All-Electric Aircraft mm-Wave High-Speed and Low Cost Mid-Air Recharging: Satellite and Aircraft Array Configuration Study

Abstract

The all-electric aircraft (AEA) has the potential to assist the aviation industry to achieve zero carbon emission by 2050. However, the AEA’s operation range is heavily affected by payload weight and available energy source. Midair recharging (MAR) has been proposed as an alternative energy source to reduce the AEA battery payload. MAR utilizes space solar power (SSP) satellite to transfer energy via radiofrequency (RF) wave to rectenna array installed on AEA. This allows AEA to recharge its battery during cruising phase. However, based on International Telecommunication Union (ITU) radio regulation database, only a few frequency bands are freely available for wireless power transfer (WPT) applications. In addition, rectenna arrays of AEA and the antenna arrays of SSP satellite should be carefully designed to minimize the energy loss due to atmospheric attenuation and free space path loss.This paper analyzes the configuration of AEA rectenna arrays and the SSP satellite for various frequency. This analysis considers SSP to AEA atmospheric attenuation and its variation with frequency, and AEA’s rectenna array is designed for various commercial aircrafts. In addition, the dimension of SSP satellite’s antenna array is studied for different frequency bands based on the given AEA’s rectenna array configuration. Moreover, based on the recommendations of ITU, certain frequency bands will be recommended for SSP satellite to AEA power transfer. The study specifically highlights that millimeter wave (mm-wave) and beyond enables low-cost and high-speed AEA MAR. The paper sheds light to solid capabilities of mm-waves as main enabler of AEA MAR technologies.