Ricerc@Sapienza

This research project deals with a thorough investigation of new advanced radiating structures for high-frequency wireless power transfer (WPT), relevant to the use of mobile and wearable devices for modern electronic and communication systems. The main unifying idea of the proposal is related to the exploitation of a class of electromagnetic fields, known as leaky waves, that can be employed as a highly efficient instrument to model and synthesize radiating devices having different functionalities. Innovative possibilities of focusing and shaping the electromagnetic fields in the far-field (Fraunhofer) as well as in the near-field (Fresnel) radiative regions are illustrated. A class of planar radiating elements is shown to possess several attractive practical features in terms of power beaming, such as flexibility of the design procedures and simplicity of the geometries. The versatility in achieving reconfigurable radiation patterns (by properly operating on the synthesis of frequency-selective surfaces of the structures) and the capability of limiting undesired diffraction effects (via near-field control) are important distinctive features of the proposed solutions. In the search for adequate wideband configurations, specific attention is devoted to the appealing upper part of microwave spectrum, represented by the millimeter-wave range, particularly useful in the frame of 5-G wireless systems: in such cases, challenging scenarios also arise when the sources perform WPT and simultaneous wireless communication. The strategies for efficiently synthesizing both reconfigurable and limited-diffraction radiating devices will be demonstrated on the basis of a rigorous and powerful theoretical modeling, corroborated by ad-hoc numerical implementations and advanced experimental testing procedures. The fundamental technological achievements of the proposed study are expected to provide a breakthrough for future stimulating operative scenarios involving WPT applications.