Development and Modeling of a Wireless Power Transfer System With Enhanced Robustness to Lateral Misalignment for <scp>UAV</scp> Charging Applications

ABSTRACT Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) roles and applications are rapidly growing, extending their variety and functionality. However, the battery dependency considerably limits the UAV's flight duration and coverage. To overcome associated challenges, a wireless power transfer (WPT) system has emerged as a viable solution, eliminating human assistance in battery depletion. Nevertheless, lateral misalignment in such systems can significantly degrade performance. In this regard, multiple‐input single‐output (MISO) systems have shown potential in addressing this challenge. This paper, therefore, proposes the development and modeling of a MISO WPT system with high robustness that also addresses the lateral displacement issues encountered in UAV powering. Initially, a defected ground structure‐based resonator is designed with a 50‐by‐50 mm 2 area. Subsequently, two coupled resonators at 55 mm formed the WPT system. Performance validation under perfect alignment and lateral misalignment revealed the system's efficiency to reach 98% and decrease to 33% under ± 25 mm shift, accordingly. The obtained results leave room to realize a MISO WPT system with two resonators composing a transmitter and a single receiver. Furthermore, the 1.25 mm isolating substrate was embedded between adjacent resonators on the transmitter to mitigate interference. The developed MISO WPT system demonstrated stable efficiency exceeding 50% under lateral misalignment.