IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO.

7, JULY 2009 1819

Magnetic Resonant Coupling As a Potential

Means for Wireless Power Transfer to Multiple
Small Receivers
Benjamin L. Cannon, Student Member, IEEE, James F. Hoburg, Fellow, IEEE, Daniel D. Stancil, Fellow, IEEE,
and Seth Copen Goldstein, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—Wireless power transfer via magnetic resonant cou- Inductive coupling is an old and well-understood method of
pling is experimentally demonstrated in a system with a large wireless power transfer. The source drives a primary coil, creat-
source coil and either one or two small receivers. Resonance be- ing a sinusoidally varying magnetic field, which induces a volt-
tween source and load coils is achieved with lumped capacitors
terminating the coils. A circuit model is developed to describe the age across the terminals of a secondary coil, and thus transfers
system with a single receiver, and extended to describe the system power to a load. This mechanism, responsible for power transfer
with two receivers. With parameter values chosen to obtain good in a transformer, where the magnetic field is typically confined
fits, the circuit models yield transfer frequency responses that are to a high permeability core, also functions when the region be-
in good agreement with experimental measurements over a range tween the primary and secondary coils is simply air. Inductive
of frequencies that span the resonance. Resonant frequency split-
ting is observed experimentally and described theoretically for the coupling without high permeability cores is used, for example,
multiple receiver system. In the single receiver system at resonance, to power RF ID tags and medical implants [1]–[3]. A common
more than 50% of the power that is supplied by the actual source technique for increasing the voltage received by the device to be
is delivered to the load. In a multiple receiver system, a means for powered is to add a parallel capacitor to the secondary to form a
tracking frequency shifts and continuously retuning the lumped resonant circuit at the operating frequency [1], [2]. Application
capacitances that terminate each receiver coil so as to maximize
efficiency is a key issue for future work. of this principle has also been demonstrated for powering robot
swarms [4]. In this case, resonance was used on the primary
Index Terms—Microrobotics, resonant coupling, swarm but not on the secondary windings on the robots. This was done
robotics, wireless power.
to minimize performance variations resulting from interactions
I. INTRODUCTION among the robots. Recent work [5] has shown that when res-
onance is used on both the primary and secondary, power can
N EFFICIENT method for wireless power transfer would
A enable advances in such diverse areas as embedded com-
puting, mobile computing, sensor networks, and microrobotics.
be transferred with very little radiated loss and with 40%–50%
of the source power delivered to the load, even when the sec-
ondary coil links only a relatively small part of the magnetic
The need to minimize energy consumption is often the main field that is created by the primary. A coupled-mode analysis of
design driver in applications where devices need to operate un- the interaction between a pair of resonant coils has also been pre-
tethered. Energy consumption often restricts or severely limits sented [5], [6]. Finally, an inductively coupled radio frequency
functionality in such applications. wireless transmission system has been described, with reference
The work described in this paper is motivated by potential ap- to multiple resonant peaks for multiple receivers [7].
plication of magnetic resonant coupling as a means for wireless In the work described here, there are two new contributions:
power transfer from a source coil to multiple receivers. Through 1) We demonstrate power transfer from a single resonant
simple experimental setups and corresponding circuit models, source coil to multiple resonant receivers, focusing upon
we address issues that are involved in applying the basic mech- the resonant frequency splitting issues that arise in multi-
anism to both a single receiver and multiple receivers with sizes ple receiver applications.
much smaller than the source coil. 2) We show that resonant coupling systems with either sin-
gle or multiple receivers can be modeled using a relatively
Manuscript received December 18, 2008; revised February 17, 2009. Current
version published July 31, 2009. Recommended for publication by Associate simple circuit description. The model rigorously takes into
Editor B. Ferreira. account mutual coupling between all coils, and does not
B. L. Cannon was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineer- make approximations usually associated with the coupled-
ing, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA. He is now with the
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts In- mode approach [8]. This description makes it clear that
stitute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). high Q resonant coupling is key to the efficiency of the
J. F. Hoburg and D. D. Stancil are with the Department of Electrical and Com- system, through an implementation where the primary coil
puter Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
(e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]). is inductively coupled to the power source and the receiv-
S. C. Goldstein is with the Department of Computer Science, Carnegie ing coils are inductively coupled to the loads.
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). We expect this work to form a basis for understanding and
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. extending the resonant coupling mechanism to multiple mobile
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2009.2017195 receivers. The main challenge for such a system is to adjust the

