Far-field power transmission by exploiting time-modulation in linear arrays

In this paper the exploitation of time-modulated arrays (TMAs) for precise indoor wireless power transfer (WPT) is presented for the first time. The high level of reconfiguration of these arrays allows a smart transfer of power by means of a two-step procedure: first the sole two central elements of the array are used for localization purposes, by combining the sum and difference radiation patterns; then the entire 16-element TMA transmits the dedicated power to the detected tags, relying on the fundamental and sideband harmonic radiations. The entire nonlinear radiating systems is accurately described within a circuit-level/full-wave CAD platform: promising simulated results of the smart WPT operation are presented.