Microchip supports certified Qi 1.3 wireless charging

     To ensure high quality wireless charging power transmitters, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) has published the Qi 1.3 specification with extended power profiles. The new specification creates a need for a full-service, high-security chip authentication device. In response to this demand, Microchip Technology Inc. announced the new industrial-grade TrustFLEX ECC608 and automotive-grade Trust Anchor TA100 for Qi 1.3 power transmitters combined with Microchip's secure key provisioning service. This new solution is an all-in-one secure storage subsystem, including key provisioning for consumer and automotive systems.

     The current Qi 1.3 specification mandates the addition of a secure storage subsystem with secure key configuration (including X.509 certificates) to cryptographically verify the source and quality of authenticated power transmitters. When a receiver (such as in a cell phone) is placed on a Qi 1.3 power transmitter, it may initially accept 5W charging or not at all. Well, after X.509-based Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) authentication successfully proves that the charger is an approved "harmless" device, the phone will safely accept 15W charging, significantly reducing charging time.

     Microchip is a WPC Certified Manufacturing Certificate Authority (CA) that not only provides pre-configured secure storage subsystem solutions to reduce complexity and development time, but also handles the entire key ceremony on behalf of Microchip customers with WPC Root Certificate Authorities, thereby Lower the technical barriers to entry. Microchip is a one-stop Qi 1.3 solution provider offering complete certified reference designs for automotive and consumer applications, including application microcontrollers (MCUs), Qi 1.3 software stacks, secure storage subsystems supporting cryptographic libraries, and configuration services.

     "Our WPC secure memory subsystem solutions demonstrate Microchip's continued commitment to facilitating the high-volume deployment of state-of-the-art security architectures in embedded systems," said Nuri Dagdeviren, vice president of Microchip Technology's Security Products Business Unit. customers in the US lower the barriers to entry to adopt this complex but critically important technology.”