SIXTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM NIKOLA TESLA October 18 20, 2006, Belgrade, SASA, Serbia

Research Activities and Future Trends of Microwave Wireless Power Transmission

Djuradj Budimir1 and Aleksandar Marincic2
Abstract One of the key technologies throughout the 20th century was the application of radio for telecommunications. However, radio can be also used for other purposes such as human welfare. Due to a lack of energy supply during the next fifty years, Space Solar Power Station (SPS) could help solve the problem. Microwave wireless power transmission (MPT) is a promising technique for the long term power supply for places where it is difficult to install power transmission lines. This technology was proposed by W. C. Brawn in 1960. In 1968 the initial idea of the SPS was proposed by P. E. Glaser. In this paper we describe a review of the research activities and future trends of microwave wireless power transmission (MPT) technology and its application. Keywords Microwave wireless power transmission, Solar power station, Rectenna, Nikola Tesla.

I. INTRODUCTION
The transmission of large amounts of electric power is one possible future application of microwaves that has not proved very popular so far. In 1900, Nikola Tesla, an inventor and scientist from our neighborhood, proposed the use of radio waves to transmit power instead of using high-voltage power lines. Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, a village in a mountainous area of the Balkan Peninsula known as Lika, which at that time was part of the Military Frontier, border country of Austro-Hungary [1]. On page 193 of Prodigal Genius [2], J. J. O'Neill relates a story of Tesla testing his wireless power-transmission system by illuminating two hundred incandescent lamps at a distance of 26 miles, "with electrical energy extracted from the earth." However, while it would seem that such a feat is possible, no documentation from Tesla's own records has been published confirming that such a demonstration actually took place. In 1899, Nikola Tesla performed a wireless power transmission in Colorado. [3] He said the energy could be collected all over the globe, preferably in small amounts, ranging from a fraction of one to a few horse powers [4]. In the late 1930s, engineers and ----------D.Budimir is with the Wireless Communication Research Groups, Department of Electronic, Communication and Software Engineering, University of Westminster, London W1W 6UW, UK, Email: d.budimir@wmin.ac.uk 2 A. Marincic is with Department of E&E. Eng., University of Belgrade, Serbia. Email emarinci@etf.bg.ac.yu
1

scientists used the original Tesla idea of transmitting electric power via radio waves, but instead of using a low frequency, they thought about using microwave beams. The people who were interested in wireless energy transmission had to wait for the invention of a high power microwave device to generate electromagnetic energy of reasonable short wavelength, since efficient focusing toward the power receiving destination is strongly dependent upon the use of narrow beam formation technology by small size antennas and reflectors. World War II developed the ability to convert electricity (energy) to microwave power using a magnetron and a klystron. After World War II, high-power microwave transmitters became efficient enough to send thousands of watts over distances of a mile or more. The post-war history of research on free-space power transmission is well documented by Willian C. Brown [5], who was a pioneer of practical microwave power transmission. It was he who first succeeded in demonstrating a microwave-powered helicopter in 1964, using 2.45 GHz in the frequency range of 2.4 - 2.5 GHz reserved for the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) applications of radio waves. A power conversion device from microwave to DC, called a rectenna, was invented and used for the microwave-powered helicopter. In 1963 the first rectenna was built and tested at Perdue University with an estimated 40% efficiency and output power of 7 W. In 1975 at the JPL Goldstone Facility the 84% of microwave to dc efficiency was achieved in the demonstration of WPT. In 1968, Peter Glaser [6] had calculated that if several large solar-power satellites were placed in geosynchronous orbit, the energy they collected could be beamed to earth and gathered by arrays of receiving antennas covering many square miles. These satellites would be in cloudless space and receive sunlight every day. Power received this way would be more reliable than other renewable sources of energy such as solar-powered or wind-powered generators. However, until energy becomes a great deal more expensive than it is, the idea of receiving microwave power from space satellites is likely to remain just thatan idea.

