Smart Materials and Structures

You may also like

- Quantum theory of operation for rectenna
Microwave power transmission using a flexible solar cells
Sachit Grover, Saumil Joshi and Garret
rectenna for microwave-powered aerial vehicles Moddel

- Investigation of rectenna for microwave

power conversion
To cite this article: Jaehwan Kim et al 2006 Smart Mater. Struct. 15 1243 Kh S Karimov, M Saleem, M Shah et al.

- A simulation study of multi-junction

insulator tunnel diode for solar energy
harvesting applications
Abdullah Alodhayb, Azat Meredov and
View the article online for updates and enhancements. Parul Dawar

This content was downloaded from IP address 68.14.70.116 on 02/03/2022 at 14:24

INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES
Smart Mater. Struct. 15 (2006) 1243–1248 doi:10.1088/0964-1726/15/5/012

Microwave power transmission using a

flexible rectenna for microwave-powered
aerial vehicles
Jaehwan Kim1,4 , Sang-Yeol Yang1 , Kyo D Song2 , Sean Jones2 ,
James R Elliott3 and Sang H Choi3
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Ku,
Incheon 402-751, Korea
2
Department of Engineering, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504, USA
3
NASA Langley Research Center, Mail Stop 188D, Hampton, VA 23681-2199, USA

E-mail: jaehwan@inha.ac.kr

Received 7 March 2006, in final form 3 June 2006

Published 9 August 2006
Online at stacks.iop.org/SMS/15/1243
Abstract
In exploiting the unique capabilities of smart actuators for applications in
vehicle systems, even in unmanned or micro aerial vehicles, the power issues
for smart actuators and devices have not been well addressed. This is due to
the fact that the driving power for smart materials has not reached the level of
the power specifications for conventional devices and systems. To answer the
power issue, we have developed a wireless power transmission technology
using a flexible rectenna system and implemented it for a
microwave-powered aerial vehicle (MPAV) system. For this application, two
flexible dipole rectennas were designed, manufactured and characterized over
a frequency range of 9–12 GHz. These flexible dipole rectennas were
attached and tested on the complex structure of small MPAVs. The maximum
converted power output of a flexible dipole rectenna array was about 300 mA
at 80 VDC . The power output from this rectenna was sufficient to run the
propellers of the MPAV. Each electrically driven propeller requires
approximately 2 W for operation.
(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction maneuverability for the system, especially for microwave-

Many research efforts on smart materials over the last couple of
decades have been carried out for actuator applications [1–4]
because the capabilities and benefits of multifunctional devices
and systems are readily accruable from smart materials.
However, the power source for smart systems is often
neglected in development since the smart systems themselves
have never been developed beyond laboratory models. The
present power source for smart material actuators is basically
hard-wire circuited power sources or power storage devices,
which impose limiting conditions upon a practical system.
This conventional onboard power-infrastructure configuration
does not provide sufficient operational time or flexible
4 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
powered aerial vehicles (MPAVs), robots and space vehicles.
Moreover, the increase in weight of the system may be
attributed to the wired network, the complex gate switching of
power and control networks and the interdependency of power
and control routines.
Microwave power transmission is a promising technology
that may be the answer to the power issues for smart actuators,
MPAVs and robots. Figure 1 shows the concept of a microwave
power transmission system. When microwaves are emitted
from a transmitting antenna, the rectenna at the receiving
side converts the incident microwave power into DC power.
The converted DC power from the rectenna array is fed into
the smart actuator through the microwave conversion/control
circuit. This is based on the power allocation and distribution
(PAD) logic which will be microscale in size. A rectenna

0964-1726/06/051243+06$30.00 © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 1243

