AirFuel RF Promises Free-Roaming Wireless Power Over "Several Feet" in 3D "Zones of Energy"

The AirFuel Alliance has announced a new global standard for wireless power at range, dubbed AirFuel RF — and members Atmosic and Energous have partnered to launch an evaluation kit for anyone looking to get started with the technology.

"Our members on the [AirFuel] RF Working Committee, such as Energous, Atmosic, and SK Telesys, have worked tirelessly to design and release this global interoperable standard," claims Sanjay Gupta, PhD, president and chair of the AirFuel Alliance. "Standardization is crucial to worldwide consumer acceptance, interoperability of devices and chargers, and infrastructure development, by creating a network effect for the adoption of technology and sharing a proven framework for others to follow. We will offer an AirFuel Certified Engineer program for RF in the spring as well as other educational opportunities and resources. Accelerating demand in the market requires standardization, and AirFuel is thrilled to lead the way."

The radio-frequency-based wireless power standard released by the AirFuel Alliance is claimed to provide usable power with a range of up to "several feet" with full support for charging or direct powering of multiple devices within a three-dimensional active "zone of energy" — complete with the ability to power devices as they're moving around. The organization says AirFuel RF is suitable for integration into even compact devices, making it suitable for use with everything from wearables to Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks and electronic shelf labels.

To promote the new standard AirFuel Alliance members Atmosic and Energous have partnered to update their existing Bluetooth-based RF-energy harvesting evaluation kit to support AirFuel RF in addition to its existing Energous WattUp PowerBridge compatibility. "The new RF standard from AirFuel Alliance aligns with Atmosic's and Energous' missions to reduce the reliance on batteries and build more sustainable options for advanced IoT deployments," claims David Su, Atmosic chief executive officer. "We believe that standardization is essential for industry innovation and implementation, and offering the new standard in our Wirelessly-Powered Sensor Evaluation Kit marks a big step forward for current and future customers."

"Energous strongly endorses the new AirFuel Alliance RF standard, the world’s first standard for wireless power transfer, which will elevate the technology to global recognition and open RF-based power to more markets," adds Energous chief executive officer Cesar Johnston. "We have thus moved quickly to support the new standard in our Wirelessly Powered Sensor Evaluation Kit with Atmosic that provides our customers with the building blocks for WattUp wireless power networks and will help IoT deployments across the world meet the growing power needs of their devices."

The updated sensor kit includes two Atmosic energy-harvesting temperature, humidity, and accelerometer sensor modules with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity, an Energous 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter, and companion apps for monitoring the sensors and controlling the transmitter.

The companies are showing the new kit off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week at Booth #50726, while more information on the AirFuel RF standard is available on the AirFuel Alliance website.