II. C OLORADO SPRINGS LABORATORY

Under a $30,000 grant from Colonel John Jacob Astor, the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, in mid-1899, Tesla finally decided on Colorado Springs, a

plateau about 2000 meters above sea level, where he erected a shed large enough to house a high-frequency transformer with a coil diameter of 15 meters. This gigantic coil was placed in a large square shed over which rose a 200-ft (61 m) mast with a 3-ft (91.4 cm) diameter copper ball positioned at the top. In his article The transmission of electric energy without wires, [5] written in 1904 in the Electrical World and Engineer, Tesla writes that he came to Colorado Springs with the following goals: a) to develop a transmitter of great power b) to perfect means for individualizing and isolating the energy transmitted. c) to ascertain the law of propagation of currents through the earth and the atmosphere. In Colorado Springs Tesla (Fig. 1) certainly thought a lot about his wireless transmission of energy but did not write much about it in his diary. He described some wireless energy transmission, but all one could see in the diary points to transmission over short distances.

Teslas double circuit system is in a way a predecessor of the modern spread spectrum radio system.

Fig. 2. Colorado Springs laboratory (1899-1900)

III. M ICROWAVE WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION

ACTIVITIES IN THE WORLD

Over the last two decades, there has been a substantial amount of work around the world, particularly in the USA, Japan, Russia, Canada, Germany, and France on microwave wireless power transmission [7]-[8]. Here, only the most important microwave wireless power transmission activities in the world will be presented. It is hoped that the references included at the end of this paper will direct the interest reader to sources of more detailed information on particular subjects. A. US and Canadian Activities In the United States an important milestone in the history of microwave power transmission was the three-year study program called the NASA/DOE Satellite Power System Concept Development and Evaluation Program or NASA/DOE reference model [9], started in 1978. The next program was published in 1997 as an improved SPS reference system, called the Fresh-Look-SPS concepts as the Sun Tower SPS concept which was one of their new models [10]. In 1998 SSP Concept Def. Study was examined. The SSP Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) program was examined in 1999-2000. From 2001 to 2002 an SSP Concept and Technology Maturation (SCTM) program has been pursued by NASA. In Canada, the worlds first flight of a fuel-less airplane powered by microwave energy from the ground was reported in 1987. This system was called Stationary High Altitude Relay Platform (SHARP). Based on this concept, the airplanes would circle slowly at an operating altitude of 21 km and relay radio signals within a diameter of 600 km for many months. An operating frequency of this system was 2.45 GHz. The rectenna is comprised of a custom printed circuit array of

Fig.1. Nikola Tesla in his Colorado Springs laboratory

Tesla himself claimed to have succeeded in transmitting a small amount of wireless power and setting up electrical waves with high-voltage discharges from the Tesla coil. He also experimented with a sophisticated construction of a multicarrier transmitter with a special receiver tuned to all carriers (Fig. 2). It is stated in [6] that this invention consists in generating two or more kinds or classes of disturbances or impulses of distinctive character with respect to their effect upon a receiving circuit and operating thereby a distant receiver which comprises two or more circuits, each of which is tuned to respond exclusively to the disturbances or impulses of one kind or class and so arranged that the operation of the receiver is dependent upon there conjoint or resultant action.

dipole antennas with associated rectifying diodes coating the underside of the plane and converts the microwave energy to direct current to power the electric motor. B. European Activities A Sail Tower SPS was proposed by Europeans in 2001 [11]. The characteristics of the European Sail Tower SPS are shown in Table I. In 2003 a point to point wireless power transmission system was examined to deliver 10 kW of electricity power to a small isolated village in Reunion Island, France [12-13].
TABLE I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EUROPEAN SAIL TOWER SPS

(Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer) proposed a simpler model [20]

IV. MICROWAVE POWER TRANSMISSION AND ITS

APPLICATION

Frequency SPS Tx Power SPS Tx Antenna (radius) Orbit Final number of SPS Receiving antenna site: Final number Antenna size Site including safety zone Power delivered per SPS SPS tower Length: Electricity prod. C. Russian Activities