0885-8993/$26.00 © 2009 IEEE

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1820 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 7, JULY 2009

Fig. 1. Photograph of a signal generator wirelessly supplying power to two

LEDs (tagged A and B) through magnetic resonant coupling between large Fig. 2. A schematic circuit drawing of a source coil pair and a single-receiving
(green) and small (black) coils. The signal generator drives the lower green coil pair. Each load in a multiple receiver system involves a receiving coil pair.
coil, while lumped capacitors terminate the upper green coil and each of two
small receiving coils, which in turn are inductively coupled to coils that drive
the LEDs. a basis for extending it to multiple receivers. Our experimental
results include measurements for both the two-receiver system
lumped capacitances at the terminals of the receivers as they that is shown in Fig. 1 and for a single-receiver system corre-
move with respect to the source coil and with respect to one sponding to the circuit representation shown in Fig. 2.
another. In the single-receiver system of Fig. 2, the source drives a
large single-turn coil, labeled L1 that is inductively coupled to
a large multiturn resonant coil L2 of the same diameter. The
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP OF A RESONANT COUPLED SYSTEM
small resonant coil L3 is inductively coupled to a small coil of
WITH TWO LOADS
the same diameter, labeled L4 , that is terminated by a load ele-
Fig. 1 shows a photograph of a resonant coupling system ment. Lumped capacitors C2 and C3 respectively terminate the
wherein a signal generator delivers power to two illuminated resonant coils L2 and L3 . The resistances R1 , R2 , R3 , and R4
LEDs (tagged A and B). The source, operating at a resonant are the small resistances of the coils themselves, while RS is the
frequency of 8.3 MHz, is connected directly across the termi- internal resistance of the source, and RL is the load resistance.
nals of the lower of two large green coils with diameters of (The LEDs in Fig. 1 are nonlinear elements, used to demonstrate
30 cm, spaced 3.8 cm apart. The upper green coil is inductively wireless power transfer. Measurements and the corresponding
coupled to the lower coil, and is terminated by an adjustable circuit representation described here and in subsequent sections
lumped capacitor (with red leads). In the center of the upper use a resistive load.)
green coil are two small receivers, each of which consists of a The work described in [5] used two identical open-circuited
coil with diameter 1.3 cm that is terminated by a lumped ca- “self-resonant” coils, with a resonant frequency based upon the
pacitor, inductively coupled to a separate coil with the same distributed inductance and distributed capacitance of each coil.
diameter that is terminated by an LED. The two coils in each Here, with completely different source and receiver coils, the
of the two receivers are together wrapped in black electrical lumped capacitances are chosen so as to yield identical resonant
tape. The system thus involves a total of six coils, a “source coil frequencies,
pair” and a “receiving coil pair” for each of two receivers asso-
1 1
ciated with the two loads. The fact that the source and loads are ω0 = √ =√ . (1)
connected to coils that are inductively coupled to, but distinct L2 C2 L3 C3
from the coils that are terminated by lumped capacitances is key This alteration provides a simple means to achieve resonant
to establishing a high Q resonant coupling, with the resonant coupling between a large source coil and one or several small
frequency determined by adjusting the lumped capacitances. receiving coils.

