Non-gaussian beamforming for wireless power transfer optimization

A method for providing wireless power to an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

• receiving location data of target device relative to a tunable multi-element transmitter configured to transmit electromagnetic radiation (EMR) to the target device;
• determining within which of a first distance range and a second distance range the target device is located from the tunable multi-element transmitter,
• wherein the first distance range includes distances at which a smallest achievable waist of a Gaussian beam of the EMR transmitted by the tunable multi-element transmitter is larger than a multi-element EMR receiver of the target device, and
• wherein the second distance range includes distances at which the smallest achievable waist of the Gaussian beam of the EMR transmitted by the tunable multi-element transmitter is smaller than the multi-element EMR receiver of the target device;
• transmitting EMR from the tunable multi-element transmitter to the multi-element EMR receiver of the target device
• (i) using a Gaussian beamform when the target device is determined to be within the first distance range, and
• (ii) using a non-Gaussian beamform when the target device is determined to be within the second distance range.

A system to provide wireless power to an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

• a location determination subsystem to determine a location of target device based on location data;
• a beamform calculator to determine a target beamform having a non-Gaussian field distribution for transmission of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) to a receiver of the target device, based on the received location;
• and
• a transmitter to transmit EMR with the target beamform having the non-Gaussian field distribution to the receiver of the target device.

A system to provide wireless power to a target device, comprising:

• a tunable multi-element transmitter to transmit electromagnetic radiation (EMR) to a target device
• (i) using a Gaussian beamform when the target device is determined to be within a first distance range, and
• (ii) using a non-Gaussian beamform when the target device is determined to be within a second distance range;
• a location determination subsystem to determine a location of the target device relative to the multi-element transmitter, based on received location data;
• a range determination subsystem to determine within which of the first distance range and the second distance range the target device is located relative to the multi-element transmitter,
• wherein the first distance range includes distances at which a smallest achievable waist of a Gaussian beam of the EMR transmitted by the tunable multi-element transmitter is larger than a multi-element EMR receiver of the target device, and
• wherein the second distance range includes distances at which the smallest achievable waist of the Gaussian beam of the EMR transmitted by the tunable multi-element transmitter is smaller than the multi-element EMR receiver of the target device.