The uBeam FAQ

[PaulReynolds]

Confirming it's the white transmitter box from early 2018

https://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/out-ordinary-tech-spotted-ces-2019/gallery?slide=1

Seems they had the "new" transducers on display at the public event, weirdly. I have no idea why they'd show those off. The LED unit shows that the focus is fairly large. I'd be interested to see that swept around while the focus is kept in the same place to see if there are grating lobes.

[StillTrying]

It looks more powerful with that LED board at that distance, stick on light bulbs are now only 4 or 5 orders of magnitude away.
distance x20, power x40, efficiency x40.

The interest in the whole at a distance wireless charging business seems to be close to zero, even for wi-charge who seem to have a working IR system, they had their 2 trains at CES2019. They're all moving to IoTs and smarthome where there's even less interest than distance mobile charging.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/wirelesspower?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash

[PaulReynolds]

The interest in the whole at a distance wireless charging business seems to be close to zero, even for wi-charge who seem to have a working IR system, they had their 2 trains at CES2019. They're all moving to IoTs and smarthome where there's even less interest than distance mobile charging.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/wirelesspower?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash

Notice how far down the list you have to scroll there before you find anything from uBeam? No, seriously it's a question because I scrolled for about 10 minutes and found nothing. It'll be interesting to see if the new CEO moves the PR bandwagon much closer to that of Energous and Ossia. Speaking of Ossia, they're really pushing their phone cases, which is interesting because as far as I can see they don't even have an FCC ID with which to apply for Part 18 approval. I'm wondering if they're going to pull a "we only supply the component, it's the final product vendor that has to get regulatory compliance".

Powercast are the only company that I can see that meet existing regulatory and don't lie about capabilities, hence the micro to milliWatt limits. WiCharge are interesting and seem more open, but efficiency won't be great and it's the safety of Watt-level lasers that gets me concerned.

[StillTrying]

Notice how far down the list you have to scroll there before you find anything from uBeam? No, seriously it's a question because I scrolled for about 10 minutes and found nothing.

If you were especially looking for ubean you could have saved 10 minutes by searching for both words at the same time!
The first 2 are.
27 Dec 2018  smart2zero @Smart2Zero
#Ultrasonic #wirelesspower system to be demoed at #CES2019 - https://bit.ly/2Tfy3V8  #uBeam #wireless #charging #IoT

8 Feb 2017 Qi wireless power @Qiwireless
uBeam announces Ultrasound Wave Wireless Charging http://ift.tt/2lnfnBF  #wirelesspower
 
I search for ubean about twice a week, there's been nothing happening for quite a long time, people no longer ask when their cable-less home or office is coming or when can they charge wirelessly.

There a few threads here on WiCharge if you've got lots of time to waste.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/dodgy-technology/wi-charge-infrared-wireless-charging/
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/infrared-laser-wireless-charging/
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-1092-wi-charge-ir-wireless-charging-fact-or-fiction/

I think WiCharge's 2019 predictions are just hopeful wishing.
https://www.wi-charge.com/2019trends/

I don't know much about Ossia, they seem to be determined to make Wi-Fi unusable.

[PaulReynolds]

Notice how far down the list you have to scroll there before you find anything from uBeam? No, seriously it's a question because I scrolled for about 10 minutes and found nothing.

If you were especially looking for ubean you could have saved 10 minutes by searching for both words at the same time!

I know, I was just both being a bit obtuse, as well as lazy - writing anything about them is more effort than I really should be spending on that company.

On Ossia, someone from a bluetooth-enabled product company chatted with me after CES and Ossia's presentations. Apparently Ossia are claiming 2 to 3 Watts delivered to a device battery within a car interior (re-asked and reconfirmed). While on the one hand they are saying 5.8GHz, they are doing demos at 2.4GHz, and this manufacturer was concerned about what it would do to his product. I told him not to worry about his product, his eyeballs are a larger concern. Ossia's public materials don't give numbers so this is just word of mouth. They do make some ridiculous statements though - here's their founder going through the maths of why you're better building your house with wireless power rather than those expensive wire things. Apparently it will be cheaper, save the environment, and make us all safer if we just change to RF wireless. Not sure how the wireless emitters get their power...

https://blog.ossia.com/news/the-true-cost-of-wireless-power

[Daixiwen]

https://blog.ossia.com/news/the-true-cost-of-wireless-power

I'd like to know who that guy's electrician is if he asks for $32000 just to install the wall outlets.

