Energous and SATO Partner to Develop Wirelessly Powered In-store Retail IoT Applications for Tomorrow

Energous Corporation (NASDAQ: WATT), a leading developer of wireless power networks, and SATO Holdings Corporation (TOKYO: 6287), a global pioneer in auto-ID and labelling solutions, today announced a partnership to develop joint solutions that combine Energous’ 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitters with IoT solutions for next-generation smart store applications.

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1W WattUp® PowerBridge for Wiliot IoT Pixels (Graphic: Business Wire)

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.

Retail applications using Energous transmitters and IoT Pixel tags will be demonstrated at NRF 2023, the National Retail Federation’s flagship event, in New York City January 15-17 at the SATO booth (#4265).

“Retail adoption of internet-connected devices such as Bluetooth tags and asset trackers continues to rise, bringing challenges around how to power them reliably and consistently, especially in large-scale deployments that feature thousands of devices,” said Cesar Johnston, CEO of Energous. “This partnership combines our RF-based wireless power transmitter technology with SATO’s tagging solutions to deliver power over the air at-a-distance to Wiliot IoT Pixel tags in retail settings, solving this challenge. We look forward to showcasing this technology at NRF in January and invite you to see it yourself.”

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Energous, a trailblazer in the development of wireless powering of IoT devices across multiple applications,” said Kazuya Hirata, head of the T4S Business Lab at SATO Holdings Corporation. “The combination of SATO’s retail tagging hardware and software expertise, Energous’ WattUp wireless charging technology and Wiliot’s battery-free IoT Pixel tags can help usher in the next-generation retail store and smarter shopping experiences by taking a totally different approach to visualizing inventory.”

To see the joint technology at NRF, visit the SATO booth (#4265). To learn more about Energous, please visit Energous.com or follow the company’s corporate pages on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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About Energous Corporation

Energous Corporation (NASDAQ: WATT) is the Wireless Power Network global leader. Its award-winning WattUp® solution is the only technology that supports both contact and distance charging through a fully compatible ecosystem. Built atop fast, efficient, and highly scalable RF-based charging technology, WattUp is positioned to offer improvements over older, first-generation coil-based charging technologies in power, efficiency, foreign device detection, freedom of movement and overall cost for industrial and retail IoT, smart homes, smart cities and medical devices. Energous develops silicon-based wireless power transfer (WPT) technologies and customizable reference designs, and provides worldwide regulatory assistance, a reliable supply chain, quality assurance, and sales and technical support to global customers. The company received the world’s first FCC Part 18 certification for at-a-distance wireless charging and has been awarded over 200 patents for its WattUp wireless charging technology to-date.

About SATO

SATO (TOKYO:6287) is a global auto-ID solutions provider for leading companies in manufacturing, logistics, retail, food & beverage and health care. SATO tags every ‘thing’, making them knowable in real time for a connected world of productivity, safety, reassurance and sustainability. An industry pioneer with a focus that is grounded on site, SATO engineers hardware and integrates solutions to streamline the entire supply chain and capture and visualize data from factory to consumer. SATO has 82 years of expertise and a presence in 26 countries with a 5,600+ workforce. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, it reported revenues of 124,783 million yen ($1.11 billion*).

More information about SATO can be found at www.sato-global.com

*Based on an average exchange rate of 1 USD = 112.39 JPY

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