DARPA invests In wireless drone charging technology

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has invested $225,000 in a Seattle-based startup to develop a wireless power transmitter for in-flight unmanned aerial vehicles.

The startup, Electric Sky, is building the Whisper Beam transmitter, in which “radio waves self-focus at the receiver, enabling the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to draw kilowatts of power in all weather.”

Company CEO Robert Millman explained that it is akin to the concept of a whispering gallery, where “a single listener across the (circular) room can hear the speaker but no one else can, not even people standing directly between the speaker and listener. The sound is too weak for them to hear.”

Unlike existing wireless power systems for UAVs, “which start strong but weaken as they travel, Whisper Beam technology does the opposite, starting weak and getting stronger near the receiver.”