[Howardlong]

On Ossia, someone from a bluetooth-enabled product company chatted with me after CES and Ossia's presentations. Apparently Ossia are claiming 2 to 3 Watts delivered to a device battery within a car interior (re-asked and reconfirmed). While on the one hand they are saying 5.8GHz, they are doing demos at 2.4GHz, and this manufacturer was concerned about what it would do to his product. I told him not to worry about his product, his eyeballs are a larger concern. Ossia's public materials don't give numbers so this is just word of mouth. They do make some ridiculous statements though - here's their founder going through the maths of why you're better building your house with wireless power rather than those expensive wire things. Apparently it will be cheaper, save the environment, and make us all safer if we just change to RF wireless. Not sure how the wireless emitters get their power...

https://blog.ossia.com/news/the-true-cost-of-wireless-power

"Real wireless power is power delivered over air, without wires or charging pads, to a device or sensor automatically, without any user intervention. It can be managed and secured via the cloud" [My bold]

Well there's the built in obsolescence right there.

[sdpkom]

Speaking of Ossia, they're really pushing their phone cases, which is interesting because as far as I can see they don't even have an FCC ID with which to apply for Part 18 approval. I'm wondering if they're going to pull a "we only supply the component, it's the final product vendor that has to get regulatory compliance".

Ossia had a webinar in December, available (still, go download it fast, before they remove it) on their website.
On ~33:50 they say the transmitter is 10W.
But according to them, these limits are for data communication, not for Ossia.
 
I almost understood that since it's not communications - it's safe.

the FCC, the entire microwave oven industry, car radars, and even Energous don't seem agree.

also claims in the same webinar 3W @ 5M

BTW, if they can send >1W to >3-4 meters away, they can probably duplicate the Wi-Charge trains or something similar, even with no line of sight.

[StillTrying]

https://blog.ossia.com/news/the-true-cost-of-wireless-power

I'd like to know who that guy's electrician is if he asks for $32000 just to install the wall outlets.

"If we did not need 80% or so of these outlets, because all of our small devices were instead using wireless power, the electrical installation costs alone for building a home could decrease by 7 to 8%.
Seven or eight percent may not sound like much, but for a $400,000 home, that’s $28,000 to $32,000 of savings."

He claims the fewer sockets saves 7-8% on the electrical installation costs which is probably about right, but then multiplies that 8% by the total cost of the house instead of just the ~1% electrical installation cost, so his savings are 100X too large.

"you’d need to live in that house for 407 years for the wireless power energy bill to begin “costing” you."

So the 407 years come down to about 4 years, even less if you include the cost of the transmitters and medical bills.

"Making housing more affordable, and home ownership possible for more citizens, is just one example of the value wireless power brings to society."

LOL. At this rate Ossia will soon be getting their very own FAQ thread.

[sdpkom]

LOL. At this rate Ossia will soon be getting their very own FAQ thread.

Now that uBeam stopped twitting every 5 minutes we can just use this one

[Howardlong]

"you’d need to live in that house for 407 years for the wireless power energy bill to begin “costing” you."

So the 407 years come down to about 4 years, even less if you include the cost of the transmitters and medical bills.

Forget about 407 or even 4 years:

"Real wireless power is power delivered over air, without wires or charging pads, to a device or sensor automatically, without any user intervention. It can be managed and secured via the cloud"

Because we all know about the history of extended longevity that cloud based solutions offer. 

[PaulReynolds]

Speaking of Ossia, they're really pushing their phone cases, which is interesting because as far as I can see they don't even have an FCC ID with which to apply for Part 18 approval. I'm wondering if they're going to pull a "we only supply the component, it's the final product vendor that has to get regulatory compliance".

