Energous Corporation and SATO Holdings Corporation announced a partnership to develop joint solutions that combine Energous' 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitters with IoT solutions for next-generation smart store applications. Through this joint development, the two aim to realize wireless powering of Wiliot IoT Pixel sensor tags from a distance of 5m to a maximum of 10m for asset management and inventory management solutions in stores and warehouses that SATO is building. IoT Pixels are small Bluetooth® Low Energy tags with sensors for humidity, proximity, temperature, etc.

Multiple tags that receive data from an Energous transmitter initiate data communication, with the transmitter also acting as a bridge, intelligently filtering data from the tags and relaying it to the cloud. By attaching IoT Pixels to individual products and special fixtures placed on product shelves, retailers can monitor the quantity and condition of products in real time without any manual checks.