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The story is similar with Energous, which has announced an impressive range of partnerships and demonstrated its WattUp technology many times, but has not yet reached consumers. Technovator has not entered the market. Witricity has become an electric vehicle. Powercast was one of the first companies to launch a consumer device, wireless charging handle and transmitter for Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers, but it costs $ 150 and has a range of only about one foot. A killer product to stimulate intake remains elusive.
Alignment
GuRu, the company behind the Motorola demo, may be a few steps ahead of its counterparts. It uses RF lenses to send focused rays from the generating unit (Gu) to the recovery unit (Ru). Ali Hadjimiri, co-founder of GuRu and chief research advisor, shows me a pair of small chips with built-in Lego-sized antennas and says the company has developed flexible materials that allow the technology to work on different types of devices.
“We are the only company that can provide several watts of power to multiple devices a few meters at a time,” said Hajimiri.
I first met GuRu at CES 2020 to see Rovi, a mobile transmitter resembling a robot vacuum cleaner that moves to charge various devices, getting close enough to radiate useful energy. The company has made progress since then. Its technology combines an integrated ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), an intelligent algorithm that can focus energy quickly and efficiently in a small space and, crucially, a higher frequency to deliver more power over a longer range. .
Most of these technologies started at the 2.4 GHz frequency we know from Wi-Fi, and this is also the frequency that most effectively charges Samsung’s new remote. Energous uses the 5.8 GHz frequency, and Ossia switches to 5.8 GHz with Cota technology. Part of GuRu’s secret sauce is its ability to run at 24 GHz. This jump not only means more power and longer range, but also allows smaller transmitters and receivers. A smartphone-sized generating unit can charge headphones from a distance of several feet.
“It’s like a magnifying glass where you can focus your energy in one place, but that place can move and you can make a lot of spots,” Hajimiri said.
Chicken and egg
This need for transmitters and receivers built into our products prevents the early adoption of wireless remote power. Sounds convenient, but who would spend hundreds of dollars on a power router that supports a limited set of devices or requires another upgrade add-on to work?
“I think a good analogy for this technology is Wi-Fi,” said Hadjimiri. In the early days, you had to buy this big, cumbersome PCMCIA card to put in your laptop, and many people would say, “I would never use Wi-Fi because my Ethernet cable is 100 times faster.”
Wi-Fi has improved significantly and we are adopting higher performance for the convenience of wireless. Power can follow the same trajectory and has other potential benefits.
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