Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T13:38:33.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Feasibility study of microwave wireless powered flight for micro air vehicles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

Kohei Shimamura ,
Hironori Sawahara ,
Akinori Oda ,
Shunsuke Minakawa ,
Sei Mizojiri ,
Satoru Suganuma ,
Koichi Mori  and
Kimiya Komurasaki
Kohei Shimamura*
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics and Energy, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan. Phone: +81 29 853 5267
Hironori Sawahara
Affiliation:
Department of Advanced Energy, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8561, Japan
Akinori Oda
Affiliation:
Department of Advanced Energy, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8561, Japan
Shunsuke Minakawa
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics and Energy, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan. Phone: +81 29 853 5267
Sei Mizojiri
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics and Energy, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan. Phone: +81 29 853 5267
Satoru Suganuma
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics and Energy, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan. Phone: +81 29 853 5267
Koichi Mori
Affiliation:
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Kimiya Komurasaki
Affiliation:
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
*
Corresponding author: K. Shimamura Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

New small unmanned air vehicles designated as micro air vehicles (MAVs) are increasingly attractive for research, environmental observation, and commercial purposes. As described herein, the feasibility of a system for wireless power transmission via microwaves for MAVs was investigated. For its light weight and flexibility, a textile-based rectenna was proposed for microwave wireless power transmission of MAVs. To investigate bending effects on radiation performance, a microstrip patch antenna with a 5.8 GHz left-hand circular polarization was developed on a textile substrate. The antenna return loss, 20 dB, increased slightly with the antenna bending angle. An axial ratio <3 dB was maintained when the antenna bend angle was <30°. A rectification circuit was formed on the back side felt with sandwiched copper foil as a ground plate. Its weight per unit area was 0.08 g/m2, with maximum rectification efficiency of 58% with 100 Ω load at 63 mW input power. The average and maximum total transmission efficiency using the 5.8 GHz multiple rectenna with a 2.45 GHz retrodirective system were, respectively, 0.44 and 0.60%. The possibility and feasibility of microwave power transmission system using the textile-based rectenna were evaluated.

Keywords

Wireless power transferRFIDEnergy harvestingRectenna
Type
Research Article
Information
Wireless Power Transfer , Volume 4 , Special Issue 2: Contactless Charging for Electric Vehicles , September 2017 , pp. 146 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Pines, D.J.; Bohorquez, F.: Challenges facing future micro-air-vehicle development. J. Aircraft, 43 (2006), 290–305.Google Scholar
[2] Grasmeyer, J.M.; Keennon, M.T.: Development of the black widow micro air vehicle, AIAA Paper, 2001-0127, 2001.Google Scholar
[3] Shyy, W.: Aerodynamics of Low Reynolds Number Flyers (Cambridge Aerospace Series), Cambridge University Press, New York, USA, 2011.Google Scholar
[4] Matsumoto, H.: Research on solar power station and microwave power transmission in Japan: review and perspectives. IEEE Microw. Mag., 3(4) (2002), 36–45.Google Scholar
