Wireless power standard emerges with logo

A standard for wireless charging of portable equipment is emerging through the Wireless Power Consortium. It has released the 0.95 technical specification for a global wireless power charging standard for low power devices that are 5 watts and below, such as mobile phones and personal music players. It is out for review by its members and announced the launch of prototype testing at a members' interoperability test to be held on 15-17 September, 2009.
The Consortium, established at the end of last year, has also chosen the logo “Qi” (pronounced “chee”, meaning “energy flow”) to represent the first international wireless power standard which brings new levels of convenience to power charging in consumer electronic devices.

“In just seven months the Wireless Power Consortium has advanced the standard to 0.95 for interoperability testing and moved to trademark “Qi” as the first universal wireless power standard. These significant milestones have been achieved through strong collaboration among the Consortium members and pave the way for an accelerated 1.0 release schedule of the standard,” said Camille Tang, Co-Chair of the Promotion Work Group at the consortium.

The interoperability test will be hosted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, during the next Consortium meeting and is open to existing and new members joining prior to 15 September 2009.
In a recent survey by the consortium 90% of respondents said they would like to see a uniform symbol placed on electronic devices to indicate that the devices are equipped with wireless power charging. Under the consortium’s plans, all electronic devices bearing the “Qi” symbol can be charged on any charging pad or surface marked with the same “Qi” logo.



Full members:
ConvenientPower
Fulton Innovation
Logitech
National Semiconductor
Olympus
Philips
Sang Fei
Sanyo
Texas Instruments


ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Duracell
Hosiden
Leggett & Platt
Samsung Electronics
ST-Ericsson