The Wireless Power Consortium’s latest version of its Qi specification includes an authentication protocol which allows wireless power transmitters and devices being charged (wireless power receivers) to understand whether each holds a valid Qi certificate. Microchip have announced the new industrial grade TrustFLEX ECC608 and automotive grade Trust Anchor TA100 with Microchip secure key provisioning services for Qi version 1.3 transmitters. These allow inductive transmitters to support the authentication required by Qi 1.3 certified devices.
Qi version 1.3 was originally released in January 2021 and has seen very little adoption since. A major IC manufacturer such as Microchip releasing solutions specifically for use in Qi 1.3 products is an encouraging development that adoption of this QI version will increase throughout 2022. SAR predicts that whilst adoption of Qi version 1.3 will increase it’s likely to be hindered by its lack of support for magnetic alignment, a feature which SAR predicts is going to be important in the future of wireless charging. This is discussed further in SAR’s Wireless Power and Charging Technologies report.
