiving antennas and electronics, which add support to devices with the technology, add between $ 1 and $ 8, depending on power rating and other factors. (Some of these costs are offset by eliminating conventional power electronics.)

There is also a trade-off in size. Miniaturization is nice, but larger transmitting and receiving antennas can transmit more power. Cota works on devices as small as an AA battery.

Ossia’s initial charge transmitter is an approximately 2 square foot (60cm) panel that fits into a ceiling panel. At CES, Ossia showed two smaller panels in development, one 40 by 40 centimeters and the other 30 by 30 centimeters. The smaller model might plug directly into a wall outlet or plug into a smart speaker, but the smaller size has a shorter range.

Several varieties of long-range wireless charging are also coming. Startup WiTricity hopes electric vehicle manufacturers will adopt its wireless charging technology, turning parking lots, loading docks and even roads into energy sources. At CES, Samsung announced a TV remote that charges ambient radio waves, an example of a technology called energy harvesting.

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