J Kim et al
MW absorber
Figure 1. The concept of microwave-powered aerial vehicles.
is a combination of an antenna and a rectifier consisting
of a Schottky barrier diode, an inductor and a capacitor,
which converts microwave power into DC power. There are
several types of rectenna, such as patch, dipole and bow-tie
rectennas [5]. Microwave power is an off-board source of
power such that the weight of target system can be ultimately
reduced. Furthermore, the cost of fabricating the rectenna is
low because it is based on the thin-film structures of rectenna
circuits and membrane materials. Microwave driven power
transmission and utilization are not new ideas [6, 7]. Recently,
a lightweight patch rectenna was developed at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory [8, 9]. Its layout structure is not flexible
due to the layered structure composed of a square planar array
of identical unit cells. Each cell contains a receiving antenna,
filter and rectifier circuitry in its planar structure. Microwave
coupling between each copper antenna patch and its underlying
filter and rectifier circuit occurs in two orthogonal slots in the
copper ground plane.
We developed a flexible rectenna array for MPAV system
and carried out performance tests for a demonstration of
MPAV actuation in the laboratory. For this application,
two flexible dipole rectennas were designed, manufactured
and characterized over a frequency range of 9–12 GHz.
These flexible dipole rectennas were attached on the complex
structure of small MPAVs, and tested.
1244
Dipole rectenna pattern
Capacitor for filter
Polyimide Film Schottky Diode
2. Dipole rectenna and MPAV demonstration
2.1. Flexible dipole rectenna
Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a dipole rectenna
element. A dipole rectenna consists of two metallic microstrips
and a rectifier built with a Schottky barrier diode, two
inductors, and a capacitor. The power output of dipole rectenna
is determined by the Schottky barrier diode on the rectifying
circuit. When an electric field of microwaves is incident on
microstrip poles which are arranged on the same line with a
gap the magnetic field, which is a perpendicular component,
surrounds the dipole strip. As the charges within the microstrip
sway to the right, so do the charges on the other microstrip
pole. The charges in a strip move to the right, eventually
toward the rectifying circuit, while on the other strip the
charges sway to the right towards the dead end of the strip,
thus forming an alternative mode. Such combined behaviors of
charges in the dipole strips are repeated on each wavelet with
a change in swaying directions or polarization. Consequently,
the rectifying circuit receives an alternating current (AC) from
the dipole metallic strips. Because the corresponding areas
of each strip are oppositely charged, a potential difference
is created. The Schottky diode of the high bandpass filter
circuit rectifies the AC coming out of the dipole strips with the
 Microwave power transmission using a flexible rectenna for microwave-powered aerial vehicles

(A)

Schottky Diode
Low Pass Filter
0.47 λ

λ/4
DC bypass Capacitor

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of a dipole rectenna element

(λ: wavelength).

