Electric Sky announced that its Whisper Beam transmitter successfully completed initial physical tests. The company is developing the technology for ground stations to wirelessly power electric aircraft ‘on the fly’.
The new self-focusing radio wave improves on older wireless-power methods. Conventional lasers and microwaves start strong but get weaker as they travel, and can be partially blocked by the atmosphere, making them impractical for transmitting high power from ground to flight aircraft.
In contrast, a Whisper Beam radio wave starts weak and gets stronger at the receiver, moving easily through the atmosphere.
“Electric aircraft face severe energy‑storage challenges, whether they’re battery‑electric, hydrogen, or hybrid,” said El‑Sky CEO Robert Millman. “We invented this new wave form to deliver high power to high altitude, yet be environmentally friendly to birds and other aircraft flying at lower altitudes.”
The test was at the lab-bench level, wirelessly transferring a few hundred watts about three meters (~3 yards). El‑Sky Technician Tim James explained,
“We used computer modeling to develop a device capable of transmitting this new self-focusing wave form, then built the device and measured output. Test results show radio waves focusing themselves just as predicted in the computer models, wirelessly powering a small receiver.”
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded the subscale test as part of its exploration of an airborne energy web.
Lab Whisper Beam transmitter (metal ring at bottom) wirelessly powering lights hanging ~3 meters/yards above
Next, El‑Sky plans to scale the technology to higher power and higher altitude for powering drones, advanced air mobility vehicles, winged aircraft, and HAPS vehicles (high altitude pseudo-satellites).
Millman noted,
“Long-distance wireless power opens new possibilities for zero-emission flight. Electric aircraft can draw supplemental or full power during takeoff and climb, so onboard energy levels are high at the start of cruise phase. Charging on descent reduces gate turn-around time, as well as enabling indefinite loiter when the landing area stacks up. Vertical aircraft can reduce stress on depleted batteries during descent, extending their life by drawing external power for hover. HAPS vehicles can remain on station for months without landing at all.”
“This test widens the horizon for zero-emission aircraft”
Source: Press Release