Beaming Beyond Limits: Emerging Microwave Power Transfer Technologies

Ifana Mahbub
Associate Professor and the Texas Instruments Early Career Chair Awardee
University of Texas at Dallas

Abstract:

This presentation explores the cutting edge of long-range microwave-based power beaming (WPB), aimed at enabling untethered, persistent energy delivery for next-generation aerospace and space systems. The talk will present emerging technologies and system architectures that address key challenges in WPB, including propagation losses due to attenuation, misalignment, and phase incoherence. The talk highlights innovations in high-gain, high-efficiency beamforming at both the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX), using phased array antennas and metasurfaces that dynamically control amplitude and phase to create narrow, steerable beams. Strategies for optimizing RX placement and sizing based on TX performance and distance to maximize the energy capture and beam collection efficiency will be covered. Additionally, novel rectifier-based energy harvesting circuits that enable efficient RF-to-DC conversion over a wide input-power dynamic range will be presented. Various systems will be evaluated across multiple frequency bands, covering both single TX-RX configurations and distributed WPB architectures, with a focus on delivering reliable, on-demand energy in dynamic and infrastructure-limited environments such as aerial, orbital, and lunar platforms.

Speaker’s Bio:

Dr. Ifana Mahbub is an Associate Professor and the Texas Instruments Early Career Chair Awardee in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she leads the Integrated Biomedical, RF Circuits and Systems Laboratory (iBioRFCASL). Her research spans wireless power transfer for implantable and wearable biomedical devices, IoT systems, UAVs, and long-range power beaming using microwave and millimeter-wave technologies. She is particularly focused on developing scalable, efficient, and safe wireless energy delivery systems that enable untethered operation in dynamic or infrastructure-limited environments.

Dr. Mahbub received her B.Sc. degree (2012) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and her Ph.D. degree (2017) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is the recipient of several prestigious honors, including the NSF CAREER Award (2020), DARPA Young Faculty Award (2021), and the DARPA Director’s Fellowship (2023).

She currently serves as Vice-Chair for the USNC-URSI Commission K and as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. She is also a full member of the IEEE MTT-S Technical Committee 25 (Wireless Power Transfer and Energy Conversion) and the IEEE APS Technical Committee on Health and Medicine.