Controlling the Wireless Power Transfer Mechanism of the Both-Sides Retrodirective System

To achieve efficient long-range wireless power transfer (WPT), large antenna systems are necessary, spanning lengths of tens to thousands of meters in one dimension. This creates an array on the order of at least hundreds of thousands to billions of elements, making the implementation of beamforming control a challenge. Various works focus on iterative optimization or channel estimation that require complex processing capabilities to maintain high efficiency in a time-varying environment. A simpler alternative is the both-sides retrodirective antenna array (BS-RDAA) system, where iterative optimization or channel estimation is not required. In a previous study, it was observed that this system achieves maximum WPT efficiency if the system is marginally stable. Thus, there is a need to regulate the system to maintain marginal stability regardless of the transmission channel conditions. In this article, we present a plant model for the system and design a control system to drive it to marginal stability. The result is a WPT implementation that is not dependent on complex processing capabilities present in other established high-efficiency methods. We also confirmed the ability of the proposed design to maintain maximum efficiency in a dynamic environment through the results of an electromagnetic simulator and a time-domain simulator.