2.45 GHz 400 MW 510 m GEO 1870 103 11 x 14 27 x 30 km

A block diagram of the microwave wireless power transmission demonstration components is shown in Fig. 3. The primary components include a microwave source, a transmitting antenna, and a receiving rectenna. A combination of an antenna and a rectifying circuit is a rectenna. The antenna receives electromagnetic power and the rectifying circuit converts it to electric power. The microwave source consists of a electron tubes (klystron, TWT or microwave oven magnetron) or solid state devices (GaAs MESFET, GaN pHEMT, SiC MESFET, AlGaN/GaN HFET, and InGaAs) with electronics to control the output power. A coax-towaveguide adapter is connected to a waveguide ferrite circulator which protects the microwave source from reflected power. In order to match the waveguide impedance to the antenna input impedance the circulator is connected to a tuning waveguide section.
Tx Slotted WG Antenna Coax/WG ~ ) WG circulator Microwave Power Source Free space

275 MW 15 km 450 MW

LPF for DC

Rx Antenna LPF for Fundamental

In Russia, there has been much work on the SPS, including microwave technology required for the SPS and many systems studies [14]. The group at Moscow State University has reported many advances in antenna design, design of microwave components and system design. Also, the later work in collaboration with the group at Kyoto University developing a cyclotron wave converter (CWC) tube. The 83 % of RF to dc efficiency was obtained at the Istok Tube Company, with an output dc voltage of 15 20 kV and power of 10 kW. D. Japanese Activities In the early 1980s, the Japanese engineers and scientists started their SPS research activities. Here are some of their programs [15]. 1983: Microwave Ionosphere Nonlinear Interaction Experiment (MINIX) [16] 1992: Microwave Lifted Airplane eXperiment (MILAX) [17] 1993: International Space Year-Microwave Energy Transmission in Space (ISY-METS) [18] Two Japanese organizations have recently proposed their models. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) proposed a 5.8 GHz, 1 GW SPS model [19], and USEF

~ ~ ~
R

~ ~ ~

GaAs Schottky barrier diode Rectenna

Fig. 3. Block diagram of the microwave wireless power transmission system

The slotted waveguide antenna, parabolic dish, and microstrip patch are most popular type of tx antennas. Due to high aperture efficiency (> 95%) and high power handling capability, the slotted waveguide antenna is an ideal antenna for power transmission. The typical parameters of the transmitting antenna for the SPS are shown in Table II. A rectenna which was invented by W. C. Brown in 1960s [21] is composed of a rectifying circuit and antenna. A rectenna is passive element with a rectifying diode (Si or GaAs Schottky barrier, SiC and GaN) and low pass filter between the antenna (dipole, YagiUda, microstrip or parabolic dish) and the rectifying diode to suppress re-radiation of higher harmonics for absorbing transmitted microwave energy from a transmitter and converting it into direct current (DC) power. The first rectenna was composed of 28 half-wave dipoles terminated in a bridge rectifier using point-contact semiconductor diodes. Later, the point contact semiconductor diodes were replaced

by silicon Schottky-barrier diodes which raised the microwave-to-DC conversion efficiency from 40 % to 84 %, the efficiency being defined as the ratio of DC output to microwave power absorbed by the rectenna. In the demonstration of microwave power transmission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Goldstone Facility in 1975, an efficiency of 84 % was obtained and power of 30 kW was successfully transferred from the transmitting large parabolic antenna dish to the distant rectenna site over a distance of 1.6 km at the 2.5 GHz band. The microwave power transmission systems using electron tubes and semiconductors are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, respectively. The characteristics of semiconductor radio transceivers for space and earth application are shown in Tables III and IV, respectively. TABLE II TYPICAL PARAMETERS OF THE TRANSMITTING ANTENNA FOR
THE SPS SYSTEM

TABLE III.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRON TUBES

Tubes Klystron amplifier TWT amplifier Magnetron Microwave Power Module

Efficiency Output power Weight

4.0 GHz 76% 100 ~ several 107 W 40 ~ 100 g/W

2.5 GHz 60-67% Several 100 W 20 g/W

2 GHz 60-75% Several 100 ~1000 W 45 g/ W (2.45 GHz) 20~30 g/W (5.8 GHz) Second:55 dBc Third: -80 dBc Fourth: -70 dBc Fifth: -75 dBc