III. CIRCUIT REPRESENTATION OF A RESONANT COUPLED IV. CIRCUIT ANALYSIS

SYSTEM WITH A SINGLE LOAD
A circuit model for the experimental setup with only one
Fig. 2 shows a schematic circuit representation of a system receiving coil pair driving a single load, as represented in Fig. 2,
like the experimental system shown in Fig. 1, but with only a is based upon the application of Kirchhoff’s voltage law around
single load coil pair. We use this system to develop an under- each of the four loops. The voltage at the terminals of each coil is
standing of the resonant coupling mechanism and to serve as described as the time rate of change of flux linkage. Λ1 through

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CANNON et al.: MAGNETIC RESONANT COUPLING AS A POTENTIAL MEANS FOR WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER 1821

Λ4 and i1 through i4 represent complex amplitudes of flux

linkages and currents in each of the four coils; VS represents the
complex amplitude of the ideal voltage source. With resistances
R1 through R4 , RS , and RL , and capacitances C2 and C3 , the
circuit constraints at frequency ω are
VS = (RS + R1 ) i1 + jωΛ1 (2)
i2
0 = R2 i2 + + jωΛ2 (3)
jωC2
i3
0 = R3 i3 + + jωΛ3 (4)
jωC3
0 = (R4 + RL ) i4 + jωΛ4 . (5)
Since each of the four coils is inductively coupled to the other
three, the flux linkages are related to the currents by a symmetric
4 × 4 inductance matrix:
    
Λ1 L11 M12 M13 M14 i1
Fig. 3. Transfer function |(V L /V S )(ω)| near the resonant peak as measured
 Λ2   M12 L22 M23 M24   i2 
 =  . (6) experimentally and as calculated from the circuit model for the resonant coupled
Λ3 M13 M23 L33 M34 i3 system with a single receiver.
Λ4 M14 M24 M34 L44 i4
For a known ideal source voltage VS and known resis- cients that determine mutual inductances are chosen so as to fit
tances, capacitances, and self inductances and mutual induc- the theoretical model to the experimental frequency response
tances, (2) to (5), with (6) substituted for the flux linkages, com- of the system. Fig. 3 shows a theoretical curve based upon the
prise four simultaneous equations that determine the currents i1 circuit model for a set of coupling coefficients that yields a good
through i4 , and thus the complex amplitude of the load voltage fit, along with experimental data points on a power decibel scale.
VL = −RL i4 . Since the system is linear, this analysis deter- It is apparent from Fig. 3 that the circuit model, with ap-
mines the transfer function based upon the source frequency, propriately chosen parameter values, accurately describes the
|(VL /VS )(ω)|. measured behavior of the resonant coupled system with a single
Extension of the circuit model to multiple loads, as for the ex- receiver. It is likely that a robust minimization algorithm could
perimental two-load system shown in Fig. 1, is straightforward, be used to obtain even better agreement, but derivation of the
with six equations replacing four. More generally, extension to coupling coefficients from first principles and refinement of the
an arbitrary number of loads is described in Section VIII. calculations of resistances, capacitances, and self-inductances
The use of a circuit model here is appropriate because, as de- are goals of ongoing work.
scribed in [5], the interaction involves magnetoquasistatic field
structures. Equivalently, we can compare radiated electromag- VI. EFFICIENCY AND EVALUATION OF POWER LOSSES WITH A
netic power with power dissipated in the resistances of the circuit SINGLE RECEIVER
model. The radiation resistance Rr of a coil with N turns and
radius a, at source frequency f and corresponding free space For the experimental setup with a single receiver, the rms
wavelength λ = c/f where c = 3.00 × 108 m/s is [9] voltage across a 100-Ω resistive load placed in the center of the
 4 transmitting coil is 1.68 V, corresponding to a wireless delivered
2π 2
2 power of 28.2 mW. When the receiver is displaced 17 cm away
Rr = 20 πa N . (7)
λ from and along the axis of the transmitting coil (about 1 coil
radius), the voltage drops by about a factor of 3 to 0.57 V,
Coil 2, then has the largest radiation resistance, with value
corresponding to 3.3 mW power delivered.
Rr 2 = 8.7 × 10−4 Ω, which is far too small in comparison with
The difference between supplied and received power for the
the ohmic resistance R2 to be significant.
system with a single receiver is accounted for in the circuit model
Unintended magnetic coupling with nearby objects is of far
through power dissipation in the resistances. For the parameter
less significance than it would be at higher frequencies, with
values listed in the Appendix, 51.4% of the power that leaves
wavelengths on the scale of the transmitting coil.
the terminals of the actual source (ideal source in series with
internal resistance RS ) is delivered to the load resistance RL .
V. COMPARISON OF CIRCUIT MODEL WITH EXPERIMENTAL The percentages of the total power that is supplied by the
MEASUREMENTS WITH A SINGLE RECEIVER
ideal source VS for the single-receiver system are:
Methods of determination and values for the various parame- 1) 9.1% to load resistance RL ;
ters in the circuit model described in Sections III and IV are 2) 82.3% to internal source resistance RS ;
given in the Appendix. Resistances, capacitances, and self- 3) 0.1% to source coil resistance R1 ;
inductances are calculated values, while the coupling coeffi- 4) 6.8% to primary coil resistance R2 ;

