Camel: Context-Aware Magnetic MIMO Wireless Power Transfer with In-band Communication

Abstract

Wireless power transfer (e.g., based on RF or magnetic) enables convenient device-charging, and triggers innovative applications that typically call for faster, smarter, economic, and even simultaneous adaptive charging for multiple smart-devices. Designing such a wireless charging system meeting these multi-requirements faces critical challenges, mainly including the better understanding of real-time energy receivers’ status and the power-transferring channels, the limited capability and the smart coordination of the transmitters and receivers. In this work, we devise Camel, a context-aware MIMO MRC-WPT (magnetic resonant coupling-based wireless power transfer) system, which enables adaptive charging of multiple devices simultaneously with a novel context sensing scheme. In Camel, we craft an innovative MIMO WPT channels’ state estimation and collision-aware in-band parallel communication among multiple transmitters and receivers. We design and implement the Camel prototype and conduct extensive experimental studies. The results validate our design and demonstrate that Camel can support simultaneous charging of as many as 10 devices, high-speed context sensing within 50 milliseconds, and efficient parallel communication among transceivers within proximity of ~0.5m.