Panthronics AG, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in high performance wireless technology, and Luxshare-ICT, a Guangdong, China-based original design manufacturer (ODM) which specialises in connector and interface technologies, have formed a partnership aimed at accelerating the adoption of NFC wireless charging in computing and consumer devices.
Under the partnership, Panthronics is providing Luxshare-ICT with early access to new NFC wireless charging products, and giving in-depth technical support to Luxshare-ICT’s design engineering teams. On its side, Luxshare-ICT has initiated a development program to produce a series of proofs-of-concept and reference designs for NFC wireless charging of computer peripherals and wearable devices.
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These designs will provide ready-made implementations of NFC wireless charging, enabling consumer electronics manufacturers to add wireless charging capability quickly and easily to products such as computer mice, keyboards and styluses, and to true wireless stereo earbuds, smart rings, smart watches and other consumer devices.
Josue Castillo, Global Marketing Director for Advanced Technology Development at Luxshare-ICT, said: “Panthronics innovations underpin the best poller and listener ICs on the NFC wireless charging market. By using them, Luxshare-ICT is now able to supply consumer electronics brands with a superior solution for NFC charging, offering high power throughput for the fastest charging times.”
Darryn Prince, Vice President and General Manager Americas at Panthronics, said: “The world-class design capabilities of Luxshare-ICT promise to produce some outstanding implementations of NFC wireless charging based on Panthronics ICs and firmware. The collaboration between our companies gives consumer device manufacturers a new, easy way to build NFC wireless charging into many types of products.”
The first proof-of-concept design to emerge from the partnership between Panthronics and Luxshare-ICT is a wireless charging mat for a computer mouse, based on the latest Panthronics PTX130W poller and PTX30W integrated listener SoC. The compact mouse mat incorporates a poller antenna. The PTX130W poller in the mat uses Panthronics firmware to perform automatic device detection and charging control functions.
The proof-of-concept also includes a mouse which features the single-chip PTX30W, the world’s smallest solution for the NFC charging listener. Together, the PTX130W and PTX30W allow for the over-the-air transfer of data and the harvesting of 1W of power at the mouse – twice the power capability of NFC wireless charging systems based on competing poller/listener combinations. The NFC Forum-compatible PTX130W supports the use of any NFC-compliant tag or listener device.