1958 First interest in microwave power transmission. 1958 No rectifiers available - turbine proposed and studied. 1959 - 1962 Some government support of rectifier technology a. Semiconductors at Purdue b. Magnetron analogue at Raytheon 1962 Semiconductor and close-spaced thermionic diode rectifiers made available. 1963 First power transmission using pyramidal horn and closespaced thermionic diode rectifiers - 39% capture and rectification efficiency not practical for aerospace application. 1964 RADC microwave powered helicopter application demanded non-directive reception, light weight, high reliability. 1964 Rectenna concept developed to utilize many semiconductor rectifiers of small power handling capability to terminate many small apertures to provide non-directive reception and high reliability. 1968 - 197 5 Continued development of rectenna concept to format with high power handling capability, much higher capture and rectification efficiency, and potentially low production cost. 1975 Development of rectenna for transmission of kilowatts of rf power over 1.54 km with reception and conversion of incident rf power to dc at high rf to dc efficiency (JPL RXCV Program). 197 5 Initiation of contracted effort for improvement of rf to de collector/converter technology (LeRc-NAS3-19722). Figure 9-2. Chronology of Collection and Rectification of Microwave Power
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