[5] Schlesak, J.J.; Alden, A.: SHARP Rectenna and low altitude flight tests, in Proc. IEEE Global Telecomm. Conf., New Orleans, 1985, 960–964.Google Scholar
[6] Fujino, Y.; et al. Driving test of a small DC motor with a rectenna array and MILAX flight experiment. Rev. Commun. Res. Lab., 44 (3) (1998), 113–120.Google Scholar
[7] Griffin, B.; Detweiler, C.: Resonant wireless power transfer to ground sensors from a UAV, in IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2012, 2660–2665.Google Scholar
[8] Campi, T.; Dionisi, F.; Cruciani, S.; De Santis, V.; Feliziani, M.; Maradei, F.: Magnetic field levels in drones equipped with Wireless Power Transfer technology, in 2016 Asia-Pacific Int. Symp. on Electromagnetic Compatibility (APEMC), Shenzhen, 2016, 544–547.Google Scholar
[9] Yamakawa, M.; Shimamura, K.; Komurasaki, K.; Koizumi, H.: Demonstration of automatic impedance-matching and constant power feeding to an electric helicopter via magnetic resonance coupling. Wireless Eng. Technol., 5 (2014), 45–53.Google Scholar
[10] Vitale, R.L.: Design and Prototype Development of a Wireless Power Transmission System for A Micro air Vehicle (MAV), Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA, 1999.Google Scholar
[11] Kim, J.; Yang, S.Y.; Song, K.D.; Jones, S.; Elliott, J.R.; Choi, S.H.: Microwave power transmission using a flexible rectenna for microwave-powered aerial vehicles. Smart Mater. Struct., 15 (2006), 1243–1248.Google Scholar
[12] Suzuki, Y.; Iida, Y.; Niki, Y.; Tanaka, K.; Hashimoto, O.; Sasaki, S.: Study of Flexible and Lightweight Rectenna, Technical Report of IEICE, SPS2006-14, 2006, 23–27 (in Japanese).Google Scholar
[13] Komurasaki, K.; Nakagawa, T.; Ohmura, S.; Arakawa, Y.: Energy transmission in space using an optical phased array. Trans. JSASS Space Technol. Japan, 3 (2005), 7–11.Google Scholar
[14] Komatsu, S.; Katsunaga, K.; Ozawa, R.; Komurasaki, K.; Arakawa, Y.: Power Transmission to a Micro Aerial Vehicle, AIAA-Paper 2007–1003, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15] Nako, S.; Okuda, K.; Miyashiro, K.; Komurasaki, K.; Koizumi, H.: Wireless power transfer to a microaerial vehicle with a microwave active phased array. Int. J. Antenna Propag., 2014 (2014), 374543.Google Scholar
[16] Mukherjee, R.; Heiges, M.; Matthies, L.: Review of micro-autonomous vehicle sizing and power modelling, in Proc. SPIE 7679, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications II, 2010, 76790X.Google Scholar
[17] Woods, M.I.; Henderson, J.F.; Lock, G.D.: Energy requirements for the flight of micro air vehicles. Aeronaut. J., 105 (2001), 135–149.Google Scholar
[18] Anderson, J.D. Jr: Introduction to Flight, 8th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, New York, USA, 2015.Google Scholar
[19] Lissaman, P.B.S.: Low-Reynolds-number airfoils. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., 15 (1983), 223–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[20] McMasters, J.H.; Henderson, M.L.: Low speed single element airfoil synthesis. Tech. Soaring, 6 (1980), 1–21.Google Scholar
[21] Massey, P.J.: Mobile phone fabric antennas integrated within clothing, in 11th ICAP, no. 480, 2001, 344–347.Google Scholar
[22] Salonen, P.; Sydanheimo, L.; Keskilammi, M.; Kivikoski, M.: A small planar inverted-F antenna for wearable applications, in Third Int. Symp. on Wearable Computers, Digest of Papers, 1999, 95–98.Google Scholar
[23] Galehdar, A.; Thiel, D.V.: Flexible, light-weight Antenna at 2.4 GHz for athlete clothing, in Proc. 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Int. Symp., 2007, 4160–4163.Google Scholar
[24] Tanaka, M. et al. : Wearable microstrip patch antenna for satellite communication. Trans. IEICE Commun., E87-B (8) (2004), 2066–2071.Google Scholar
