Raytheon Chosen by DARPA for Airborne Wireless Energy Internet

DARPA has selected Raytheon to design and build an airborne relay system for the Energy Web Dominance program, aiming to provide energy in contested environments, enabling power supply from various locations.

Raytheon has secured a two-year, $10 million contract from DARPA to develop a Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) system. This initiative involves deploying high-altitude unmanned aircraft equipped with laser-based power receiving and transmitting capabilities. The system will beam energy to high altitudes and relay it across multiple jumps to reach the intended target area.

Ground or Airborne Targeting with Continuous Charging Capability

The designated target for the relayed power could either be on the ground or another autonomous aerial platform. However, in the latter case, the receiving platform could remain airborne indefinitely, continuously charging its batteries from a distance.

The POWER system, with a network of such power-relaying aircraft, establishes an “energy web” that allows military logisticians to dynamically route energy to specific locations as needed. This aerial supply line can provide unmanned systems on land, in the air, or at sea with sustained endurance or redirect energy as strategically required.

“This is the energy equivalent of the internet, using resilient, multipath networks to transmit energy from plentiful sources to areas with high energy demand,” stated Col Paul Calhoun, POWER program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office. “The military confronts significant energy challenges, often operating in locations far from established energy infrastructure and relying on liquid fuels with precarious supply lines.”

Inefficiencies in the Laser-based Relay System

However, there is a trade-off, as a notable amount of energy is lost to achieve this flexibility. Approximately 20% is lost when converting electricity to light in the laser, and an additional 50% is lost when converting the laser back to electricity at the receiver. In a relay station setup like this, power loss occurs at each step of the transmission.

Certainly, a significant amount of energy is already expended in transporting fuel across various stages, including refineries, tankers, and trucks. Implementing an airborne supply line would eliminate the personnel risk typically associated with moving energy in a war zone. The convenience of beaming power from a location where it can be produced in bulk, possibly directly from the nearest power grid, suggests that efficiency may not be the top priority.

A Wireless Energy Web Revolution for Both Military and Civilian Applications

DARPA expresses optimism about the technology, envisioning its application not only for military purposes but also for decentralized power distribution in civilian life. To conclude, according to Calhoun, “We believe the next energy revolution will be enabled by the wireless energy web. It will dramatically compress transport timelines and resiliently provide distributed energy to consumers in air, on land, on the sea, undersea, and in space.”

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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