Wireless power flagged as IoT enabler
Power limits remain a key bottleneck for supply-chain IoT, and commentators point to wireless power solutions—such as those from Energous—as enablers for continuous tracking and always-on telemetry in enterprise deployments. The framing shifts the problem from connectivity to energy strategy when planning large fleets of sensors and handhelds. For deployments that need continuous streams, alternate power models are being presented as an infrastructure priority. (x.com)
Most supply-chain sensors already know how to talk. The part they keep running out of is electricity, because a temperature tag in a pallet or a tracker on a rolling cart is only as useful as its battery on day 400, not day 4. (renesas.com) That is why wireless power keeps showing up in warehouse technology pitches. Energous says its radio-frequency transmitters are built to send power over the air so tags and sensors can keep reporting without battery swaps or charging cables. (energous.com) A normal low-power tracker saves energy by sleeping most of the time. Zebra sells Bluetooth Low Energy beacons for industrial tracking on coin cells, and Kontakt.io advertises asset tags with battery life measured in years, which works only when devices transmit sparingly. (zebra.com) (kontakt.io) The problem starts when companies want a constant stream instead of occasional check-ins. Energous said on March 25, 2025 that its PowerBridge PRO+ was designed to support “continuous access to wireless power” and real-time data from visible tags and sensors. (energous.com) That changes what “infrastructure” means in the Internet of Things. Instead of just budgeting for gateways, radios, and cloud software, an operator now has to budget for how thousands of devices will be energized across shelves, coolers, trailers, and yards. (energous.com) Energous has been pushing that idea with actual hardware milestones, not just sketches. The company said on August 28, 2024 that its 2-watt PowerBridge transmitter received full Federal Communications Commission certification, and it described that as the first certified transmitter at that power level. (energous.com) It also has a real customer story to point to. Business Wire reported on April 16, 2025 that Energous was working with a Fortune 10 retailer on a rollout tied to about 4,700 United States locations, after shipping more than 4,000 transmitters during the deployment phase that began in 2024. (businesswire.com) The pitch gets even sharper when the tag itself drops the battery. Energous said in June 2025 that its e-Sense tag was battery-free and aimed at location and temperature monitoring in retail, supply chain, and logistics settings. (markets.financialcontent.com) This is why the story is shifting from connectivity to energy strategy. Bluetooth Low Energy, gateways, and cloud dashboards already cover the “can the sensor send data” question, but always-on telemetry turns the harder question into “who keeps every sensor powered, every hour, in every aisle.” (digitalmatter.com) (energous.com) Wireless power will not replace every battery, because many trackers still need long range, outdoor coverage, or the lowest possible hardware cost. But for fixed enterprise spaces where a company controls the ceiling, shelves, and workflow, vendors are now selling power delivery itself as part of the sensor network. (energous.com) (eenewseurope.com))
