Xiaomi today announced their latest Mi Air Charge Technology, which is the latest form of wireless charging. Taking a step further from today’s wireless charging methods, Mi Air Charge allows users to charge their electronic devices remotely without the need of a cable or wireless charging stands.
Mi Air Charge Technology
How Does It Work?
The core technology of Xiaomi’s remote charging lies in space positioning and energy transmission. Xiaomi’s self-developed isolated charging pile has five phase interference antennas built in, which can accurately detect the location of the smartphone. A phase control array composed of 144 antennas transmits millimeter-wide waves directly to the phone through beamforming.
Within the smartphone, Xiaomi developed a mini antenna array that has a built-in beacon antenna and receiving antenna array. The beacon antenna would then broadcast position information with low power consumption. The receiving antenna array has 14 antennas that would convert millimeter wave signals that are emitted by the charging pile into electric energy via the rectifier circuit.
Of course, charging speeds aren’t as fast as cabled charging, where the Mi Air Charge is only capable of 5W remote charging currently for a single device within several meter radius. Multiple devices can also be charged at the same time, and the company mentioned that physical obstacles do not reduce the charging efficiency.
In the near future, Xiaomi’s Mi Air Charge technology will also be able to work with smart watches, bracelets and other wearable devices. The company is also planning to bring the feature to living room devices including speakers, desk lamps, as well as other smart home products. These products would of course have to be equipped with the antenna arrays mentioned earlier.
What do you guys think? We’re super excited to see where this technology goes, and we certainly hope it doesn’t just end up becoming vapourware.
Source: Mi Blog