Ossia had a webinar in December, available (still, go download it fast, before they remove it) on their website.
On ~33:50 they say the transmitter is 10W.
But according to them, these limits are for data communication, not for Ossia.
 
I almost understood that since it's not communications - it's safe.

the FCC, the entire microwave oven industry, car radars, and even Energous don't seem agree.

also claims in the same webinar 3W @ 5M

BTW, if they can send >1W to >3-4 meters away, they can probably duplicate the Wi-Charge trains or something similar, even with no line of sight.

They also claim over 2W at 10 meters, and have a larger transmitter they claim to get useful power to 30 meters. Useful info, they go with 16x16 antenna in their ceiling tile (60 by 60 cm), and seem to be going with 1/3 wavelength pitch or so in the phased array.

There's simply no way they don't exceed SAR limits. I expect they are going to claim their time-reversal method means there's zero exposure except at the target, which is horseshit unless they've got some physics defying antenna.

I spoke to senior people at Ossia a couple of years ago, they knew that industrial IoT charging was mostly what was viable, and not much more. What he's saying here, they're now drinking their own Kool-aid.

This is an example of the tech startup version of Gresham's law, where bad money drives out good. Without an authority stomping on the bullshit, the other players have to lower themselves to the same level as the worst actor. I'm going to have to do an article on Ossia here.

[sdpkom]

its the famous engineering situation - pick any two

You can have range and power but not be compatible with FCC  - that's Ossia
You can have range and FCC compatibility - but not power - that's powercast
you can have power and FCC compatibility - but not range - that's humavox I guess, no one really goes that path, because Qi wins.
The Energous short range system is no power, no range, but FCC compatibility.
The Energous mid range system is bit but not enough power, a bit but not enough range, a bit (and barely enough) FCC compatibility, which is probably the optimum in this field, but is not enough for the market.

With non RF technologies, it's a different situation, I guess.

[PaulReynolds]

its the famous engineering situation - pick any two

You can have range and power but not be compatible with FCC  - that's Ossia
You can have range and FCC compatibility - but not power - that's powercast
you can have power and FCC compatibility - but not range - that's humavox I guess, no one really goes that path, because Qi wins.
The Energous short range system is no power, no range, but FCC compatibility.
The Energous mid range system is bit but not enough power, a bit but not enough range, a bit (and barely enough) FCC compatibility, which is probably the optimum in this field, but is not enough for the market.

With non RF technologies, it's a different situation, I guess.

I like that- mind if I pinch that concept for a future blog post?

[sdpkom]

No problem

[PaulReynolds]

An update on the uBeam private demo at CES, following some more conversations with those who got to see it:

The transmitter was on a motorized rotational stage, turning an estimated +/- 45 degrees to steer the beam. If that's the case, I do not understand why they bother with individual elements and a phased array - simply get a focused bowl arrangement and steer mechanically. The CES floor show demo seemed to show phased array operation, so perhaps there's a very limited steering angle and gross motions need mechanical steering?

There were items taped to the wall, on the door etc to show charging of items like "smart locks", however the device itself never charged, it was always an LED that lit up to indicate power was being delivered.

Those who held the next generation transducers seemed to think them roughly the same lateral dimensions as the Muratas, perhaps a bit thinner, but nowhere close to the "4x smaller area, 100x thinner" listed in the Oct 17 fundraising. They did say that the demo was being done with COTS devices.

Generally the view was that the presentation materials were not particularly professional. Given what they showed, it seems they booked a slot at CES prematurely, I have to think this hurt more than helped - but maybe I'm just a dumb engineer.

[coppice]

The transmitter was on a motorized rotational stage, turning an estimated +/- 45 degrees to steer the beam. If that's the case, I do not understand why they bother with individual elements and a phased array - simply get a focused bowl arrangement and steer mechanically. The CES floor show demo seemed to show phased array operation, so perhaps there's a very limited steering angle and gross motions need mechanical steering?

Wouldn't they still need an electronically steered beam to get the responsiveness they need? The target can be quite agile.

[Howardlong]

Apparently Ossia are claiming 2 to 3 Watts delivered to a device battery within a car interior (re-asked and reconfirmed).

