RF Wireless Power: Powering The IoT (Internet of Things Applications USA 2019)

The IoT is growing and so are the power delivery hurdles that come with it. As the ubiquity of connected devices increases throughout homes and commercial spaces alike, the need to power these devices becomes an increasingly difficult endeavor. In this session we will discuss radio frequency (RF) wireless power-over-distance including existing applications, one-to-many wireless network recharging, wirelessly powering battery-free devices, and the strengths and limitations of power delivered using RF.

Dr. Charles Greene, Chief Operating & Technical Officer at Powercast Corporation, received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2001, 2002, and 2006, respectively. Dr. Greene has over seventeen years of experience in the Radio Frequency (RF) field, including sixteen years at Powercast Corporation. He is a leading expert in wireless power transfer, antenna design, and RFID. He has over twenty issued U.S. patents and numerous other foreign and pending applications in the wireless power and RFID fields. Dr. Greene has published numerous articles and has presented at various industry-leading conferences in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

Creating a power coverage area, Powercast's RF wireless power transmitters automatically power enabled products that come within range for smart, carefree wireless charging. Charging range and rate depend on a device's power consumption; power-hungry products charge best at close range, while the transmitters can power low-power devices such as sensors up to 80 feet (24 meters). The transmitters use the 915-MHz ISM band to send RF energy over the air to Powercast's tiny Powerharvester® receiver chip embedded in products, which converts it to usable direct current (DC) to either directly power batteryless devices, or recharge devices' batteries. The robust technology complies with the FCC's current one-watt power limit for Part 15 deployments in this band, but has potential power capabilities well beyond that to evolve as FCC standards evolve.