Ericsson demonstrates the world’s first wireless powered 5G base station

(PowerLight Technologies / Ericsson)

PowerLight Technologies and Ericsson have developed and demonstrated the first laser-powered 5G base station power system.

In the event that an obstacle arises between the receiver and the transmitter of the laser beam, the system turns off the powerful beam in a split second, but thanks to the uninterruptible power supply, the base station continues to work.

Engineers have been working on the creation of technologies for wireless transmission of energy over a long distance for a long time, and there are already demonstrators doing this in practice.

There are different approaches to wireless transmission, mainly using lasers and microwave radiation.

Projects differ in implementation, but most often they use a scheme where, first, electrical energy is converted by the emitter into another carrier (laser or microwave radiation), and on the receiver side it is converted back into electricity.

In recent years, the transmission distance has been significantly increased.

The US military is also showing interest in laser power transmission.

In 2019, PowerLight Technologies, along with the US Navy Research Laboratory, tested a new system that was able to transmit 400 watts over a distance of 325 meters.

Now the company, along with telecommunications equipment manufacturer Ericsson, has demonstrated civilian applications of the technology by powering a base station from a laser.

The base station is installed at the base of the telescopic bar along with an uninterruptible power supply. The receiver of the laser beam is on top of it.

A photovoltaic panel is located in the center of the receiver, which converts laser radiation into electricity, and 16 photodiodes are located on the sides of it in a circle.

Together with 16 radiators at the other end, they form an imaginary cylinder around the main beam for power transmission.

Thanks to them, the system can detect that an object, for example, a bird, has fallen into the cylinder.

In this case, the system turns off the main beam within a few milliseconds.

Then, within a few seconds, the transmission resumes if there are no obstacles in the path of the beam inside the circle.

In the video, engineers managed to launch the base station from a laser located at the other end of the garage yard (apparently, the distance was about a hundred meters or a little more).

The companies didn’t disclose the parameters of the system, but it is known that in tests in 2019, the transmitter power was 2,000 watts, and the transmitted power was 400 watts.

It is also known that the minimum power consumption of the Ericsson Streetmacro 6701 base station is 200 watts.

Source:

• Ericsson: https://www.ericsson.com/en/news/2021/10/ericsson-and-powerlight-achieve-base-station-wireless-charging-breakthrough

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