Researchers at South Korea's KAIST, formerly the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, have developed a wireless-power transfer (WPT) technology that allows mobile devices to be charged at any location and in any direction, even if the devices are away from the power source. As long as mobile users stay in a designated area where the charging is available, the device--without being tethered to a charger--will pick up power automatically, as needed, according to Scientific Computing.
The research team, led by professor Chun T. Rim of the Nuclear and Quantum Engineering Department at KAIST, reports great strides in WPT development. Their system is capable of charging multiple mobile devices concurrently and with unprecedented freedom in any direction, even while holding the devices in midair or a half meter away from the power source, which is a transmitter. The research result was published in the June 2015 online issue of IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, entitled "Six Degrees of Freedom Mobile Inductive Power Transfer by Crossed Dipole Tx (Transmitter) and Rx (Receiver) Coils." Article