As far as the 21st century is concerned wireless communication has been established steadfastly making millions of people to rely on it. However the dreams of wireless power hasn't been that promising. Several technological engineers and researchers have been working on this particular domain to help the mankind with wireless charging facilities. Researches suggest that we might soon be onto charging our devices over a Wi-Fi connection. Wi-Fi has been a part and parcel for us for more than 15 years and still we really can't imagine survive without it. The recent development of the possibilities of charging a device over a Wi-Fi connection proves that there are still greater avenues of evolution from this technology.
In fact Wi-Fi has been everywhere. From the omnipresent coverage we enjoy on our connected devices to the Wi-Fi compatible microchips we place on our pets in order to track their activities. And now it has advanced to a further step of letting you to charge your devices. A recent research at the University of Washington has apparently discovered a way to us the existing Wi-Fi systems to charge your gadgets.
The system which has been dubbed as Power over Wi-Fi or PoWi-Fi makes use of the available routers by utilizing their radio frequency power into DC power. The router can feed the devices with power from 17 to 28 feet distance and that too without interrupting the network connection to the device and even without the help of an extra hardware. According to the study conducted the whole technology works on just two factors: an access point that is the router itself and custom-built sensors. “The goal of the sensors is to harvest RF (radio frequency) power and convert it into DC power,” explains Vamsi Talla, a researcher on the project. The researcher also has stated that “The second piece, the access point, there we actually developed a custom solution on it, just a software modification that would enable the access point to act both as a good power delivery source and, simultaneously, also as a good Wi-Fi router.” In short everything works without any disruption to the internet connection and without the help of any external hardware.
From sources we realize that there are already devices that transmits power through the air with the Radio Frequency signals. But the thing is that they perform only with the support of an entirely new hardware meant solely for this purpose. Thus can't completely flaunt the aspect of charging over a Wi-Fi connection. The research nevertheless promises that with the conventional Wi-Fi routers both the data and energy is supplied simultaneously. To be more precise this technology brilliantly tackles the energy that your router is emitting.
This leaves us with several doubts raising on our minds as to how much the Wi-Fi will be interfered when it supplies energy to other gadgets as well. For that the researchers has also come up with a smart way to ensure neither the charging nor the network connectivity is compromised. They had optimized the router so much so that instead of featuring continuous power on one of the Wi-Fi channels the optimizer splits it among several non-overlapping Wi-Fi channels. Thus delivering the same quantity of power without any disturbances.
The validity of this had already been time-tested with temperature sensors, a camera and rechargeable batteries. All have been charged from distance ranging from 17 feet to 28 feet with posing any network connectivity issues. That still leaves us with the question whether our smartphones can be charged with this. Technically speaking yes as the software is designed in such a way that the router sends out power signals only when the user traffic is low and below a particular limit. Thus ensuring hassle free connectivity and charging.
Studies are still being carried out to check the feasibility of this technology and we hope that in the near future we would be bestowed with the ultimate wireless power charging options.