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1822 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 7, JULY 2009

Fig. 5. Transfer function |(V L /V S )(ω)| over a wide frequency range from
the circuit model for the resonant coupled system, and for two simple systems
that connect the source and load directly to the coupled coils.

nant circuits if the ohmic resistances R2 , R3 are small. Here the

circuit Q is determined by the loading provided by RS , RL . In
contrast, in Fig. 4(c), which corresponds to the system described
in this paper, the source and load impedances are inductively
coupled to the resonant circuits. In this case, the turns ratios
Fig. 4. Circuits illustrating nonresonant and resonant coupling. (a) Nonreso- can be chosen so that RS , RL are transformed into much larger
nant inductive coupling. (b) Resonant coupling with significant loading by the effective resistances in parallel with the LC resonant circuits,
source and load, resulting in low Q. (c) Resonant coupling with source and
load inductively coupled to the resonant circuits in such a way as to reflect high
resulting in a larger Q. Fig. 5 shows |(VL /VS )(ω)| as computed
parallel impedances, resulting in a high Q. using these circuit models and component values appropriate
for our experiment, as given in the Appendix. For the case
of simple inductive coupling [Fig. 4(a)], the transfer function
5) 1.7% to secondary coil resistance R3 ; is almost constant at −58 dB for frequencies between 1 and
6) 0.0% to load coil resistance R4 . 10 MHz, with low and high frequency 20 dB/decade roll-offs.
Thus, the dominant loss occurs in the internal source resis- For the values chosen, the Q of the circuit shown in Fig. 4(b) is
tance RS . This loss occurs whenever a source delivers power relatively small, with only a weak resonant peak at a frequency
to a load, whether through wires or through a wireless power that corresponds to ω0 . In contrast, the impedance transforma-
transfer method. (The high internal resistance of the function tion provided by the coupling coils L1 , L4 for the circuit shown
generator, used here only for concept demonstration, can be in Fig. 4(c) results in a much higher Q and coupling that is
significantly reduced by using a more practical power source.) stronger by about 40 dB than the circuit shown in Fig. 4(b).
More than half of the remaining power is delivered to the load Thus, the low Q and purely inductive systems have efficiencies
resistance RL , with dissipation in the primary coil resistance many orders of magnitude lower than the high Q system.
R2 , the largest loss beyond the actual source terminals. The de-
gree to which resistive losses can be reduced from the simple VIII. DELIVERY OF POWER TO MULTIPLE LOADS
demonstration setup described here is a subject of our ongoing
work. Wireless power delivery to multiple small receivers is simply
a replication for each receiver of the principle that has been
demonstrated and modeled in the prior sections of this paper,
VII. COMPARISON WITH FREQUENCY RESPONSE FOR SIMPLE provided that two conditions are met.
INDUCTIVE COUPLING
1) Each receiver must carry small coils that remain within
The circuit model provides a simple way to understand what the region of relatively uniform magnetic field generated
is accomplished by the resonant coupling mechanism and how by the source coil.
it differs from simple inductive coupling. Fig. 4 shows three cir- 2) Each receiver must be far enough separated from each
cuits providing inductive coupling to the load. Fig. 4(a) shows other receiver that their interactions with the source coil
simple nonresonant coupling, while (b) and (c) shows varia- are decoupled. Said another way, mutual inductances be-
tions of resonant coupling. In Fig. 4(b), the source and load tween the receiving coils must have a negligible effect
resistances are approximately in parallel with parallel LC reso- upon the resonant coupling interaction.

