Energy is a fundamental currency in the battlespace.
The Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program will leverage power beaming for near-instantaneous energy transport to enable a resilient, multi-path energy network. To create this wireless energy web, POWER seeks to design and demonstrate effective airborne optical energy relays.
These relays are a critical component necessary to allow ground-sourced lasers to be coupled with high-altitude, efficient long-range transmission. As envisioned, POWER’s final demonstration will employ relays integrated onto existing platforms to validate long-distance transmission from a ground-sourced laser through multiple airborne nodes and back down to a ground receiver.
Offboarding energy storage and generation from platforms opens up a novel design space where platform capabilities are no longer dependent on the quantity of fuel carried. This provides an opportunity for small, inexpensive distributed platforms with significant capabilities such as unlimited range or endurance. POWER will explore conceptual designs for optimized relay platforms while demonstrating relays that have the characteristics necessary for use in a larger, scalable airborne wireless power beaming network.
POWER Aerial Demonstration Industry Day is a one-day event in the DARPA Conference Center (DCC) in Arlington, VA, where the POWER program vision will be discussed, and phase 1 accomplishments / phase 2 objectives will be shared in the morning with attendees. In the afternoon an interactive question and answer session regarding the planned Phase 2 solicitation will take place.
DARPA Form 104s are required for all meeting attendees in order to attend. Please visit one of the following to submit a DARPA Form 104: