News

Wireless Power Penetrates Walls providing Non-Line-of-Site Capability

April 21, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

Ossia, Inc.today announced another advancement for its Cota remote wireless power system. In addition to enabling the simultaneous charging of multiple devices and following each device with a pocket of energy as it moves around a room, the latest advances improved Cota's non-line-of-site capability. This new capability was demonstrated in front of investors and technologists by successfully charging a smartphone from a distance of 40 feet through two walls and closed doors, requiring the energy to penetrate the walls.

"Ossia engineers are achieving technology breakthroughs almost weekly inside our lab," said Hatem Zeine, founder and CEO of Ossia and inventor of the Cota technology. "While we are certainly proud of every new technical accomplishment, Ossia engineers are more focused on hitting the next milestone than celebrating each incremental achievement made along the way. So it is truly exciting to see the eyes of highly-educated and experienced technologists light up when seeing all the advances collectively for the first time. The success in demonstrating our current wire-free power system makes all of us at Ossia very eager to publicly showcase the next iteration of Cota later this year."

Ossia's patented smart antenna technology uses phased antennas to transfer power without the use of inductive coils, ultrasonic waves, magnetic resonance, charging pads or mats. The Cota technology is designed to charge many devices simultaneously, regardless if a device is stationary or moving. Designed for an effective radius of 30 feet, a single Cota charging station can charge or power all the battery-operated devices in every room of an average home or office suite.

The Cota technology consists of two parts: a charger and a receiver. Cota receivers built into devices and batteries regularly send out beacon signals omnidirectionally. As the Cota charger receives these beacons, it returns focused streams of targeted signals, building pockets of energy at the exact locations of the beacons' origins. This pinpoint precision targeting of energy safely and efficiently powers all Cota-equipped devices and batteries within its effective radius, even as they move around the room.

Cota is inherently safe. Tracking beacons use only about 1/10,000th the signal power of Wi-Fi, which itself is a low power signal. Cota's energy pockets are created using approximately the same signal strength emitted by a mobile phone during a call. The laws of physics make Cota power signals naturally avoid anything that absorbs energy, such as people, pets and even plants.

Under license from Ossia, consumer electronics OEMs and ODMs will include Cota receivers in new products and will build their own branded Cota transmitters. Existing battery-powered devices can be easily retrofitted with Cota receivers, even if they are already equipped with one of the three pad-based charging systems. Other companies such as construction and energy businesses are already exploring non-consumer electronics applications for Cota-based wire-free power.