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CANNON et al.: MAGNETIC RESONANT COUPLING AS A POTENTIAL MEANS FOR WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER 1823

that terminate each receiver coil so as to maximize efficiency.

This area is a separate subject of our ongoing work.

IX. SUMMARY
The following points have been demonstrated in this paper.
1) Magnetic resonant coupling can be used to deliver power
from a large source coil to one or many small load coils,
with lumped capacitors at the coil terminals providing a
simple means to match resonant frequencies for the coils.
This mechanism is a potentially robust means for deliv-
ering wireless power to multiple receivers from a single
large-source coil.
2) A relatively simple circuit model describes the essential
features of the resonant coupling interaction, with param-
eters that can be either derived from first principle de-
scriptions, from direct measurement or from curve fitting
techniques.
Fig. 6. Transfer function |(V L /V S )(ω)| near the resonant peak as measured 3) A key issue for powering of multiple receivers is the cou-
experimentally and as calculated from the circuit model for two identical receiv-
ing coils stacked directly on top of one another in the center of the transmitting pled mode frequency splitting that occurs when two re-
coil pair, so as to maximize the coupling interaction between receivers. Coupled ceivers are in close enough proximity that their magnetic
mode splitting of the resonant peak is apparent. fields are relatively strongly coupled. Control circuitry to
track the resonant frequency shifts and to retune the re-
ceiving coil capacitances is a potentially viable strategy
The second of these conditions is likely to be repeatedly for addressing this issue.
violated if the receivers move (for example, if they are micro-
robots). For this reason, we explore in this section the effect APPENDIX
of bringing two receivers into close proximity. Coupled mode DETERMINATION OF PARAMETER VALUES
theory [7] predicts a splitting of the single-transfer function res-
onant peak into two separate peaks. Fig. 6 shows the measured In principle, all the parameter values in the circuit model
transfer function across one of the two load resistors for two can be determined from first principles, based upon geometries
receiver coil pairs, each identical to the single coil pair that is and material parameters, and can be verified through individual
described in prior sections, when the coils are stacked directly measurements. While these calculations, as well as compar-
on top of one another in the center of the transmitting coil pair, isons with direct measurements, are the subject of our ongoing
so as to maximize the coupling interaction between receivers. work, our purpose here is simply to show that, using reason-
The coupling between the two receivers in this case is stronger able parameter values, the circuit model yields a frequency re-
than in Fig. 1, where the receivers are side by side. Here, the sponse description that is in good agreement with experimental
single peak has split into two peaks, separated in frequency by measurements.
about 3% of the original resonant frequency. The parameter values in the circuit model are determined as
Also shown in Fig. 6 is a theoretical curve deriving from follows:
an extension of the circuit model to include two pairs of load 1) Coil Resistances R1 , R2 , R3 , and R4 :
coils, with coupling coefficients again chosen by using rough Skin effect causes the currents in the resonant coils to
estimates of the fractions of magnetic flux from each coil that concentrate toward the surfaces of the copper wires, so that
link each other coil, with adjustments in values so as to obtain their effective areas are reduced from their cross-sectional
a good overall fit of the circuit model to the experimental mea- areas. Thus, the resistances are described by
surement. The circuit model clearly shows the same qualitative
2πaN aN
behavior with regard to frequency splitting. R= = (8)
σ2πrδ σrδ
As with the single receiver coil pair, our ongoing work in-
volves determination of all parameter values for multiple re- with the following definitions of physical parameters:
ceivers from first principles. The complexity of the circuit model a = major radius of coil (a1 = a2 = 15 cm, a3 = a4 =
grows quadratically with the number of receivers. 0.635 cm)
Of considerable interest for application of magnetic resonant r = cross-sectional radius of wire (r1 = r2 = 1.5 mm,
coupling to wireless power transfer to multiple receivers is the r3 = r4 = 0.45 mm)
degree to which frequency splitting degrades the efficiency of N = number of turns (N1 = 1, N2 = 3, N3 = 10.5, N4 =
the interaction, and practical means for dealing with this poten- 3)
tial difficulty. For example, it may be possible, through onboard σ = copper conductivity (σ = 5.8 × 107 S/m)
control systems, to continuously retune the lumped capacitances f = source frequency (f = 8.3 MHz)

