Earth-ionosphere waveguide power transfer

A system comprising:

• a transmitter apparatus;
• a receiver apparatus remote from the transmitter apparatus;
• and
• a computer apparatus having one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to carry out operations including:
• causing the transmitter apparatus to transmit electrical power into a spherical waveguide bounded by the terrestrial surface of the Earth and the ionospheric layer of the Earth, wherein the electrical power is transmitted in an electromagnetic wave;
• computing one or more eigenmodes of the spherical waveguide based on a mathematical model of the spherical waveguide that incorporates electrical properties of the terrestrial surface and plasma physics of the ionospheric layer;
• causing the receiver apparatus to detect the transmitted electromagnetic wave;
• and
• determining a strength of coupling between the transmitted electromagnetic wave and the one or more eigenmodes by measuring an amount of power received by the receiver apparatus in the detected electromagnetic wave,
• wherein determining the strength of coupling between the transmitted electromagnetic wave and the one or more eigenmodes by measuring the amount of power received by the receiver apparatus in the detected electromagnetic wave comprises:
• measuring electric and magnetic field vectors of the detected electromagnetic wave;
• and
• comparing the measured electric and magnetic field vectors with computed electric and magnetic field vectors of the one or more eigenmodes at a spatial location in the mathematical model of the spherical waveguide corresponding to that of the receiver apparatus.

A system comprising:

• a transmitter apparatus;
• a receiver apparatus remote from the transmitter apparatus;
• and
• a computer apparatus having one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to carry out operations including:
• causing the transmitter apparatus to transmit electrical power into a spherical waveguide bounded by the terrestrial surface of the Earth and the ionospheric layer of the Earth, wherein the electrical power is transmitted in an electromagnetic wave;
• computing one or more eigenmodes of the spherical waveguide based on a mathematical model of the spherical waveguide that incorporates electrical properties of the terrestrial surface and plasma physics of the ionospheric layer;
• causing the receiver apparatus to detect the transmitted electromagnetic wave;
• based on the determined one or more eigenmodes and an amount of power received by the receiver apparatus in the detected electromagnetic wave, adjusting at least one of a frequency, amplitude, or phase of the electrical power transmitted by the transmitter apparatus so as to cause a predicted change in the amount of power received by the receiver apparatus in the detected electromagnetic wave;
• and
• determining whether or not a measured change in power received at the receiver apparatus is within a threshold of the predicted change in received power.