RF-Powered Wireless Sensors

Powercast demos prelude to mobile network RF energy harvester
Directed RF energy harvester demo is stepping stone to full ambient RF harvesters that can siphon energy from ubiquitous mobile networks

“After setting up an RF energy-harvesting demo at this week’s Sensors Expo collocated with ESC Chicago, Powercast’s director of marketing Harry Ostaffe presented a paper that outlined the concepts and paths to what he believes to be the endgame: full ambient RF harvesting capabilities that sip power from ubiquitous mobile networks and eliminate batteries and direct RF power sources completely.”  Read more…

Powercast presentation - Power Out of Thin Air (PDF)

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Powercast will participate as an exhibitor at the 2010 Sensors Expo & Conference.  At the event Power will be demonstrating a battery-free wireless sensor module powered by RF energy and designed for ultra-low power consumption.  The sensor module provides temperature and humidity data to an access point along with the received signal strength (RSSI) and the ID number of the Powercaster™ transmitter from which it is receiving power.

Powercast has recently released the P1110 and P2110 Powerharvester™ Receivers which are capable of converting radio waves in the range of 850-950 MHz into DC power.  The demonstration sensor module uses the P2110 Powerharvester receiver to store the received energy into a capacitor, and then performs a voltage boost to supply the module components will a regulated voltage.  Both the P1110 and P2110 enable a microcontroller to determine the signal strength of the received power, as well as to recover low-rate data encoded in the power broadcasted from the power transmitter.

Harry Ostaffe, Director of Marketing and Business Development for Powercast, will also be delivering two presentations during the event.  During the pre-conference symposium on June 7, 2010 he will speak on “Design Techniques for RF Energy Harvesting Devices”, and during the main conference on June 8, 2010 he will also present “Power Out of Thin Air: Ambient RF Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensors”.

Powercast’s exhibit and wireless sensor demonstration will be located at Booth 1022 in the exhibition hall.

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Powercast won a Gold-level “Best of Sensors Expo” Award at the 2009 Sensors Expo. The award was granted for innovation in sensor components category for the P2100 Powerharvester module.  The P2100 Powerharvester converts radio waves to DC power and enables battery-free wireless sensors.

At the Sensors Expo, Powercast exhibited wireless power demonstrations with components integrated from Texas Instruments, Esensors, CAP-XX, CYMBET, Infinite Power Solutions (IPS), and NTERA.  Devices were also powered remotely from the Powercast booth to the Esensors and IPS booths at distances of 35 feet and 25 feet, respectively.

Powercast participated in the new Energy Harvesting Pavilion, and conference presentations were given by Harry Ostaffe and Charlie Greene of Powercast.

SensorsMag.com Press Release

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The Sensors Expo & Conference, the leading event on sensing technologies and solutions, recently announced some highlights for the 2009 event that will take place from June 8-10 in Rosemont, IL (USA).

A new area for the 2009 event is the Energy Harvesting and Power Management Pavilion.  Powercast is a sponsor of this new area of the show floor that will provide energy harvesting and power management solutions capable of capturing, converting, storing, and delivering energy in a form that can be used to provide the power needed by the system it serves.  Powercast will be showcasing RF energy harvesting and wireless power technology with specific application focus for wireless sensors.

RF-based wireless power can be used to recharge batteries in sensors, or to enable battery-free wireless sensors that can be deployed in commercial buildings and industrial facilities.  Some unique applications of RF-based wireless power include the ability to power sensors over distance, behind walls, in low-light areas, or extreme cold or hot temperature environments.

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