The Method of Maximum Power Transmission Efficiency for the Design of Antenna Arrays

Various methods have been proposed to control the electromagnetic fields in the near-or far-field region, one of which is to use antenna arrays. This paper reviews a technique, called the method of maximum power transmission efficiency (MMPTE), for the design of antenna arrays and wireless power transmission (WPT) systems. The method is motivated by the fact that all wireless systems aim to maximize the power transmission efficiency (PTE) between the transmitter and receiver and the PTE can thus be considered as a performance index for the design of WPT system and antenna as well. The MMPTE makes use of the PTE as the performance index to be optimized, and reduces a field synthesis problem into a circuit analysis problem, and is therefore easy to master and implement. It overcomes all the challenges associated with conventional array design methods, and is applicable to the design of any type of antenna array in any environment. This paper summarizes the basic theory of MMPTE and demonstrates MMPTE through a number of near- and far-field applications, including focused antennas, smart antennas, shaped beam antennas, end-fire antennas, multi-beam antennas, polarization-reconfigurable antennas, and wireless power transmission systems.