Keeping Energy-Neutral Devices Operational: a Coherent Massive Beamforming Approach

TL;DR

This paper explores RF-based wireless power transfer using coherent beamforming with multiple antennas to keep low-cost IoT devices operational, optimizing antenna deployment within regulatory limits.

Contribution

It introduces a deployment optimization method for antenna arrays to enable energy-neutral operation of IoT devices through wireless power transfer.

Findings

Power spots can sustain high-density battery-less IoT devices.

Optimized antenna deployment enhances wireless charging efficiency.

Feasibility confirmed within regulatory constraints.

Abstract

Keeping the batteries on the shelf: this is the holy grail for low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) nodes. In this paper we study the potential of radio frequency (RF)-based wireless power transfer implementing coherent beamforming with many antennas to realize this ambitious target. We optimize the deployment of the antennas to charge electronic shelf labels (ESLs), considering actual regulatory constraints. The results confirm the feasibility to create power spots that are sufficient to keep the high density of battery-less devices operational.