Tom's Guide, the well-known encyclopedia of puff pieces, is claiming 3 to 4 watts at a distance of 2m.

If that gets past the regulatory authorities I'm a banana.

They claimed a 1W regulatory compliance here with no distance specified, but without seeing the tests themselves, I'd take that claim with a large spade load of salt.

Edit: from the Tom's Guide infomercial:

Ossia says it plans to work with Spigen to deliver a Cota-enabled phone case for 5.8GHz "by or before 2020."

Always 18 months away.

[Marco]

its the famous engineering situation - pick any two

There's also the Disney solution ... make the entire room a Faraday cage and use a big high intensity but low frequency emitter.

[sdpkom]

The ossia receiver, is supposed to be a cota chip (5mmX5mm) that's supposed to deliver up to 4W of power
https://powerpulse.net/ossia-unveils-next-gen-reference-design-kit-for-wireless-power/

Looking at the size of this sleeve, it at least doubles the volume of the iPhone it's housing.

The sleeve includes the chip, a flat antenna probably, a few LED, a LED driver and a controller to manage it all, all can easily fit into a 2cm^2 PCB and does not justify the hefty thickness....

The rest of the volume is probably a 10-20Wh LiPo battery (judging by the volume allocated to it).

Question 1:
  Why would they demonstrate it with such a big battery ? a thinner case would be much nicer.
Answer 1:
 A thinner case would need to be charged mid day in CES, in order to keep faking charging.

Question 2:
  Why did no one ask the super easy question - if the case is as big as a 15Wh battery case, why does it need two very big transmitters to keep it going all day?

[sdpkom]

its the famous engineering situation - pick any two

There's also the Disney solution ... make the entire room a Faraday cage and use a big high intensity but low frequency emitter.

I believe for the people inside the room, this one is not safe, and does interfere with other devices in the room (e.g. not FCC compatible inside)
although it probably is OK with FCC from the outside.

___________________________________________________
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
Outside the room its FCC compatible, Inside the room it's too dangerous to ..... read.

[Marco]

I believe for the people inside the room, this one is not safe

Not much less safe than having an inductive charging cradle on your nightstand. Same kind of frequencies, same kind of field strengths near the emitter ... it's just that what's near changes with the size of it.

[sdpkom]

I believe for the people inside the room, this one is not safe

Not much less safe than having an inductive charging cradle on your nightstand. Same kind of frequencies, same kind of field strengths near the emitter ... it's just that what's near changes with the size of it.

A Qi charging cradle has two modes of operation.

When no receiver is placed on it - it turns off and emits no radiation (almost).
When you place something on it, it has a few safety systems to detect if it's a real receiver. It will not turn on unless it is a good receiver placed correctly.
The receiver absorbs most of the radiation, so that it's not emitted to the surrounding.

There is also the fact you don't usually sit on your charging cradle.

[drussell]

Those who held the next generation transducers seemed to think them roughly the same lateral dimensions as the Muratas, perhaps a bit thinner, but nowhere close to the "4x smaller area, 100x thinner" listed in the Oct 17 fundraising. They did say that the demo was being done with COTS devices.

That is just as I suspected.  STILL, at this point, how many years and millions of dollars later, all they have to show for their efforts is more cobbled together attempts at a proof-of-concept demonstration using commercially available parts.  Attempts to demonstrate a system which is a fundamentally flawed concept.

But what do we know?  We're engineer-types.  We just don't believe hard enough. 

[PaulReynolds]

Wouldn't they still need an electronically steered beam to get the responsiveness they need? The target can be quite agile.

If you were charging a phone in use, yes. If you have pivoted to "IoT" which are almost all fixed location devices, no.

If they are using the motorized stage to do the targetting, then essentially the phased array becomes a variable depth focus bowl and that's all you use it for. Drastically simplifies the electronics and beamforming, you just connect the transducers into concentric rings and you move from N^2 connections to N/2 (approx), so a reduction of roughly a factor of 2N, where N is the number of elements across the transmitter. uBeam transmitter I've seen publicly show an estimated 16 to 45 elements across.