We are already used to the fact that our phones and other mobile devices receive data from outside with the help of wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Recently, wireless charging technologies have become more common, but, unfortunately, all wireless chargers, with very few exceptions, work efficiently only at a very small distance. Researchers from the University of North Carolina (North Carolina State University, NCSU) have developed a new wireless system capable of performing both of the above functions, it provides transmission over a relatively large distance, both energy and data at the same time.

Wireless charging systems usually use inductors that emit electromagnetic fields. These fields are converted back to electricity by other coils built into the phone or mobile device. But both built-in wireless charging systems, and systems that can be purchased as additional components, require that the phone or device lie on the surface of the charger.

"Recent research by our scientists has made it possible to extend the range of the wireless charging system to several inches," says David Ricketts, one of the researchers, "And this work has become the basis for our next step".

In order to provide efficient power transmission, wireless systems use a very narrowband signal, which is not very well suited for high-speed data transmission. The new system uses two signals of the same range, all transmitted energy is concentrated within a narrow band, and the rest is used for data transmission. In addition, to increase the transmission rate, researchers used additional methods, such as automatic channel alignment.

"Earlier it was believed that for efficient wireless transmission of energy, only narrowband transmitters and receivers are required," says David Ricketts. "We showed the possibility of creating a broadband system, the narrowest part of which is allocated for the transmission of energy. This system inherited all the best features of existing wireless charging systems and wireless data transmission systems ".

During the tests, the researchers forced their system to operate in different modes, in the mode of energy transfer and in the mode of simultaneous transmission of energy and data. The distance separating the receiver and the transmitter was 16 centimeters and energy was transferred through a wireless "energy" channel, with a power of 3 Watts. With this level of transmitted energy, additional data transfer reduced the overall efficiency of the wireless charging system by 2. 3 percent, and with the transfer of 2 watts of energy, the drop in efficiency was only 1. 3 percent.

"Our experimental data show that our system is not inferior in performance to existing wireless charging devices. And now we will design a new system, which, while charging the battery will allow you to watch movies from the Internet, "- says David Ricketts.