ISTF2008: Cutting the Cord - A Short History of Microwaves

A Short History of Microwaves


Laurent Cassegrain designed a reflector currently used in microwave antennas and telescopes.	1672

		1865	James Clerk Maxwell publishes his mathematical model of electromagnetism which united electricity and magnetism into one field of study and introduced the concept of electromagnetic waves.
Karl Ferdinand Braun discovers the point-contact rectifier effect in his work with galena crystals, a semiconductor material composed of lead sulfide. In 1897 he invented a cathode-ray oscilloscope, and in 1898 he was responsible for improving Marconi's transmitter to increase the range of wireless signals.	1874
		1888	Henrich Hertz’s spark gap radio transmitter shows experimental evidence of radio waves.
Nikola Tesla builds what is now known as the Tesla coil and experiments with radio power transmission in Colorado Springs.	1899
		1900	Tesla proposes using radio waves to transmit power instead of high-voltage power lines
Marchese Guglielmo Marconi receives the first wireless transatlantic radio signal from his transmitter in Poldhu, England, to his receiver in Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland. Marconi shared the 1909 Nobel Prize with Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy."	1901
		1921	A. W. Hull invents an "electron tube" called a magnetron which could produce up to 15,000 watts of power and could be used as both an amplifier and an oscillator.
Japanese research on magnetrons begins with Kinjiro Okabe and his split-anode magnetron.	1927
		1935	Oskar Heil proposed and began researching a procedure and apparatus (klystron) for producing short waves.
Metal-semiconductor low voltage rectifying junctions are investigated by Walter Schottky. These later become the building blocks of microwave communications and radar (MESFET)	1938
		1945	Percy Spencer proposed using Raytheon's expertise in radar to build an oven. He had the backing of Laurence Marshall, Raytheon's founder, who was worried about Raytheon's future after WWII ended. In 1967, the Amana Radarange became the first domestic microwave oven.
Russell and Sigurd Varian at Stanford University using velocity modulations achieve power transmission through their "klystron". They form a company, Varian Associates, and subsequently use their technology in small linear accelerators and airplane "blind landing systems."	1950	1950	U.S. launches Echo I, the first satellite specifically designed for use with microwave communications. Virtually all space communications continue to use microwave signals.
		1955	British researchers Harry Boot and John Randall construct a copper-block "cavity magnetron" with an external anode to efficiently generate 9.8-cm microwaves with over 750 watts of power.
Microwave "repeater" towers used for transcontinental television signals are found to be useful for carrying long distance telephone calls.	1950s - 1960s
		1963	J. B. Gunn discovers the Gunn Effect wherein microwaves can be generated by applying a steady voltage across an n-type Ga-As semiconductor.
P. E. Glaser proposes and later patents (1971) the idea of a Space-Based Solar Power to beam electrical power from space to the earth with microwaves.	1968
		1964 - 1969	William C. Brown demonstrates his helicopter powered by microwaves and later patents (3,434,678) his rectenna that converts microwave power to direct current.
A record high of 82.5% microwave/DC conversion is reached at the Venus Site at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Goldstone Facility.	1975
		1977	United States Department of Energy and NASA began a three year study on the environmental impact of Solar Power Satellites (SPS) in geostationary orbit which would transmit, via microwaves, energy gathered by solar cells to rectennas on earth.
Global Position System (GPS) was developed for military applications	1980s
		1983	MINIX (Microwave Ionosphere Nonlinear Interaction eXperiment), designed by Hiroshi Matsumato's team at RASC (Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere) at Kyoto University, is the first microwave power transmission [2.45 GHz] between two space vehicles in space.
The first microwave powered airplane SHARP makes its first flight in Canada.	1987
		1992	MILAX airplane experiment verifies the use of active phased array antenna for microwave power transmission.
NASA undertakes the "Fresh-Look-Study" to examine new models for SPS such as the Sun Tower as explained in this presentation by John C. Mankins, NASA Assistant Associate Administrator for Advanced Systems, in 2003.	1995 - 1997
		1996	Space Qualified Hybrid High Temperature Superconducting/ Semiconducting [7.5 GHz] Low-Noise Downconverter is announced as a new breed of microware component.
European researchers propose a new model for the Solar Power Satellites called the Sail Tower. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite is launched by NASA to study the intensity of microwave background radiation.	2001	2001	European researchers re-examine the delivery of 10kW electricity to Grand-Bassin on Réunion Island first proposed in 1995.
COMET (COmpact Microwave Energy Transmitter) is developed at RASC.	2003
		2007	In November a research team headed by Gabriel Rebeiz at the Jacobs School of Engineering UCSD developed the world's most complex 4 x 4 silicon phased-array transmitter chip measuring 3.2 by 2.6 square millimeters.

