Powercast has opened Powercastco Store after returning for 2009 CES in Las Vegas.  “We have seen tremendous demand from designers and engineers for this Kit,” stated Steve Day, Head of Sales and Marketing.  The Kit is really centered on two specific products; Powerharvester Module(tm) and the Powercaster Module(tm).  The photo shows the Powerharvester module, from a component perspective.

The Kit is important because it creates an opportunity to discover how this small component provides such a powerful value proposition.  Can RF energy harvesting be used in conjunction with 100’s and even 1,000’s of applciations?  Does power transfer over distance provide an opportunity to do really unique things?  The Kit begins the process, for any designer or engineer, to start answering these questions.

This begins by understanding the Friis equation.  Friis equation really answers one of the fundamental questions that any designer or engineer asks, when considering RF wireless power.

Friis equation illustrates the elegance of RF wireless power and the flexibility of the solution.  By changing Radio Frequencies havested, by changing distances, by changing transmit power (or ambient power available) … the Powerharvester module will produce different electrical power outputs.  Furthermore, by coupling this power with batteries or capacitors, additional enhancements can be designed into the power distribution system.

No wireless power technology has this variability.  If the designer and engineer understand and embrace this variability, then the world is without limits.  However, at the same time, this is the fundamental characteristic of TRUE WIRELESS POWER.  Inductive power is really limited to the high current that can drive a coil.  Piezo is limited by the energy harvested from a mechanic.  Only RF Wireless Power has the elegance of being a “design in” solution.

The Lifetime Power Evaluation and Development Kit “scratches the surface of this self-discovery.  On a personal note, it is really a invitation from Powercast to smart people to figure out the design templates that make sense.  What can you do with 20 mWatts over 30 feet in a wireless sensor network?  What can you do with a wireless relay or switch, capable of harvesting ambient energy?  We are as excited, as we hope you are, in figuring this out.  If we work together, I think we create an entire category of wireless power … true, unique and elegant.