2.5 GHz 50% 180 W

6.4 g/W

Harmonics JAXA2 5.80 GHz 87% 1.3 GW 1.93 km 3.4 km OLD JAXA 5.80 GHz 96.7% 1.3 GW 2.6 km

Model Frequency Efficiency Output power Diameter of transmitting antenna Rectenna diameter

NASA/ DOE 2.45 GHz 89% 6.72 GW 1.0 km

JAXA1 5.80 GHz 86% 1.3 GW 1.0 km

Less than -70 dBc

Less than -70 dBc

TABLE IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR RADIO TRANSCEIVERS

FOR SPSCE APPLICATION

1.0 km

3.4 km

2.0 km Satellite Frequency INT-7 4 GHz 29% 30 W 1.7 kg NSTAR 2.5 GHz 36% 40 W 2.5 kg TDRSS 2 GHz 32% 24 W 3.4 kg ETS-6 2.5 GHz 31% 14 W 1.2 kg

Phase Adjustor Isolator Multiple Output Power Divider Phase Adjustor Phase Adjustor

Antenna

Antenna Antenna

Efficiency Output power Weight

Electronics

High Voltage Supply

Fig. 4. Microwave power transmission system using electron tubes

Solid-state amplifier Multiple Power Divider Solid-state amplifier Solid-state amplifier Oscillator Isolator Antenna

The largest application of the WPT via microwave is a Space Solar Power Satellite (SPS). The typical parameters of retro directive space and ground SPS system are shown in Tables V and VI, respectively. The other application of the WPT are moving targets, ground to ground power transmission, wireless power source and mobile devices with low power consumption such as long range RFID, wireless sensors (see Table VII) and RF power adaptive rectifying circuits (PARC). The most popular MPT sub-systems are Space Power Radio Transmitter System (SPORTS) and Solar Power Radio Integrated Transmitter (SPRITZ). The typical physical parameters of this transmitter are shown in Table VIII.
TABLE V TYPICAL PARAMETERS FOR RETRODIRECTIVE SPS SYSTEM

Isolator Isolator

Antenna Antenna

Fig. 5. Microwave power transmission system using semiconductors

SPS orbit Frequency Antenna diameter Power transmitted to earth Total/one element

GEO (36,000 km) 5.8 GHz 2.580 m 1340 MW/0.175 W

TABLE VI TYPICAL PARAMETERS FOR RETRODIRECTIVE GROUND STATION

SYSTEM

[2] [3]

Signal power (Pt) EIRP Free space loss (36,000 km) Antenna gain Gt (D=10m, =0.7) SPS transmitter antenna element received power (Pr) SPS transmitter antenna element gain Gr (circular microstrip antenna) Atmospheric loss

1 KW (60 dBm) 114 dBm 199 dB 54 dBi -80 dBm 6 dBi

[4] [5]

[6] [7] [8]

1 dB

TABLE VII. ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM FOR RFID AND WIRELESS

SENSORS

[9]

Frequency 30-300KHz 300-3000KHz 3-30 MHz

Wireless sensors and RFID LF RFID: Passive IC tag MF RFID: Passive IC tag HF RFID: Passive IC tag (6.78/13.56/27.125 MHz) Wireless sensor and Active RFID Wireless sensor and Active RFID: Transeivers (315/433/868/915 (~5m)/2450(~1m) MHz) 5.8 GHz Active RFID Beamed microwave power Transmission TABLE VIII.

[10]

[11]

30-300 MHz 300-3000 MHz

[12]

3-30 GHz

[13]

[14]

PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF SPRITZ SPS TRANSMITTER Frequency Tx Power Tx Antenna Beam width Loss # Feed line Tx Antenna Gain Tx EIRP Size in mm 5.770 GHz 25 W Microstrip Array (10 x 10) 7.3o 6 dB Maximum 17.6 dBi 58 dBm 2000 x 2300 x 2850
[15]

[16]

[17]