Canadian Association of Physicists - The Invention of the Cavity Magnetron
  http://www.cap.ca/wyp/profiles/Redhead-Nov01.PDF  (pg 3)

Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences - Space Solar Power for Earth from Earth Orbits and the Moon
  http://www.svu2000.org/publications/GLASER.PDF  (pg 2)

Florida State University - Heinrich Rudolph Hertz
  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/hertz.html

Georgia Tech - Wireless Power Transmission for Solar Power Satellite
  http://www.sspi.gatech.edu/wptshinohara.pdf  (pg 6)

Gizmo Highway Technology Guide - The History of the Microwave
  http://www.gizmohighway.com/history/microwave.htm

Global Policy Forum - Background on the HAARP Project
  http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/envronmt/weapons.htm

Google Patent Search - United States Patent: 3434678
  http://www.google.com/patents?id=j3hzAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=3434678

Hammond Museum of Radio - Reginald Fessenden
  http://www.hammondmuseumofradio.org/fessenden.html

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Karl Ferdinand Brawn
  http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/braun.htm

IEEE Virtual Museum - The Cavity Magnetron
  http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/tech.php?id=2345892

IEEE Virtual Museum - The Future of Microwaves
  http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/exhibit/exhibit.php?taid=&id=159265&lid=1&seq=13&view=

IEEE Virtual Museum - Microwaves and Telecommunications
  http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/exhibit/exhibit.php?taid=&id=159265&lid=1&seq=10

IEEE Virtual Museum - Microwaves, Satellites, and the Final Frontier
  http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/exhibit/exhibit.php?taid=&id=159265&lid=1&seq=11

International Symposium Nikola Tesla - Research Activities and Future Trends of Microwave Wireless Power Transmission
  http://www.tesla-symp06.org/papers/Tesla-Symp06_Budimir.pdf  (pg 1)

Invention & Technology Magazine - The Greatest Discovery Since Fire
  http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2005/4/2005_4_48.shtml

Joe Craig - Marconi's First Transatlantic Wireless Experiment
  http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~jcraig/marconi.html

JPL/NASA Lewis Research Center - Superconducting/Semiconducting Low-Noise Downconverter
  http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/24336/1/96-0364.pdf

Kyoto University - Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere
  http://www.kurasc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index-e.html

Microwaves101 - Microwave Hall of Fame (Part I)
  http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/halloffame1.cfm

Microwaves101 - Microwave Hall of Fame (Part II)
  http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/halloffame2.cfm

NASA - Statement of John C. Mankins, Manager, Advanced Concepts Studies Office of Space Flight
  http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/legaff/mankins9-7.html

NASA - The Promise and the Challenge of Space Solar Power
  http://www.rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp/jusps/KA-2.pdf  (pg 11)

National Space Society - Space Based Solar Power as an Opportunity for Strategic Security
  http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/library/final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf  (pg 10)

Nobelprize.org - The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909
  http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1909/

PBS - Tesla Life and Legacy - Colorado Springs
  http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html

Physicsworld - James Clerk Maxwell: A Force for Physics
  http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/26527

Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere - History of Microwave Power Transmission before 1980
  http://www.kurasc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/plasma-group/sps/history1-e.html

Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere - Japanese Research for a Bright and Clean Energy from Space
  http://www.kurasc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/jusps/KA-1.pdf  (pg 29)

Rutherford Research - Next Generation Field Effect Transitor (FET) Research
  http://www.rutherford-research.ca/rrx/nanotechnology/nextGenMesFet.php

Science Daily - World's Most Complex Silicon Phased-array Chip Developed
  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030135705.htm

Science Direct - European Sail Tower SPS Concept
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science

Scitation - Rocket Experiments and Demonstration for Microwave Power Transmission (MPT)
  http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet

Softpedia - Wireless Power Transmission May Soon Be a Fact
  http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wireless-Power-Transmission-May-Soon-be-a-Fact-74924.shtml

Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation - Microwave Oven
  http://www.smecc.org/microwave_oven.htm

SparkMuseum - The Discovery of Radio Waves - 1888
  http://www.sparkmuseum.com/BOOK_HERTZ.HTM

Stanford University - Historical Background and Applications
  http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/kly/Lecture_Series/MURI%20Book%201.doc

Thomas Robb - Marconi Receives 1st Transatlantic Radio Signal
  http://tarobb.blogspot.com/2007/12/marconi-receives-1st-transatlantic.html

UK Office of Communications - Radio Crosses the Atlantic
  http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/about/document/100years/radcross.htm

University of Toronto - Appendix III: GaAs Gunn Diodes
  http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~phy326/esr/esrapp.htm

URSI - Microwave Power Transmission Activities in the World
  http://www.ursi.org/WP/Appendices1.pdf  (pg 5, 14)

URSI - The History of SPS Research
  http://www.ursi.org/WP/WP-SPS%20final.htm#_Toc168822881

USCD Jacobs School of Engineering - Faculty Profile
  http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/faculty/faculty_bios/findprofile.pl