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1824 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 7, JULY 2009

7) Mutual inductances M12 , M13 , M14 , M23 , M24 , and M34 :

1 The mutual inductance between any pair of coils is pro-
δ=√ (skin depth) (δ = 22.9 µm) portional, through a coupling coefficient κ ≤ 1 to the ge-
πf µ0 σ
ometric mean of the two self-inductances [10]. Thus, the
µ0 = 4π × 10−7 H/m mutual inductances in (6) are represented in terms of cou-
Equation (8) yields the following values for coil resis- pling coefficients by
tances at 8.3 MHz: 
Mij = κij Li Lj . (9)
R1 = 0.075 Ω, R2 = 0.23 Ω
R3 = 0.11 Ω, R4 = 0.032 Ω Values for the six coupling coefficients κ12 , κ13 , κ14 ,
2) Source Internal Resistance: The HP 33120A Func- κ23 , κ24 , and κ34 are chosen by using rough estimates of
tion/Arbitrary Waveform Generator has a manufacturer the fractions of magnetic flux from each coil that link each
specified internal resistance: other coil, and then by making small adjustments in values
so as to fit the theoretical transfer function |(VL /VS )(ω)|
RS = 50 Ω. to experimental data points over a range of frequencies
3) Load Resistance: The load resistance is taken as the resis- that span the resonance. The specific values used are
tor color code value:
κ12 = 0.17; κ13 = 0.0010; κ14 = 0.021;
RL = 100 Ω.
κ23 = 0.0047; κ24 = 0.021; κ34 = 0.76.
4) Self-inductance L2 and capacitance C2 :
The coil L2 was connected directly across the terminals
of the function generator, and the frequency was adjusted REFERENCES
so √
as to yield an amplitude of terminal voltage reduced by
1/ 2 from the open circuit voltage. At this frequency, the [1] K. Finkenzeller, RFID Handbook: Fundamentals and Applications in Con-
tactless Smart Cards and Identification, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 2003,
pure imaginary coil impedance has the same magnitude as ch. 4.
the pure real source impedance of 50 Ω, so that 2πf L2 = [2] G. Wang, W. Liu, M. Sivaprakasam, M. Humayun, and J. Weiland, “Power
50 Ω. The measured frequency yields a self-inductance supply topologies for biphasic stimulation in inductively powered im-
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[3] B. Jiang, J. R. Smith, M. Philipose, S. Roy, K. Sundara-Rajan, and
L2 = 11.2 µH. A. V. Mamishev, “Energy scavenging for inductively coupled passive
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capacitance C2 is determined from (1), with a resonant fre- IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Autom. (ICRA, 2008), pp. 1036–1041.
quency ω0 = 2π (8.3 MHz). (The value obtained in this [5] A. Kurs, A. Karalis, R. Moffatt, J. D. Joannopoulos, P. Fisher, and M. Sol-
way is actually the sum of C2 and the distributed capaci- jacic, “Wireless power transfer via strongly coupled magnetic resonances,”
Science, vol. 317, pp. 83–86, Jul. 6, 2007.
tance of the coil.) This yields the value: [6] A. Karalis, J. D. Joannopoulos, and M. Soljacic, “Efficient wireless non-
radiative mid-range energy transfer,” Ann. Phys., vol. 323, no. 1, pp. 34–
C2 = 34 pF 48, Jan. 2008.
[7] K. O’Brien, Inductively Coupled Radio Frequency Power Transmission
5) Self-inductance L3 and capacitance C3 : The capacitance System for Wireless Systems and Devices. Aachen, Germany: Shaker
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a resonant frequency ω0 = 2π (8.3 MHz). (This value is Cliffs, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005, pp. 243–244.
an effective inductance that also includes the effects of the
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6) Self-inductances L1 and L4 : Since coils 1 and 4 are es- Benjamin L. Cannon (S’08) received the B.S. de-
sentially identical respectively to coils 2 and 3, except gree in electrical and computer engineering from
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, in 2008.
that they have fewer turns, their self-inductances are in- He is currently a Graduate Student in the Labo-
ferred from L2 and L3 and the number of turns in the ratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems,
two resonant coils. Thus, using L1 /L2 = N12 /N22 and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
His current research interests include electromagnetic
L4 /L3 = N42 /N32 yields the values: sensors and electric and magnetic field interactions
with materials.
L1 = 1.2 µH, L4 = 0.065 µH.

