It is a very exciting time. Twenty years ago I was discussing wireless with a colleague (Spruce Riordon, VP At Carleton University) and we concluded that everything needs to be wireless - even power.
Now, looking back, we are there. There is wireless communications on virtually all devices if you want it and today there is wireless power pads and even wireless room power.
Today, Unision and DSPnano are being refined with various wireless communication options including bluetooth and wifi. Low cost wireless for data channel communication is expected too.
Along with this wireless communication comes power on self test (POST), diagnostics, and flash downloading and updates. Today, virtually all products are expected to maintain themselves in the field with some operator intervention. Just like wireline systems do today, wireless systems will have to offer this in the future; however this update represents more of a challenge in wireless (extra size, security issues, ...).
Unison is ideally suited for applications like driving power pads; however, I wonder how safe they really are. A pad with localized magnetic induction for power is not a problem as long as the field is weak; after all we live in a constant magnetic field created by the earth. I do wonder about the effects of these magnetic fields at the room level.
Why do crops grow poorly near power lines? This is a well known phenomena. The fields must be partially responsible (both magnetic and electric). Have we really thought this out? Show me five independent studies that demonstrate that it is 100% safe and then I'll consider wireless power for my home. Its time we added responsibility for people's health to the list of design requirements for all of these devices that substantially alter our environment.
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