electrical potential known as voltage. The output voltage and
current are limited to the characteristics of the Schottky diode.
Depending on the device specifications of the user,
the converted power can be modulated for either high
voltage/low current or high current/low voltage. For driving
piezoelectric actuators, the rectenna needs to provide high
voltage/low current, while low voltage/high current is needed
for electroactive polymer materials. The power required
for the electric motor-driven propulsion system of MPAVs
can be wirelessly acquired with the thin-film dipole rectenna
array. The propulsive power for a MPAV requires high
current and low voltage from a rectenna array. Therefore,
the dipole rectenna elements in an array are connected in
series and parallel to meet the large current requirement. The
performance of a dipole rectenna is limited by the performance
of the Schottky diode. The forward voltage and current of the
Schottky diode (MA4E1317, M/A-COM) at room temperature
were 0.85 V and 10 mA, respectively. A 10 × 9 dipole
rectenna array with 10 elements in parallel and nine elements
in serial connections was made to propel a MPAV. Since
the elements are vertically polarized, the orientation of the
rectenna array affects the power transmission performance.
Figure 3(A) shows the configuration of a vertically polarized
dipole rectenna array.
The angle of incidence of microwaves on a dipole rectenna
array embedded into the frame of a MPAV may vary with
the instantaneous change in orientation of a flying MPAV.
When the pole orientation of rectennas does not match with
the electric field of the incident microwave, the rectenna
may not generate a high output power. To cope with this
polarization problem, a polarization-free dipole rectenna array
configuration was introduced by arranging the dipole rectenna
elements in a circle. Figure 3(B) shows the polarization-free
pattern.
A power delivery method must provide sufficient power
for aerospace vehicles and robotic devices, but must also fulfill
other relevant requirements, such as adaptability on complex
structures, flexible configuration and higher power density for
the vehicles. Thus, a dipole rectenna array was made on a
flexible polyimide film. The thin-film technology developed
for semiconductor microfabrication enables the fabrication of
rectennas on a miniaturized scale and at low cost. The use of
high frequency microwaves, such as K-band (30 GHz) and W-
band (90 GHz), allows a dense population of rectenna arrays,
which in turn generates a high power output and also may
increase the reception and conversion efficiencies by reducing
(B)
Figure 3. Dipole rectenna arrays: (A) vertically polarized dipole
rectenna array, (B) polarization free dipole rectenna array.
the dispersive angle of the microwaves. The length of the
dipole strip was designed to be 15 mm for 10 GHz. The
dipole pattern was made on copper coated polyimide sheet by
using silk screen and etching techniques. The thickness of
polyimide was 50 µm and that of the copper 25 µm. The
surface of the copper dipole pattern was electroplated with zinc
to prevent corrosion. The thickness of the dipole pattern made
with copper and tin was 25–30 µm, which is thick enough to
cover the skin depth of microwaves at 10 GHz. Populating
Schottky diodes on a rectenna array requires proper dissipation
of the heat from the soldering tip to avoid any potential heat
damage.
2.2. Microwave test setup
The microwave transmission test was performed in a
microwave anechoic chamber to alleviate the non-ionizing
radiation effect. An experimental setup for measurement of
the output of a flexible dipole rectenna is shown in figure 4.
The microwave signal is created at the signal generator, known
as an oscillator. This signal is then carried to the microwave
amplifier, with which the power of the signal is amplified to
the desired level. Two amplifier systems with 20 and 200 W
respectively were used for this test. The amplified microwaves
are then fed to the transmitting antenna through a waveguide
inside the anechoic chamber. The anechoic chamber is a leak-
proof chamber so that the microwave power does not reflect
from the walls while it activated. The microwave beam is
concentrated at the rectenna array using a transmitting horn
antenna. A multimeter, oscilloscope, Narda isotropic electric

1245
J Kim et al
signal generator
sensitive
voltmete
200W amplifier
directional
coupler
feed
horn power meter
survey meter
(A) Anechoic Chamber-Outside
Figure 4. Microwave test setup.
Figure 5. Airship MPAV.
filed probes (Model 8723D), irradiance meters (Narda model
8712) and various types of computer software were used to
measure the voltage, frequency, power and other quantities
at different stages of the experiment. The irradiance of
the microwaves was 6–7 mW cm−2 between 8 and 10 GHz
when the 20 W microwave amplifier was used. However,
the irradiance was increased above 9 mW cm−2 from 10.7
to 11.7 GHz. When the 200 W amplifier was used, the
irradiance was approximately 55 mW cm−2 at 8.7 GHz and
100 mW cm−2 at near 11 GHz. These values were used to
calculate the input power of the rectennas.
2.3. MPAV demonstration
To demonstrate the flight possibility of the MPAV, two MPAVs
having three DC electric motors to propel them were prepared
with a dipole rectenna array attached to their frames for
harvesting power from incident microwaves. The first MPAV
is an airship with a balloon charged with helium (figure 5).
This airship is a commercial toy. This demonstration is the
feasibility test of microwave power transmission for the MPAV
and not a performance test of the MPAV. Two propeller motors
for horizontal thrust and one propeller motor for vertical
movement were installed around the remote control console,
and the power input line for the motor and the control console
was directly connected to the dipole rectenna array. The motors
1246
Flexible dipole rectenna
Horn
20W amplifier
Narda Probe
(B) Anechoic Chamber-Inside
Figure 6. Space shuttle inflatable MPAV.
used are toy motors. The power requirement for the propeller
motor is 3 VDC and 0.8 W (three motors and controller). Since
the balloon of the MPAV was so large that it could not fit into
the anechoic chamber, tethered power lines were used for the
MPAV experiment. The rectenna array was installed inside
the anechoic chamber by vertically orienting it to receive the
maximum incident waves and the power line was connected to
the MPAV that can maneuver outside the chamber.
The second MPAV demonstration concerned an inflatable
space shuttle model (figure 6). This space shuttle model was
made by slight modification of an inflatable toy. The inflatable
was charged with helium and a propeller motor was installed on
each wing. The vertically polarized dipole rectenna array was
attached to the bottom of the inflatable, and two motors were
connected in series to the rectenna array. Before testing the
inflatable space shuttle model inside the chamber, the rectenna
array was separately installed in the chamber to test whether
it can run the propeller motors. After testing electric motors
with the vertically polarized rectenna array, the version of the
inflatable MPAV with the electric motor attached was tested
inside the chamber.
3. Results and discussions
The performance of the 19 × 5 vertically polarized dipole
rectenna was tested with a 20 W microwave amplifier in the
 Microwave power transmission using a flexible rectenna for microwave-powered aerial vehicles