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CANNON et al.: MAGNETIC RESONANT COUPLING AS A POTENTIAL MEANS FOR WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER 1825

James F. Hoburg (S’64–M’75–SM’85–F’01) re- Seth Copen Goldstein (M’96–SM’06) received the
ceived the B.S.E.E. degree in 1969 from Drexel Uni- M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the
versity, Philadelphia, PA, and the S.M. and Electr. University of California, Berkeley, in 1994 and 1997,
Eng. degrees in 1971 and the Ph.D. degree in respectively.
1975 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, He was with the Department of Electrical Engi-
Cambridge. neering and Computer Science, Princeton University,
He is currently a Professor of electrical and com- for undergraduate work. He is currently an Asso-
puter engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, ciate Professor in the School of Computer Science,
Pittsburgh, PA. His current research interests include Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. His cur-
wide range of applications of engineering electro- rent research interests include large collections of
magnetics, including electric and magnetic field anal- interacting agents. In the area of reconfigurable com-
ysis and modeling, magnetic shielding, discrete and continuum electromechan- puting, he investigated how to compile high-level programming languages di-
ical systems, applied electrostatics, electrohydrodynamics, and microfluidics. rectly into configurations that could harness the large ensemble of gates for
Dr. Hoburg received the Ladd Award for excellence in research in 1979 computing. Later work involved ensembles of molecules in the area of molecu-
and the Ryan Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in 1980, both at lar electronics. This research investigated how to design, manufacture, and use
Carnegie-Mellon. molecular-scale devices for computing. He is currently involved in realizing
Claytronics, a form of programmable matter.

Daniel D. Stancil (S’75–M’81–SM’91–F’01) re-

ceived the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from
Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, in
1976, and the S.M., Electr. Eng., and Ph.D. de-
grees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, in 1978, 1979, and 1981, respectively.
From 1981 to 1986, he was an Assistant Professor
of electrical and computer engineering at North Car-
olina State University, Raleigh. In 1986, he joined the
faculty at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pitts-
burgh, PA, as an Associate Professor, and is currently
a Professor of electrical and computer engineering. His current research inter-
ests include wireless communications and optical data storage.
Dr. Stancil received a Sigma Xi Research Award from North Carolina State
University in 1985, and was a leader in the development of the CMU Electrical
and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department’s Virtual Laboratory, which was a
finalist for a 1996 Smithsonian Computerworld Award. He was a co-recipient of
the Science Award for Excellence in 1998 from the Pittsburgh Carnegie Science
Center for the development and commercialization of electrooptics technology.
In 1998, he was also recognized with an IR 100 Award and a Photonics Circle of
Excellence Award for electrooptic scanning technology that he co-developed.
He is a Past-President of the IEEE Magnetics Society.

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