U.S. Navy researchers recently transmitted 1.6 kilowatts of electrical power over a kilometer using a 10 gigahertz microwave beam during a showcase of terrestrial microwave power beaming in Maryland.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory said Wednesday the event is the second demonstration under the Safe and COntinuous Power bEaming – Microwave (SCOPE-M) program, which is aimed at proving the feasibility of point-to-point wireless electricity transfer through microwaves.
At U.S. Army Research Field in Blossom Point, Maryland, SCOPE-M used thousands of X band antennas connected with a rectifier diode to receive and convert microwave beams packing 1.6 kW in energy, the highest amount in nearly 50 years, into direct current electricity.
While the project focuses on terrestrial transfer, Brian Tierney, SCOPE-M electronics engineer, pointed out that the Department of Defense could use the same approach to beam electricity from space to power ground troops.
“From the standpoint of technology readiness level, I feel we are very close to demonstrating a system we can truly deploy and use in a DOD application,” shared Christopher Rodenbeck, NRL’s Advanced Concepts Group head and the program’s principal investigator.