4 0.25 15 50

Horizontal direction
Vertical direction 0.20 40
3

10
0.15
30

Current (mA)
Voltage (V)

Voltage (V)

Voltage (V)
2
0.10
Voltage
20
Current
5
0.05
1
10

0.00

0 0 0
8 9 10 11 12 8 9 10 11 12
Freq (GHz) Freq(GHz)

Figure 7. Voltage of the 19 × 5 vertically polarized dipole rectenna Figure 9. Voltage and current output of a polarization-free dipole
array. rectenna array.

300

Horizontal direction 6
250 Vertical direction

200
4
Current (mA)

Current(mA)

150

100 2

50

0
0

8 9 10 11 12

Freq(GHz)
Figure 10. Inflatable MPAV installed inside the microwave anechoic
Figure 8. Current of the 10 × 9 vertically polarized dipole rectenna chamber.
array.

output voltage and current fluctuated with the frequency. This

anechoic chamber. The 20 W microwave amplifier was used
to irradiate the microwaves through the horn antenna. Figure 7
shows the output voltage of the rectenna array when the array
was placed in the vertical and horizontal directions. In the
horizontal direction, the output voltage of the rectennas varied
from 0.42 to 3.21 VDC when the frequency was changed from
8 to 12 GHz. In the vertical direction, the voltage output was
small compared with the horizontal direction. This is due
to the alignment of the dipole strips with the electric field.
There is one peak of 0.23 VDC at 9.7 GHz in the vertical
direction. Figure 8 shows the output current of the rectenna
array in the horizontal and vertical directions. In the vertical
case, the current was varied from 259.5 to 12.2 mA with the
increase in frequency. The effect of the orientation of the
rectenna on the output voltage and current was significant. In
general, the output power of the horizontal arrangement shows
a higher output than the vertical direction. The maximum
power of 0.83 W was obtained with the rectenna array oriented
horizontally.
Figure 9 shows the voltage and current outputs for the
polarization-free dipole rectenna array shown in figure 3(B),
when the 200 W amplifier was used. Triangles in the figure
show the output voltage and the black circles the current. The
fluctuation was due to the matching of the electric field of the
microwaves to the dipoles of the rectenna array. The voltage
was gradually decreased while the current was increased as the
frequency increased. Between 8 and 12 GHz,13 to 10 VDC and
25 to 39 mA were obtained from the polarization-free rectenna
array. This power output of 0.44 W was not sufficient to run
the propeller motors. Furthermore, the 200 W microwave
amplifier irradiated too much incident power, beyond the
microwave safety limit. Thus, the vertically polarized rectenna
array was only used for MPAV demonstrations.
When the airship MPAV outside the chamber was
connected to the vertically polarized dipole rectenna in the
chamber via a tethered power line, it successfully ran the
motors. Under the motor load, the voltage and current were
2.2 V and 329 mA. This power was reliable and sufficient
enough to run the propeller motors and the remote control
circuit such that the airship MPAV was smoothly maneuvered.
The same rectenna was connected to the inflated MPAV.
Of course, the power caught from the rectenna array was
enough to run the propeller motors. When the dipole rectenna
array was attached to the bottom of inflated MPAV and put
in the chamber, it ran successfully. Figure 10 shows the
inflated MPAV in the chamber. To show the feasibility of

