Wireless Power Transfer from Space to Earth

Tadashi TAKANO  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E96-C   No.10   pp.1218-1226
Publication Date: 2013/10/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1353
DOI: 10.1587/transele.E96.C.1218
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: INVITED PAPER (Special Section on Emerging Technologies and Applications for Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Systems)
Category: 
Keyword: 
solar power satellite,  high power microwave,  beam control,  mass-production,  spacetenna,  rectenna,  

Full Text: FreePDF

Summary: 
Microwaves have typically been used for communications and radar, but nowadays are given much attention to energy transfer applications. This paper describes microwave power transfer from a satellite to Earth that is visualized as a solar power satellite system (SPSS). After the system configuration is explained, unique engineering features are presented. Then, some contributions made by Japanese community are introduced, focusing on microwave and antenna engineering. As SPSS will handle high power levels at microwave frequency, and so components should be mass-produced to reduce the cost, then we need to shift our paradigm on the technology involved. Finally, the roadmap to a commercial SPSS is discussed.