June 3, 2011 10:52 pm EDT

Flexible wireless charging sheet could eventually turn your skinny jeans into power pants (video)

If you haven't already heard, wireless charging is all the rage -- cars, cameras, and, of course, cellphones have all benefited from the burgeoning technology. Now a team of researchers at Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) are showing off a 2D power transmission system that could turn your pockets into wireless charging stations. According to its creators, "When a 2.4GHz high frequency signal is transmitted through the sheet, it becomes a wireless conductive object." Electromagnetic waves are captured in the sheet and can be concentrated in particular areas, allowing for individual activation of multiple devices, and thus increasing efficiency -- systems like Qi currently require a dedicated transmitter per device. The NICT says the power it provides is still relatively weak -- about 1W -- but it has plans to eventually bring the technology to soft fabrics. So maybe that Snuggie charging station you've been dreaming of isn't so impractical after all.

Flexible wireless charging sheet could eventually turn your skinny jeans into power pants (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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