[25] Yang, S.Y.; Kim, J.H.; Song, K.D.: Flexible patch rectennas for wireless actuation of cellulose electro-active paper actuator. J. Electr. Eng. Technol., 7 (6) (2012), 954–958.Google Scholar
[26] Monti, G.; Corchia, L.; Tarricone, L.: UHF wearable rectenna on textile materials. IEEE Trans. Antenna Propag., 61 (7) (2013), 3869–3873.Google Scholar
[27] Sankaralingam, S.; Gupta, B.: Development of textile antennas for body wearable applications and investigations of their performance under bent conditions. Prog. Electromagn. Res. B, 22 (2010), 53–71.Google Scholar
[28] Ismail, M.F.; Rahim, M.K.A.; Hamid, M.R.; Majid, H.A.: Circularly polarized textile antenna with bending analysis, in IEEE Int. RF and Microwave Conf. (RFM), 2013, 460–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[29] Salonen, P.; Samii, Y.R.: Textile antennas: effects of antenna bending on input matching and impedance bandwidth. IEEE A&E Syst. Mag., 22 (3) (2007), 10–14.Google Scholar
[30] Alqadami, A.S.M.; Jamlos, M.F.: Design and development of a flexible and elastic UWB wearable antenna on PDMS substrate, in IEEE Asia-Pacific Conf. on Applied Electromagnetics (APACE), 2014, 27–30.Google Scholar
[31] Shinohara, N.: Wireless Power Transfer Via Radio Waves, Pierre Noël; ISTE Ltd. & John Wiley & Sons, Inc., London, UK, 2014.Google Scholar
[32] Zhang, Z.; Vulin, L.; Pan, G.: Wide bandwidth measurement of permittivity using multi-resonant modes, in Proc. IEEE 2006 Antennas and Propagation Society Int. Symp., Albuquerque, NM, 2006, 1449–1452.Google Scholar
[33] Rishani, N.R.; AI-Husseini, M.; EI-Hajj, A.; Kabalan, K.Y.: Design and relative permittivity determination of an EBG-based wearable antenna, in Proc. 2012 Progress in Electromagnetics and Radio Frequency (PIERS-2012), Moscow, Russia, 2012, 96–99.Google Scholar
[34] Haskou, A.; Ramadan, A.; Al-Husseini, M.; Kasem, F.; Kabalan, K.Y.; El-Hajj, A.: A simple estimation and verification technique for electrical characterization of textiles, in Proc. 2012 Middle East Conf. on Antennas and Propagation (MECAP 2012), Cairo, Egypt, 2012, 1–4.Google Scholar
[35] James, J.R.; Hall, P.S.; Wood, C.: Microstrip Antenna Theory and Design, IEE Electromagnetic Waves Series 12, Peter Peregrinus, Stevenage, UK, and New York, 1981.Google Scholar
[36] Carver, K.R.: A model expansion theory of the Microstrip antenna, in IEEE AP-S Int. Symp. Digest, 1979, 101–104.Google Scholar
[37] Gutmann, R.J.; Borrego, J.M.: Power combing in an array of microwave power rectifiers. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., 27 (12) (1979), 958–968.Google Scholar
[38] Garg, R.; Bahl, I.; Bozzi, M.: Microstrip Lines and Slotlines, 3rd ed., (Artech House Microwave Library), Artech House, New York, 2015.Google Scholar
[39] Skolnik, M.I. (ed.): Radar Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1970.Google Scholar
[40] Kotajima, H.; Kawamura, K.: Electrical Design of a Metal Grid Circularizer, Technical Report of IEICE, SST98-69, 1999 (in Japanese).Google Scholar
[41] Shinohara, N.; Matsumoto, H.: Dependence of dc output of a rectenna array on the method of interconnection of its array elements. Electr. Eng. Jpn., 125 (1998), 9–17.Google Scholar
[42] Shinohara, N.: Beam efficiency of wireless power transmission via radio waves from short range to long range. J. Korean Inst. Electromag. Eng. Sci., 10 (2010), 224–230.Google Scholar
[43] Shyy, W.; Berg, M.; Ljungqvist, D.: Flapping and flexible wings for biological and micro air vehicles. Prog. Aerosp. Sci., 35 (1999), 455–505.Google Scholar
[44] Takahashi, K.; et al. Gan Schottky diodes for microwave power rectification. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 48 (2009), 04C095.Google Scholar