IEEE, the professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, has launched the IEEE Wireless Power and Charging Systems Working Group (WPCS-WG). The new IEEE WG follows the creation of the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), established as an IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Industry Connections program in 2012 to advance smart and energy-efficient wireless power. The IEEE WG is developing the IEEE P2100.1 Standard Specifications for Wireless Power and Charging Systems, the first in a series of anticipated standards addressing parallel wireless power and charging technology specifications. Seeking to establish an interoperable standard that will allow users to wirelessly power and recharge smartphones and other mobile devices, the group’s work will begin in early 2014.
“Estimates now show that by 2014, the number of mobile phones will surpass the entire population of the human race. We live in a mobility-driven society in which people place a high premium on the freedom to connect anywhere, at any time through their mobile devices,” said Clif Barber, IEEE Wireless Power and Charging Systems WG chair and PMA technical director. “Meeting the power demands of billions of devices worldwide calls for a new paradigm, one that does for power what the Internet did for data. IEEE P2100.1 will facilitate reliable, broad-scale access to wireless power and charging, preserving the freedom that mobile users expect and demand. We are very pleased to be getting this important work underway.”
IEEE P2100.1 will establish parallel specifications for wireless power and charging for both transmitter and receiver devices, with an initial focus on inductive (or tightly) coupled technologies. When completed and approved, IEEE P2100.1 will offer advantages and benefits in a wide range of markets including consumer electronics and appliances, electric vehicles, medical devices, and more. As the interest in loosely coupled systems increases, the working group will adapt to focus on this technology and incorporate this into the standard as well.
Wireless power and charging implementations had previously been restricted to proprietary, non-standardized deployments that do not define interfaces between components. IEEE P2100.1 aims to incorporate multiple wireless power and charging technologies, and build on the work that industry organizations have done to help drive interoperability with a broad spectrum of devices and help reduce end-user confusion that could impede ubiquitous adoption of the technology.
“Wireless power and charging is a concept whose time has come. However, rapid development and deployment of the required wireless infrastructure will be key to its acceptance in the market, and standards are a critical underpinning of that infrastructure,” said Konstantinos Karachalios, managing director, IEEE-SA. “Supporting the effort to make IEEE P2100.1 broadly interoperable requires that accord be achieved among the many stakeholders involved in this effort; IEEE’s successful track record as a consensus-builder should serve the project well. We’re looking forward to helping bring this much-needed innovative technology to market.”
For more information on IEEE P2100.1, please visit the standards web page; for more information on the entity-based IEEE Wireless Power and Charging Systems Working Group, please visit their web page.
