F.A.Q
Frequent questions about Wi-R
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What is non-radiative wireless?
Wireless such as Bluetooth/Wi-Fi radiates signals in every direction making it inefficient. Wi-R does not radiate. Signal is confined in a bubble around the surface making it efficient like a wire.
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Does it need to touch for Wi-R communication? If my phone/laptop is on the table, will it work?
One of the most surprising aspects of Wi-R is that there is no touch/contact required for data communication. The devices do need to be within a few inches of the surface. It the table has conductive elements e.g. a metallic laptop, you can very likely listen to audiobooks/music if your phone is on the table and there is no contact.
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How do I pronounce Ixana?
It's pronounced as "Ick-sana". Iksana in ancient Sanskrit refers to "superintendence, caring for or looking after, often with an additional eye"
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How did you solve a problem incumbents couldn't?
Our information processing architecture is very different from what AR headsets have typically pursued. Few even believed a 100X improvement in energy efficiency is possible until we demonstrated it. Multiple major discoveries, exploiting novel physics enabled the 100X advantage.
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How defensible is the Wi-R tech?
The broad physics of the tech is patented (3 granted, 8 filed). The know-how of how to design the system is a trade secret. Unlike most hardware built with off-the-shelf components, mixed-signal silicon chips like ours, are nearly impossible to reverse engineer. We do not expect copycats. However, if a company with a lot of resources put together the best engineers in the world to develop it, we estimate it would take 2-4 years to get to the first version of the chip.
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What are the competing techs to Wi-R?
The most well-known ones are Wi-Fi, Cellular radio, Bluetooth, and Ultrawideband (UWB).
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What can Wi-R do that Bluetooth can’t?
- Wi-R can transmit 10X higher data rate than Bluetooth (up to 30Mbps demonstrated). This is important to transfer video and multi-sensor data.
- Wi-R can be battery-free without severe duty cycling. There are charging-free Bluetooth tags available(Wiliot, Atmosic). However, they achieve it by severely reducing the data rate(<1kbps). Even in the charging-free regime (10uW power consumption), Wi-R can enable ~10-100kbps data rate. This is important for continuous monitoring of health data e.g. ECG waveform and motion capture data.
- Wi-R can transmit data by touch. Bluetooth can’t select a device based on touch. This would be important for public screens that behave differently based on who is touching them. In the future, this would also be used for payments, replacing/augmenting NFC.
- One-to-many connections: This year, our firmware would be able to support one-to-25 device connections. Bluetooth is limited to 8, and that too with a lot of limitations and interference.
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What's the size of Ixana's Wi-R chip?
The die area of Ixana's Wi-R chips varies between 1mm*1mm and 2mm*2mm. The larger area chips contain camera interface for streaming video. The packaged area depends on a few factors. But, the chips are chiplet friendly for space constrained electronics.
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How can I get datasheets for the chip or the Evaluation Kits?
Please email hello@ixana.ai to request datasheets. We can share the datasheets with a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement.
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Can I use Wi-R for authentication on touch?
Yes, you can. Infact, seamless authentication might be one of the first usecases that our partners bring to market. See the below video to get an idea of how that might work.
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I remember a similar capability a few years ago where a biz card could be transferred. How is this different?
There are 3 major differences:
- The earlier capability was not reliable. It only worked if the two hands with a smartwatch were really close. You had to wear the watch on the same hand you are shaking hands with. In our case, your smartphone can be in the pocket and you can still transfer biz cards, contacts and more.
- We can stream large files e.g. music, videos. No other capability has even come close.
- Our tech also works on you. i.e. You can stream video from a smartglass on your head to a phone in your pocket. As long as these devices are on/near you, you don’t need Bluetooth/Wi-Fi etc burning through your battery.
Learn how Wi-R works
Details on frequency, mode of operation, comparison with other communication technologies and more.
Read White Paper