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Cota Wireless-Power Solution Penetrates Walls

Redmond, Wash. — Ossia, a start-up, is looking to disrupt the ongoing wireless-charging standard battle with its breakthrough Cota remote wireless-power technology that can charge multiple devices from a distance without contact and outside of a line of sight.

In a demonstration for investors and engineers this month, a Cota transmitter box and receiver successfully charged an iPhone from 40 feet away through two walls and closed doors, the company said.

Cota enables the simultaneous charging of multiple devices and “follows” each device with a pocket of energy as it moves around a room.

It uses Ossia’s patented smart antenna technology that deploys phased antennas to transfer power without the use of inductive coils, ultrasonic waves, magnetic resonance, charging pads or mats. Designed for an effective radius of 30 feet, a single Cota charging station can charge or power all the battery-operated devices in every room of an average home or office suite without prompting the user to do anything, according to Ossia.

Cota receivers built into devices and batteries regularly send out beacon signals omnidirectionally. As the Cota charger receives these beacons, it returns focused streams of targeted signals, building pockets of energy at the exact locations of the beacons’ origins.

Ossia said Cota is inherently safe because the tracking beacons use only about 1 watt of power, which is about 1/10,000th the signal power of Wi-Fi, itself considered a low-power signal. Cota’s energy pockets are created using approximately the same signal strength emitted by a mobile phone during a call.

The laws of physics make Cota power signals naturally avoid anything that absorbs energy, such as people, pets and plants, the company said.

The Cota power charger is programmed to look for patterns in device usage, monitoring devices as they leave and return and ensuring that every device within range is automatically charged to full capacity. Like a Wi-Fi hotspot, a user can set it so that it only works with certain devices or simply open it up so that power is available to all Cota-enabled handsets within range.

Cota co-exists with other technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks without disruption because it operates on the same 2.4 GHz spectrum.

Cota is also energy efficient. While wired chargers consume energy continuously, Cota turns on when a device is within range and hibernates when not in use.

 “Ossia engineers are achieving technology breakthroughs almost weekly inside our lab,” said Hatem Zeine, founder and CEO of Ossia and inventor of the Cota technology. “While we are certainly proud of every new technical accomplishment, Ossia engineers are more focused on hitting the next milestone than celebrating each incremental achievement made along the way. So it is truly exciting to see the eyes of highly-educated and experienced technologists light up when seeing all the advances collectively for the first time. The success in demonstrating our current wire-free power system makes all of us at Ossia very eager to publicly showcase the next iteration of Cota later this year.”

Ossia is offering a licensing program for consumer electronics OEMs and ODMs to include Cota receivers in new products and build their own branded Cota transmitters. Existing battery-powered devices can be easily retrofitted with Cota receivers, even if they are already equipped with one of the three pad-based charging systems.

Other companies such as construction and energy businesses are also exploring non-consumer electronics applications for Cota-based remote power, Zeine said.

 “In 10 years, imagine there’s a Cota charger in the home, in the car, in cafes, in the airport. You would never have to worry about battery, ever. The battery icon on your phone, it would disappear,” Zeine said.

For more information visit Ossiainc.com.

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