Xiaomi presents Mi Air Charge new remote charging device

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Xiaomi just announced its remote wireless charging system: Mi Air Charge. In other words, neither cables nor a charging base is necessary. Rather, the charging process happens remotely, at a distance of “several meters”, and with a power of 5W, according to the company.



Moreover, Xiaomi claims this technology is capable of charging several devices at the same time without any drop of power and that “even physical obstacles do not reduce the efficiency of charging”. It is true that this is not a high a speed charging, but it is a small big step towards the right direction. The company has not confirmed they will implement this technology in a mobile phone in the short term, but gave details of its operation.

How is remote charging even possible?

Xiaomi explains that this technology, at its core, is based on spatial positioning and energy transmission. The charging station has a five phase interference antennas that “can accurately detect the location of the smartphone”. Once its location is detected, another series of 144 antennas transmit millimetre waves to the phone through beam formation.

This is useless if the smartphone doesn’t have a receiving system, of course. This is why Xiaomi has developed a “miniaturized antenna array” with a beacon antenna and an extra series of 14 integrated receiving antennas. The first transmits position information “with low power consumption”. The latter convert the millimetre wave signal into electrical energy through a rectifier circuit.

Basically Xiaomi converts millimeter waves into electrical energy. According to Xiaomi, its technology is currently capable of remotely charging several devices at the same time with a power of five watts in a radius of five meters. It is not the fastest charging speed in the world, but it is poses an outstanding breakthrough in power technology and passive remote charging.

Although Mi Air Charge makes a lot of sense on mobile phones applications, the Chinese company explains that it can work with smart watches, bracelets and other wearables. Indeed, Xiaomi envisions a future in which all speakers, desk lamps and other small devices work without cables. However, it should be remembered that at the moment this technology is a promise and not a commercial product, so it is better to wait for the company to launch it, to really see what it is capable of.

Motorola also takes a sip from this soup

Xiaomi is not the only one bragging about its remote wireless charging technology. Motorola also shared a video on Weibo showing its technology. Judging from the media available, the system is less complex than that of Xiaomi.

This consists of some sort of charging device that is placed on the table. For it to work, the mobile has to be in a straight line with respect to the charger, that is, directly in front of it, and at a distance of no more than one meter.

Motorola remote charging

It appears that it can be used with multiple devices at the same time, but Motorola has not disclosed the charging speed. In addition, unlike what Xiaomi promises, for Motorola technology it seems that physical obstacles are a problem, since when you put your hand between the charging base and the mobile the charging process stops.

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