New Scientist article on Wireless Power
New Scientist magazine has written an article titled “Unplugged: Goodbye cables, hello energy beams” which discusses several technologies and companies in the wireless power market, including Powercast.
As it relates to wireless sensors, RF energy is the only controllable, practical technology to provide power over distance to multiple sensors simultaneously. Other technologies are either too directional for one-to-many powering (i.e. IR LEDs), or have severe range limitations (i.e. induction, MR). There are the critics that say RF power is not efficient and most of the energy is wasted. However, using RF to power sensors at long range (e.g. energy management and building automation) is not about the efficiency of the charging mechanism, it’s about enabling applications and achieving greater system-wide efficiency. Having a transmitter than consumes a few watts but provides power to sensors which feedback data to control thousands (or tens of thousands) of watts or BTUs provides a significant “energy ROI”.
