Past Vodcasts 2026
Explore our 2026 archive of past vodcasts, hosted in collaboration with leading experts in the field. Building on the interest in Wireless Power Transfer Vodcasts in 2025, this series continues to explore the latest innovations and challenges in the realm of wireless power. Explore our on-demand webinars to start learning.
Please check the playlist for all the past episodes on demand: Full Playlist: Wireless Watt – the Power Vodcast Series
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Episode 8: Power Beaming in Practice
Abstract: This Vodcast covers the practical design of long-range microwave wireless power beaming (WPB) using modern phased arrays, metasurfaces, and rectennas. The talk connects link budget analysis and propagation physics to hardware choices that determine end-to-end DC delivered at the load. The dominant loss mechanisms,
including free-space path loss, atmospheric attenuation, pointing/misalignment, and
phase/coherence errors, are discussed, and how to translate them into concrete
requirements for transmit (TX) aperture size, EIRP, beamwidth, steering range, and safety constraints are covered.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Ifana Mahbub, an Associate Professor and the Texas Instruments Early Career Chair Awardee in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas,
Dr. Mahbub leads the Integrated Biomedical, RF Circuits and Systems Laboratory (iBioRFCASL) at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her research spans wireless power transfer for implantable and wearable biomedical devices, IoT systems, UAVs, and long-range power beaming using microwave and millimeter-wave technologies. She is the recipient of several prestigious honors, including the NSF CAREER Award (2020), DARPA Young Faculty Award (2021), and the DARPA Director’s Fellowship (2023). She currently serves as Vice-Chair for the USNC-URSI Commission K and as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.
Moderator: Nuno Carvalho, University of Aveiro, IT, Portugal
Episode 9:Commercializing Space-based Solar Power
Abstract: This discussion explores the commercialization of space-based solar power (SBSP) with Sanjay, Chief Technical Officer of TeraSpark, a Luxembourg-based startup and one of the first venture-backed companies pursuing radio frequency-based SBSP. Despite being technically validated by NASA as far back as the 1970s, SBSP has historically been deemed economically unviable. Advances in reusable launch vehicles and mass production of space hardware have since shifted that equation. TeraSpark’s approach centers on deploying the smallest possible systems in Low Earth Orbit, scaling iteratively to reduce cost and accelerate time-to-market.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Sanjay Vijendran, scientist, engineer, and co-founder of Terraspark
Dr. Sanjay Vijendran is an experienced scientist, engineer and leader who until recently was leading the European Space Agency’s groundbreaking SOLARIS Space-based Solar Power R&D Initiative, the establishment of which he had spearheaded at ESA in 2022. Through SOLARIS, he has received worldwide acclaim as one of the leading figures in the rapidly emerging field of Energy from Space, otherwise known as Space-based Solar Power (SBSP). He recently left ESA after a 16 year career there, to co-found Terraspark, which is commercialising Space-based Solar Power in Europe. Dr. Vijendran is now Chief Technology Officer of the Luxembourg-based energy startup.
Moderator: Nuno Carvalho, University of Aveiro, IT, Portugal