Reach Demonstrates Wireless Power Relay Technology for U.S. Air Force
核心洞察
Reach Power (搜索) successfully completed Phase II of its Future Force Energy Campaign, showcasing wireless power relay technology.
The demonstration featured both passive and active relay nodes, extending the range and efficiency of wireless power transfer.
This technology enables flexible power networks for use in disaster recovery, defense, and other remote environments.
Reach Power (搜索), a leader in Wireless Power-at-a-Distance, has announced the completion of a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (搜索) (AFRL) Future Force Energy Campaign contract focused on developing wireless power transfer (WPT) energy relay nodes. This technology enhances the scalability and range of WPT power beaming, enabling new applications by extending power around barriers and over greater distances.
The project culminated in a live demonstration at Reach headquarters in Redwood City, California, before government and industry partners. The demo showcased a Reach transmitter sending power to a wireless power relay and then to a Reach receiver powering an electronic device, marking the first successful routing of a radio frequency (RF) power beam through multiple segments via relay.
Wireless Power Mesh Network
A mesh network consists of multiple devices working together to extend signal range and power levels. Relay nodes act as power repeaters to enable a wireless power mesh network. The Reach approach refocuses and redirects the beam over distance without converting it to direct current (DC) and back to RF, enhancing system efficiency.
Passive and Active Wireless Power Relays
The contract aimed to build two types of relays: a passive power relay node (PRN) and an active power mesh node (PMN).
Passive Wireless Power Relay
The passive relay node refocuses a wireless power beam to extend the transmission distance and efficiency. In the demo, Reach illuminated a light board using a unique configuration of metasurface circuit boards. This relay extends a transmitter's range without additional electronics, making it inexpensive and easy to manufacture.
Active Wireless Power Relay
The active power relay node actively reflects an incoming power beam in a software-driven direction. Operating in two modes—reflect and rectify—the active relay node dynamically reflects and absorbs a chosen amount of the power beam. This capability allows the node to reconfigure and redirect power beams based on network requirements with no moving parts. The active relay node software is scalable to larger systems and more expansive mesh networks.
According to Chris Davlantes, Founder and CEO of Reach, this work represents a significant step forward in developing a true wireless energy web network. He stated that power mesh and relay nodes offer a unique solution to the challenges of sending power wirelessly over long distances.
This lightweight, efficient wireless power relay node can connect to existing power sources, offering high usability across various environments, including disaster recovery, energy and utilities, manufacturing, shipping, transportation, defense, and intelligence. Reach is committed to advancing power beaming relay nodes and mesh networks, improving RF performance, and scaling the system to larger sizes, distances, and powers.
The successful contract completion by Reach marks a significant advancement in WPT networks, increasing their flexibility and agility for use in remote, austere, or infrastructure-degraded environments.