Drones Use Radio Waves to Recharge Sensors While in Flight

IEEE Spectrum  April 17, 2020
An international team of researchers (Lebanon, Italy) has developed and implemented a RF energy harvesting and wake-up system that scavenges a 2.4 GHz signal from a UAV. It can deliver power wirelessly to remote sensors. The signal transmitted by the UAV is harvested and rectified to DC voltage to power a sensor on the ground. Additionally, the UAV modulates the transmitted signal to encode an address that triggers a particular sensor from sleep mode to active mode. Charging can be initiated from input power levels as low as -18.2~dBm and a sensor can be triggered starting at power levels that are as low as -40 dBm. The team developed this system to control and recharge sensors used in agriculture, but that it could be extended to any situation where sensors are deployed in hard-to-reach areas…read more.  Video   TECHNICAL ARTICLE