Pasadena-Based GuRu Wireless Partners With Korean Firms on Wirelessly Powered Defense Drones

GuRu Wireless, a Pasadena company that grew out of research at the California Institute of Technology, announced Monday a collaboration with two South Korean firms to develop small military surveillance drones that can fly indefinitely using wireless power beamed from the ground.

The three-way partnership — with Korean electronics distributor Uniquest Corporation and AI-enabled drone developer Arion — targets South Korea’s defense market, according to a press release issued by GuRu Wireless. The companies said they plan to equip small unmanned aerial systems with GuRu’s 24GHz wireless power receivers and Arion’s drone platform to enable sustained flight without battery swaps, landings, or tethered connections.

GuRu Wireless, headquartered at 234 E. Colorado Blvd., was founded in 2017 by a team of Caltech electrical engineers and physicists. The company’s technology uses phased array antennas to beam radiofrequency energy to airborne drones, a capability it calls RF Lensing. A single ground-based transmitter unit can power multiple drones simultaneously, the company said.

“This collaboration marks a meaningful step in advancing persistent ISR from concept to demonstrated, field-ready capability,” Narbeh Derhacobian, CEO of GuRu Wireless, said in the press release. “When combined with Arion’s proven experience delivering and validating UAS platforms for military and public-sector users, and Uniquest’s leadership in local integration and defense engagement, this effort is positioned to progress from demonstration into formal operational evaluation.”

The collaboration targets a well-known constraint in drone operations: battery life. Current small drones are constrained by battery capacity, requiring frequent recovery, battery replacement or tethered operation that limits their usefulness for continuous surveillance missions, according to the press release. Wireless power could eliminate those interruptions for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, the companies said.

The partners plan to demonstrate the technology at Drone Show Korea 2026, to be held February 25-27 at BEXCO in Busan. Attendees will be able to see two drones flying simultaneously on wireless power from a single GuRu transmitter at the Arion booth, #A05, according to the press release.

Uniquest Corporation, founded in 1993 and listed on the Korean Stock Exchange, distributes electronic components and is headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea. Shin Hee-joo, the company’s director of defense business, said in the press release that the partnership aims to “validate this capability in Korea, establish operational references, and engage both domestic and international defense stakeholders on follow-on programs.”

Kim Yong-deok, CEO of Arion, said in the press release that integrating wireless power with the company’s drone platform “materially changes how persistent surveillance missions can be planned and executed.”

The collaboration is structured in phases, beginning with live demonstrations and advancing to verification activities and pilot programs with military-related units, according to the press release. The companies also said they plan to engage defense contractors and system integrators to evaluate scalability for broader deployment.

GuRu Wireless raised $15 million in Series A funding in 2019 from Kairos Ventures and BOLD Capital Partners. In December 2024, the company said it demonstrated what it called the world’s first modular, fully synchronous wireless power transfer system, powering an untethered drone from 30 feet away in its lab. It demonstrated dual-drone persistent flight at a defense trade show in Taipei in September 2025.

The Busan demonstration later this month will be the collaboration’s first public showing, according to a company press release.