PowerLight laser power beaming system keeps military drone flying – GeekWire
Kent, Wash.-based PowerLight Technologies says its laser-powered illumination system has been successfully used to keep a military-grade, fixed-wing fighter jet in the air for hours during a series of Department of Defense tests.
The flight demonstrations were completed this month at the Poinsett Electronic Combat Range at Shaw Air Force Base, SC.
The PowerLight system was installed on the KHA K1000ULE aircraft, operating under a recently awarded $270 million AFCENT Battle Lab deployment contract. The flight test demonstrated the end-to-end performance of a kilowatt-class wireless power system, from target acquisition and precision tracking through beam delivery and safety management.
During the test, the radiant system detected and tracked the drone at an altitude of up to 5,000 feet, delivering power while directing and focusing an infrared laser beam in real time.
PowerLight, formerly known as LaserMotive, started more than 15 years ago with laser systems that could keep small quadcopters in the air continuously. The latest test marked the first demonstration of a wireless system capable of stable, independent power delivery at appropriate operating ranges and power levels for a large, fixed-wing military aircraft.
Currently, those drones must land to refuel or recharge when their internal power source runs out. Continuous wireless power can keep them in the air forever.
The PowerLight system was developed through the Power Transmitted Over Laser to Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, or PTROL-UAS, program funded in part by the US Central Command.
“The Poinsett Range demos prove what we’ve built, and set the stage for a roadmap for this capability from a single transmitter to a distributed network, increasing throughput, altitude and range, to support multiple aircraft simultaneously in theater,” PowerLight Technologies CEO Tim Jenks said today in a news release.
Jenks revealed that PowerLight technology can be used to combat enemy drones. “The same autonomous guidance, precision beam control and real-time system intelligence that keeps the friendly terrain afloat has direct application to the strategic direction of UAS combat forces,” he said.
In addition to its Department of Defense work, PowerLight has worked on systems that can transmit power to 5G base stations, underwater robotic vehicles and lunar rovers.
