Power Delivery and Communication with an Infrared Laser (PaCIR)

We present a novel approach for wirelessly powering and communicating with small electronic devices, such as IoT and WSN nodes, using human-safe infrared lasers. We envision our system to be deployed in an area with many IoT or WSN nodes, or other devices requiring a trickle charge. The Power delivery and Communication with an Infrared Laser (PaCIR) system locates each device and charges it for a specified duration, communicating with it as necessary, before moving to the next device. We have designed and built a proof-of-concept implementation of this PaCIR system. Testing our implementation, we find that our prototype successfully delivers near-milliwatt-order (~0.5 mW) power to targets at an arbitrary position within a distance appropriate for WSNs and IoT networks, on the scale of a room (~15 feet). Our prototype also implements low-power communication with a to-target communication clock speed capable of supporting data rates of several kilobit/s and a from-target communication clock speed capable of supporting data rates of several bit/s, allowing IoT and WSN nodes to save power on communication.