VI. C ONCLUSION
Radio, the core technology of the 20th century used especially for wireless communications could also be used for human welfare purposes. The problems of a possible lack of energy during the next fifty or hundred years could be solved by the Space Solar Power Station (SPS), which was originally proposed by P. E. Glaser in 1968. A promising technique for the long term power supply for places where it is difficult to install power transmission lines is Microwave wireless power transmission (MPT), which was proposed by W. C. Brawn in 1960. A review of the research activities and future trends of microwave wireless power transmission (MPT) technology and its application has been described. [18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

REFERENCES
[1] R. G. D., Laffan, The Serbs: The Guardians of the Gate, 1989 Dorset Press, ISBN 0-88029-413-2

[22]

J. J. ONeill, Prodigal Genius-The Life of Nikola Tesla, New York: Washburn, 1944. Nikola Tesla; Colorado Springs Notes, 1899-1900, Nolit, Belgrade, Serbia, 1978. (published by the Nikola Tesla museum, Belgrade, Serbia, [available at the UEC Library, 345 East 47 Street, New York, NY 10017]). N. Tesla, The transmission of electrical energy without wires, Electrical World and Engineer, New York, USA, 5th March 1904. William C. Brown;, A survey of the elements of power Transmission by microwave beam, in 1961 IRE Int. Conf. Rec., vol.9, part 3, pp.93-105. P. Glaser, "Power From The Sun; Its Future," Science, Vol. 162, pp. 857-861, Nov. 22, 1968. URSI White Paper on a Solar Power Satellite (SP), October 2005. J. O. McSpadden and J. C. Mankins, Space Solar Programs and Microwave Wireless Power Transmission Technology, IEEE Microwave Magazine, pp.46-57, December 2002. U.S. Dept. of Energy & NASA, "Satellite Power System, Concept Development and Evaluation Program," Reference System Report, DOE/ER-0023, Oct. 1978, Published Jan. 1979. J. Mankins, et. al,Space Solar Power: A fresh look at the feasibility of generating solar power in space for use on Earth, Tech. Report SAIC 97/1005, April 4, 1997. W. Sebolth, M. Klimke, M. Leipold, and N. Hanowski,European Sail Tower SPS Concept, Acta Astronautwa, Vol.48., No.5-12, pp. 785-792, 2001. G. Pignolet, Antenna designs for wireless power transportation, The Grand Bassin case study in Reunion island. Proc ISAP'96, Chiba. p 397-400. G Pignolet, " Design of a low-power rectenna for a low-cost SPS-2000/WPT demonstration model ", ISAS Note No.573, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 1995. V. A. Vanke, H. Matsumoto, N. Shinohara and A. Kita, High Power Converter of Microwave into DC, Journal of Radioelectronics, no.9, 1999. H. Matsumoto, Research on Solar Power Satellites and Microwave Power Transmission in Japan, IEEE Microwave Magazine, pp.46-57, December 2002. H. Matsumoto, N. Kaya, I. Kimura, S. Miyatake, M. Nagatomo, and T. Obayashi,MINIX project toward solar power satellite Rocket experiment of microwave energy transmission and associated nonlinear plasma physics in the ionosphere, in ISAS Space Energy Symp., 1982, pp. 69-76 H. Matsumoto, N. Kaya, M. Fuyita, T. Fujtwara, and T. Sato,Microwave lifted airplane experiment with active phased array antennas, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, MILAX, 1995. R. Akiba, K. Miura, M. Hinada, H. Matsumoto, and N. Kaya,,ISY-METS rocket experiment, Int. Space Astronaut Sci, no. 652, pp. 1-13, 1993. M. Mori, H. Kagawa, H. Nagayama, and Y. Saito, Proc. of the 4th Int. Conf. on Solar Power from Space SPS04, July 2004, Granada, Spain (ESA SP-567, December 2004). Y. Kobayashi, T. saito, K. Ijichi, and H. kanai, Proc. of the 4th Int. Conf. on Solar Power from Space SPS04, July 2004, Granada, Spain (ESA SP-567, December 2004). William C. Brown; The History of the Development of the Rectenna, Proc. of SPS microwave systems workshop, pp. 271-280, Jan. 15-18, 1980, at JSC-NASA William C. Brown; The History of Power Transmission by Radio Waves, IEEE Transaction on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. MTT-32, No.9, September 1984, pp.12301242.