Energous WattUp mid-range power transmitter granted approval by FCC

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 31
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    k2kw said:
    jdw said:
    Power carried by microwaves?  I recall one of my engineering professors back in the day (1990?) talk of power transfer from space using such tech.  A satellite generating the power would beam it back to earth.  The main caveat is that if the satellite moved even a tiny bit during the transfer, you'd spray all that power/radiation across wide swaths of terrain.  Any follow-up article on this should focus on how safe it is.
    Not microwaves, no. Just straight low-power, non-ionizing RF.

    The FCC approval used for it can't be used for microwave transmitters.
    Has there been any testing that the IR used by the FaceID sensors/blaster safe?   How do we know there are no harmful side-effects years down the road after using this on camera after camera?
    You've ever pointed a remote control at yourself? The amount of IR energy used for these types of things is minuscule. Look up the infrared spectrum sometime.
  • Reply 22 of 31
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Article says 3ft. Product video says 15ft. Very amazing tech though! 
    The video is the technology in general -- they're hoping for a 15-foot range when all is said and done.

    The approval is the 3-foot mid-field version.
    That explains why the image with all the green circles has devices further than three feet.
  • Reply 23 of 31
    GG1 said:
    That makes sense --> pockets = interference pattern. Sure enough, their transmitters page (http://www.energous.com/technology/transmitters/) mentions "This design enables maximum coverage and allows meshed-network coverage where multiple transmitters are linked together to cover larger spaces." (this is for the far-field version only for distances of 15 ft/5 m)

    Edit: their FAQ page states that the 5.8 GHz WiFi band is used for energy transmission, and Bluetooth (specifically BTLE) is used for control. I don't see where 3D location info is created. I don't think BTLE has any location information.

    What they likely use BTLE for is likely something as simple as determining distance from transmitter which most people use the signal strength as the indicator.
  • Reply 24 of 31
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    k2kw said:
    jdw said:
    Power carried by microwaves?  I recall one of my engineering professors back in the day (1990?) talk of power transfer from space using such tech.  A satellite generating the power would beam it back to earth.  The main caveat is that if the satellite moved even a tiny bit during the transfer, you'd spray all that power/radiation across wide swaths of terrain.  Any follow-up article on this should focus on how safe it is.
    Not microwaves, no. Just straight low-power, non-ionizing RF.

    The FCC approval used for it can't be used for microwave transmitters.
    Has there been any testing that the IR used by the FaceID sensors/blaster safe?   How do we know there are no harmful side-effects years down the road after using this on camera after camera?
    I can't tell if you're serious or not.
    mike1Rayz2016
  • Reply 25 of 31
    tobiantobian Posts: 148member
    this technology is MAD and need to be stopped! any RF waves affect your body cells, it's practically cooking our tissue, and higher frequencies breaks DNA helix. It's unhelthy to live in RF polluted areas as we know, and it's going to be very dangerous staying on place between wireless charger and charged device.
  • Reply 26 of 31
    It will be interesting to see if they can commercialize this technology in the next couple of years.  Although the short distances may seem like a negative, if you had a charger at or near your desk and one near your bed, your device would be pulling in power at the two places many people spend ⅔'s of their day.  It's not like an iPhone / iPad / MacBook need to be charging 24 hours a day for them to be effective.

    I think if the effective charging distance can be expanded more, a benefit could be reducing the size of a device's battery, assuming you'd have more opportunities for wireless charging throughout the day.
  • Reply 27 of 31
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Mr_Dog said:
    GG1 said:
    That makes sense --> pockets = interference pattern. Sure enough, their transmitters page (http://www.energous.com/technology/transmitters/) mentions "This design enables maximum coverage and allows meshed-network coverage where multiple transmitters are linked together to cover larger spaces." (this is for the far-field version only for distances of 15 ft/5 m)

    Edit: their FAQ page states that the 5.8 GHz WiFi band is used for energy transmission, and Bluetooth (specifically BTLE) is used for control. I don't see where 3D location info is created. I don't think BTLE has any location information.

    What they likely use BTLE for is likely something as simple as determining distance from transmitter which most people use the signal strength as the indicator.
    It can be as simple as the receiving device saying “my current field strength is X” and you can localize it by varying field strength in pockets until you find it.  

    No complex 3-D localization tech required.  If the device is a phone with an accelerometer it can also tell the transmitter “I’m moving...you can try to find me again or “I’m really moving and probably leaving the area.”
    patchythepirate
  • Reply 28 of 31
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    This would allow wireless charging to actually be useful. If you can’t use the device while it’s charging, it’s just a novelty. 
  • Reply 29 of 31
    Tesla, the father of our modern electrical system, designed this wireless electrical transmission over 100 years ago.

    Get back to us when you have any proof of the efficiency of his schemes. It's not all that hard to transmit power wirelessly. Not dissipating most of it along the way is the hard part. Broadcasting kilowatts of power to charge one iPhone from a distance would be a very simple but wasteful process.

  • Reply 30 of 31
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,328member
    A potential positive side effect of the proliferation of this type of technology is that it will provide more opportunities for other mobile devices, and I'm thinking smart watches, smart wearables, IoT sensors, and perhaps even smartphones to use energy harvesting to supplement their energy strategy. So even devices that aren't specifically designed to work with a certain brand of wireless charging system can still draw energy from it passively. I'm kind of surprised that Apple Watch doesn't have an energy harvesting capability already, but I'm sure there are still technical hurdles to overcome.  
  • Reply 31 of 31
    Odd that there are suddenly two competing threads on at-a-distance wireless charging (a technology that may never achieve parity with a direct power connection).
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