Wireless power transfer (WPT) is a promising solution to provide convenient and perpetual energy supplies to electronics. Traditional WPT technologies face the challenge of providing Watt-level power over meter-level distance for Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile devices, such as sensors, controllers, smart-phones, laptops, etc.. Distributed laser charging (DLC), a new WPT alternative, has the potential to solve these problems and enable WPT with the similar experience as WiFi communications. In this paper, we present a multi-module DLC system model, in order to illustrate its physical fundamentals and mathematical formula. This analytical modeling enables the evaluation of power conversion or transmission for each individual module, considering the impacts of laser wavelength, transmission attenuation and photovoltaic-cell (PV-cell) temperature. Based on the linear approximation of electricity-to-laser and laser-to-electricity power conversion validated by measurement and simulation, we derive the maximum power transmission efficiency in closed-form. Thus, we demonstrate the variation of the maximum power transmission efficiency depending on the supply power at the transmitter, laser wavelength, transmission distance, and PV-cell temperature. Similar to the maximization of information transmission capacity in wireless information transfer (WIT), the maximization of the power transmission efficiency is equally important in WPT. Therefore, this work not only provides the insight of DLC in theory, but also offers the guideline of DLC system design in practice.

Power supply for Internet of Things (IoT) devices is one of the bottlenecks in IoT development. To provide perpetual power supply for IoT devices, resonant beam charging (RBC) is a promising safe, long-range and high-power wireless power transfer solution. How long distance RBC can reach and how much power RBC can transfer? In this paper, we analyze the consistent and steady operational conditions of the RBC system, which determine the maximum power transmission distance. Then, we study the power transmission efficiency within the operational distance, which determines the deliverable power through the RBC energy transmission channel. Based on the theoretical model of the wireless energy transmission channel, we establish a testbed. According to the experimental measurement, we validate our theoretical model. The experiments verify that the output electrical power at the RBC receiver can be up to 2W. The maximum energy transmission distance is 2.6m. Both the experimental and theoretical performance of the RBC system are evaluated in terms of the transmission distance, the transmission efficiency, and the output electrical power. Our theoretical model and experimental testbed lead to the guidelines for the RBC system design and implementation in practice.

Wireless charging for mobile Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as smartphones is extremely difficult. To reduce energy dissipation during wireless transmission in mobile scenarios, laser or narrow radio beams with sophisticated tracking control are typically required. However, reaching the necessary tracking accuracy and reliability is really difficult. In this article, inspired by the features of optical resonators and retroreflectors, we develop an experiment on a self-aligned resonant beam charging system for long-distance mobile power transfer. It exploits light resonances inside a double-retroreflector-based spatially separated laser resonator (SSLR), which eliminates the requirement for any kind of tracking control. Focal telecentric cat’s eye retroreflectors are employed here. The SSLR was investigated by both theoretical calculation and experiment. We also well assembled the transmitter and the receiver and demonstrated its application in mobile smartphone charging. The results show that above 5-W optical power (also obtained more than 0.6-W electrical power) transferring with negligible diffraction loss to a few-centimeter-size receiver is realized while the receiver moves arbitrarily within 2-m vertical distance and 6° field of view from the transmitter. The maximum horizontal moving range is up to ±18 cm. This wireless charging system empowers a smartphone in mobile operation with unlimited battery life without the need for a cable.

Optical wireless communications (OWC) utilizing infrared or visible light as the carrier attracts great attention in 6G research. Resonant beam communications (RBCom) is an OWC technology which simultaneously satisfies the needs of non-mechanical mobility and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). It has the self-alignment feature and therefore avoids positioning and pointing operations. However, RBCom undergoes echo interference. Here we propose an echo-interference-free RBCom system design based on second harmonic generation. The transmitter and the receiver constitute a spatially separated laser resonator, in which the retro-reflective resonant beam is formed and tracks the receiver automatically. This structure provides the channel with adaptive capability in beamforming and alignment, which is similar to the concept of intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) enhanced communications, but without hardware and software controllers. Besides, we establish an analytical model to evaluate the beam radius, the beam power, and the channel capacity. The results show that our system achieves longer distance and smaller beam diameter for the transmission beyond 10 Gbit/s, compared with the existing OWC technologies.

Resonant Beam Charging (RBC) is a promising Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technology to realize long-range and high-power charging for electronic devices. However, the safety mechanism of the RBC system has not been investigated so far. In this paper, we propose an analytical model based on electromagnetic field analysis for evaluating the performance of the RBC system with external object invasion, such as the benchmark for the WPT safety, irradiance on the invading object. For the RBC system with 5 m transmission distance and 1 W output electric power, the safety numerical analysis of radiation illustrates that the maximum irradiance on the invading object is 0.81 W/cm ² , which is approximately $1/10$ compared with 8.22 W/cm ² for the comparable laser charging system. Particularly, the peak irradiance on the invading object of the RBC system satisfies the Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) requirement for human skin, which is 1 W/cm ² in the standard “Safety of Laser Products IEC $60825-1$”. Hence, the RBC system can realize skin-safe WPT with Watt-level power over meter-level distance.

Resonant Beam Charging (RBC) is the Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technology, which can provide high-power, long-distance, mobile, and safe wireless charging for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Supporting multiple IoT devices charging simultaneously is a significant feature of the RBC system. To optimize the multi-user charging performance, the transmitting power should be scheduled for charging all IoT devices simultaneously. In order to keep all IoT devices working as long as possible for fairness, we propose the First Access First Charge (FAFC) scheduling algorithm. Then, we formulate the scheduling parameters quantitatively for algorithm implementation. Finally, we analyze the performance of FAFC scheduling algorithm considering the impacts of the receiver number, the transmitting power and the charging time. Based on the analysis, we summarize the methods of improving the WPT performance for multiple IoT devices, which include limiting the receiver number, increasing the transmitting power, prolonging the charging time and improving the single-user’s charging efficiency. The FAFC scheduling algorithm design and analysis provide a fair WPT solution for the multi-user RBC system.