The Next Generation: Miniaturized Objects, Self Powered Using Nanostructures to Harvest Ambient Energy

NAVs (Nano Air Vehicles) are stating an emerging sector of the aerospace industry. The flight endurance is the key point challenge in the design of these small objects. Nowadays, traditional power sources are rechargeable batteries; however this solution present some disadvantages in terms of time and energy limitations. In several scenarios, where the human intervention cannot be performed, e.g., in unsafe and toxic environments, the energy source replacement might be impossible. Nano Energy harvesting is an attractive technology for NAV. In this paper, we emphasized the achieved progress in plasmonic’s application: Optical Nano-Antennas employed as Nano-generators. The actual trend today is the usage of broadband antennas tuned at any specific wavelength in order to respond within a wide range of frequencies by using a single structure. These Nano-Antennas allows to harvest or recycle energy from radiation spectrum (ultra-violet, visible and infrared) to constantly supply these flying object during night and day.