1247
J Kim et al
microwave driving for the inflated MPAV, the MPAV to which
the dipole rectenna array was attached was erected vertically
in the microwave anechoic chamber, and the microwaves were
incident on the surface of the rectenna array. Since the inside
of the chamber cannot be seen by eye due to microwave
safety considerations, a fiber optic endoscope was installed to
see the inside of the chamber. This is shown in Figure 10.
The propellers of the inflated MPAV ran successfully in the
chamber.
This type of integrated wireless power transmission
system will help in the development of new flying objects
like MPAVs that may be used to assay contaminants and
pollutants in the air, to survey any potential adversarial
elements infiltrating into areas of public interest and to monitor
border infiltration, wildfires, traffic patterns, sea-port activities,
etc using the sensors onboard MPAVs.
4. Conclusions
A flexible dipole rectenna system embedded into a MPAV
system was developed, and the possibility of MPAV actuation
was demonstrated in the laboratory. For this application,
two flexible dipole rectennas were designed, manufactured
and characterized. The 19 × 5 vertically polarized dipole
rectenna array produced 3.2 VDC and 259.5 mA, resulting in a
power output of 0.83 W. The polarization-free dipole rectenna
array exhibited a power output of 0.44 W when the 200 W
microwave amplifier was used; this irradiated microwave
power beyond the microwave safety limit. The power output
of the 19 × 5 vertically polarized dipole rectenna was sufficient
to run the MPAVs. Test results demonstrated that the voltage,
current and power requirements of a dipole rectenna array can
be satisfied by configuring the dipole rectenna elements in
serial and parallel connections. This flexible dipole rectenna
1248
array can be used for smart actuator systems such as MPAVs,
biomimetic robots and aerospace vehicle applications.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Creative Research Initiatives
(EAPap Actuator) of MOST/KOSEF. This work was also
supported in part by the FAR Grant to Norfolk State University
from NASA.
References
[1] Bar-Cohen Y (ed) 2001 Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators
as Artificial Muscles (Washington, DC: SPIE Optical
Engineering Press)
[2] Zhang Q M, Bharti V and Zhao X 1998 Giant electrostriction
and relaxer ferroelectric behavior in electron-irradiated
poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifloroethylene) copolymer Science
280 2101–4
[3] Perline R E, Kornbluh R D, Pei Q and Joseph J P 2000
High-speed electrically actuated elastomers with over 100%
strain Science 287 836–9
[4] Kim J, Yun S-R and Ounaiez Z 2006 Discovery of cellulose as a
smart material Macromolecules 39 4202–6
[5] Brown W C et al 1969 US Patent Specification 3 434 678
[6] Brown W C 1969 Experiments involving a microwave beam to
power and position a helicopter IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron.
Syst. 5 692–702
[7] Brown W C 1987 Rectenna technology program: ultralight 2.45
GHz rectenna and 20 GHz rectenna NASA Contract Report
CR179558 (Raytheon Report PT-6902)
[8] Song K D, Yi W J, Chu S-H and Choi S H 2003 Microwave
driven thunder materials Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett.
36 331–3
[9] Kim J, Yang S Y, Song K D, Jones S and Choi S H 2006
Performance characterization of flexible dipole rectennas for
smart actuator use Smart Mater. Struct. 15 809–15