In the race to electrify mobility, one constraint keeps resurfacing: energy storage. Batteries are heavy, slow to recharge, and limit the endurance of drones, eVTOL aircraft, and mobile robots. Microwave wireless power transfer offers a provocative alternative. Instead of hauling all their energy onboard, vehicles could sip power from beams projected along their routes or at loiter points, dramatically extending endurance without adding mass. In 2026, this concept is rapidly progressing from simulation to field trials.

Extending The Reach Of Electric Flight

Researchers and aerospace agencies have been exploring the idea of powering electric aircraft via microwave beams for decades, but recent advances in phased arrays and rectennas have made the concept more realistic. A 2023 NASA concept-of-operations study modeled how microwave power beaming could extend the flight time of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft by beaming energy from ground stations to rectennas integrated into the airframe. The study examined tradeoffs among transmitter frequency, antenna size, beam width, and vehicle altitude, showing feasible configurations for recharging in loitering flight.NASA Technical Reports Server

Parallel work in academia has produced rectenna arrays designed specifically for airborne platforms, including high-frequency arrays at 35 GHz optimized for lightweight construction and high beam-collection efficiency over tens of kilometers.Wiley Online Library Together, these developments create a credible path toward “power corridors” in the sky, where electric aircraft can refuel on the wing near airports, logistics hubs, or critical infrastructures.

Drones That Never Land

Unmanned aerial vehicles are the most immediate beneficiary of microwave WPT. Small drones used for inspection, mapping, and surveillance often have endurance measured in minutes. Trials have shown that by positioning microwave transmitters on rooftops or towers and equipping drones with high-gain rectennas, operators can significantly extend flight time without increasing battery size. In some cases, drones can hover in a power beam indefinitely, acting as persistent airborne platforms for communications or sensing.NASA Technical Reports Server+1

While commercial deployments are still limited, defense and security agencies are aggressively exploring this concept. Power-beaming trials integrate microwave WPT with autonomous guidance, ensuring that drones can locate and remain within safe power lobes while performing missions. The potential applications range from border surveillance to temporary airborne relays in disaster zones.

Ground Robots And Dynamic Charging

On the ground, microwave WPT could enable new patterns of robotic mobility. Warehouse robots and autonomous ground vehicles typically rely on inductive pads or plug-in charging docks, which interrupt operations. Microwave beaming allows for “opportunistic charging,” where robots receive small but continuous power top-ups whenever they pass through coverage zones. Even modest contributions can reduce downtime and extend battery life by smoothing charge-discharge cycles.

Field trials in logistics environments combine microwave WPT with localization systems, so that vehicles automatically slow down and orient their rectennas when passing through beaming zones. Over time, route-planning algorithms can be optimized not only for shortest path but also for greatest energy gain, treating power beams as resources in the environment.ScienceDirect+1

Safety, Reliability And Weather Constraints

High-mobility applications raise specific engineering challenges. Beams must track moving targets with high precision, even in wind or turbulence, and must fail safely if alignment is lost. For air vehicles in particular, systems must be designed to prevent any scenario where loss of the beam could lead to power starvation in critical flight phases.

Weather is another factor. While microwaves at WPT frequencies are relatively resilient to rain and clouds compared with optical beams, heavy precipitation and atmospheric effects can still reduce received power. Systems will therefore need robust energy buffers—batteries or supercapacitors on the vehicle—to ride out short-term fluctuations.Wjarr+1

Regulators will scrutinize safety carefully. In addition to RF exposure limits, aviation authorities will require assurances that beams do not interfere with avionics or navigation systems, and that fail-safe protocols handle emergencies gracefully. The experience gained from decades of radar, satellite communications, and terrestrial microwave links provides a strong foundation, but the idea of continuously powering aircraft via beams is still novel territory.OSTI+1

Closing Thoughts And Looking Forward

Microwave WPT for mobile systems remains experimental, but the direction is clear. As antennas, rectennas, and control algorithms improve, the idea of vehicles drawing power from the environment rather than carrying all of it onboard becomes increasingly attractive. For drones and robots, it could enable persistent operations measured in days instead of minutes; for eVTOLs and future electric aircraft, it could offer strategic range extensions at key points in the mission profile.

In the longer term, one can imagine layered ecosystems of power beams: small indoor zones feeding robots and tools, rooftop arrays supporting local drones, and eventually regional corridors linking major transportation nodes. Each layer will require careful safety engineering and regulatory oversight, but the prize is substantial: a mobility system where electrons, not fossil fuels, flow freely through both wires and beams.

References

A Concept Of Operations For Power Beaming Of Electric Air Vehicles – NASA Technical Reports Server – https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20230009768/downloads/20230009768_Sheth_DASC2023_EMPRESS.pdf NASA Technical Reports Server

Design And Analysis Of A 35 GHz Rectenna For Microwave Wireless Power Transmission – MDPI Energies – https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/1/320

An Efficient 5.8 GHz Microwave Wireless Power Transmission System – International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering (Wiley) – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mmce.23094 Wiley Online Library

Advances In High-Efficiency Wireless Power Reception Using Rectennas – eScience (ScienceDirect) – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950104025000410 ScienceDirect

Scavenging Microwave Wireless Power: A Unified Model For MWPT And MWEH Receivers – Journal of Electronics (ScienceDirect PDF) – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095809923002928/pdf ScienceDirect

Author and Co-Editor: Benoit Lafrance – Wireless Power Transfer Technologies, Montreal, Quebec; Peter Jonathan Wilcheck, Co-Editor, Miami, Florida.

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