DARPA announced this week that they are entering the first phase of the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program, which aims to revolutionize energy distribution through airborne wireless power beaming. There are currently three teams, including the RTX Corporation, Draper, and BEAM Co., that will design and develop wireless optical power relays.
To accelerate development of this program, POWER’s phase one will be demonstrated in pods carried by existing aircraft in the project’s second phase. This technology will allow for smaller, less expensive future aircraft since fuel storage and engine volume could be dramatically reduced. Each individual relay design will be evaluated based on accurate and efficient energy redirection, wavefront correction for high beam quality, and energy harvesting that can be throttled. For POWER to be a success, the relays have to be demonstrated through an airborne optical pathway that aims to deliver 10 kilowatts of optical energy to a ground receiver that is 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from the ground source laser.
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Each of the selected teams proposed unique technical approaches to the power beaming relay problem, ranging from novel combinations of existing technologies to high-risk, high-reward technological innovations. The range of proposed solutions encompasses a balance of assured performance and potential breakthroughs in size, weight, and power to enable small distributed systems for the future wireless energy web,” said Dr. Paul Jaffe, who leads the POWER program at DARPA.
