Jamie Bennet
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactical Technology Office issued a request for information as part of its plan to explore the use of radio frequency power beaming and relay in small unmanned aerial systems.
The project is part of DARPA’s Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay program, which aims to enhance energy distribution and performance in military vehicles carrying a finite supply of energy, according to a notice posted Wednesday on SAM.gov.
DARPA seeks wireless technology capable of beaming RF power at distances between 100 meters and 1 kilometer. The system should also feature enhanced RF-to-electrical energy conversion and relay, and mobile distributed apertures to enable beamforming, the notice stated.
The agency believes that wireless energy transfer can help small UAS conduct missions that are traditionally assigned to larger manned systems with greater power supply.
Dec. 16 is the final response date for the RFI.
