Last week Ossia announced the release of its Cota Universal Wireless Adapter, its first commercial product capable of receiving wireless power over the air at a distance of up to 30 feet via its RF-based wireless power transfer technology, Cota. The adapter can deliver power to any low-power USB-driven device such as Bluetooth speakers, digital displays, and IoT sensors, via its USB Type-C port. When in range of a Cota Hub it will detect the Adapter and deliver power to it wirelessly, keeping it charged.
Ossia Inc. also held its annual event, “Imagine” last week in Seattle US. This was its 6th Imagine event and was sponsored by ecosystem partners Toyoda Gosei, Sunway Communication, Qualitel, and E2 Cloud Solutions. More than one hundred attendees from around the world made up of industry experts, developers, integrators and investors gathered to witness Cota technology developments and a showcase of demonstrations, prototypes, and products.
SAR Insight & Consulting and I personally were honored to take part in the event, specifically on the panel session covering, “Wireless Power in IoT”.
The key takeaway from this year’s event was clear – Cota is ready to deploy and integrate into products! SAR expects products to emerge with Cota technology in 2024, further expanding the adoption of RF-based wireless power technology, which has been growing rapidly over the past 2 years. SAR predicts that early adoption and growth over the next 5 years will be largely driven by industrial IoT sensor applications and IoT applications in retail such as electronic shelf labels (ESL).
These applications can run off very small amounts of power and with the use of RF wireless power, some of these can now operate without any batteries. The ability to receive enough power over the air to perform an operation such as changing the status of an ESL only when needed, can reduce the costs of operations compared with alternative solutions which require regular battery replacement and other maintenance. Sensor networks in factories and warehouses are another example of where this system-level solution can reduce long-term cost of operation.
Ossia’s Cota technology is built on almost 250 patents and holds regulatory approval in 62 countries globally. Its Cota Hub provides radiated power of 8W and a device with optimized RF antenna can receive around 1W at up to 30 feet. Applications that SAR predicts will likely adopt RF wireless power receive capabilities in the next five years include pallet trackers, smart doorbells, toys, smart wireless dispensers, and wireless peripherals (e.g. keyboards & mice).
SAR sizes and forecasts the wireless power market Tx and Rx markets in its Device Forecast service and provides a comprehensive analysis by technology in its Wireless Power & Charging service.
The original article is here.
