Physics Asked on October 3, 2021
Viziv Technologies is a company that claims to be able to transform power delivery, signaling and safety. Their "Science" page says:
The Zenneck surface wave is a technological breakthrough enabling the world to “cut the cord” between power generation facilities and local distribution grids. This new technological development represents a paradigm shift in the science of electromagnetic waves with wide and varying applications.
A ZSW is a type of electromagnetic wave that travels along the earth, bound to its surface. Small size, controlled dispersion, low attenuation, and efficient operation are all features of ZSW systems, making them attractive for any application that requires moving energy and information from one point to another over the surface of the earth.
This new concept in wireless systems will transform many industries, including power delivery and global positioning technology. Additionally, it will transform the way every industry operates, leading to greater efficiency across the board, as well as greater human and environmental safety around the globe.
There’s another page about the physics, but it’s under construction.
I’m asking if this technology is plausible. The paragraphs above are written in a way that makes me cautious, because they read like fluffy pseudoscience where the author uses technical physics terms but without actual physics. My initial reaction for example is that the second paragraph is impossible, since electromagnetic waves will not be bound to the surface of the Earth but shoot off into space. However, a quick Google search shows that Zenneck surface waves really are a thing, although the Wikipedia page is also short on details and is too technical for me to readily grasp.
Viziv Technologies also claims to be able to improve power transmission. My understanding of how power is transmitted is via wires, which is very efficient because the amount of energy lost during transmission ($=I^2R$) is low at high voltages. On the other hand it sounds like Viziv’s technology is going transmit power wirelessly, which should be an advantage. I’m aware that some devices can already be charged wirelessly, but this isn’t at the scale which Viziv claims to do.
Overall the page reads like pseudoscience, but there are enough concerns to make me not sure. Therefore I’d like to ask if anyone more familiar with electromagnetism can diagnose if this is really pseudoscience or not.
After investigating this company for several years I've found out they have several towers around the world. Their work is more than science fiction, it is now in practice. Note, they do not create the energy. They are simply transporting via the Zenneck Surface Wave. Although, it is an obscure technology, it is not new. It was used in the 1960s to send a LA TV station signal into Arizona. Viziv currently has a two prong product line. One line is for global electrical power distribution and the other is low frequency communications. Viziv Technologies is very tight on releasing information, however my investigations has turned up a video of a 1HP motor being powered from half way around the world. Also, in the video they demonstrate a GPS network using their towers rather than satellites. It appears that their VLF GPS network works well for deeply submerged submarines. I am sure the reason for Viziv's silence is due to geopolitical issues. The global Zenneck Surface Wave does impact every every square meter of the surface of the planet. (can you say weaponization...) How to solve the political issues is beyond the FCC and ITU. I would predict you will see Viziv Technologies soon be swallowed up. More on the actual science in an upcoming Physics Today article.
Answered by Neil on October 3, 2021
VIZIV conference talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFiW2lqdnlM&t=120
Viziv is apparently the brainchild of Dr. James Corum and his engineering brother Kenneth. Both have been writing electrical engineering papers for decades, most appearing in EE conference proceedings, and several being in-depth analyses of Nikola Tesla's large resonant transformers. Both Corums have been granted patents for surface-wave devices and systems (currently several hundred in number!)
The Texzon/Viziv company appeared following this IEEE paper below, regarding a new method to "launch" EM surface-waves, without needing the infinitely-tall groundplane launchers known from earlier works by others. This paper below had once been on the Texzon "science page," later Viziv Inc., but was since removed.
. Surface waves and the ‘crucial’ propagation experiment 4/2016
. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7577497
. non-paywalled version on archive.org
One-dimensional EM surface waves have been used in the past, for single-wire UHF transmission lines (see the "G-line" or Gaubau line, also the "E-line" and internet-over-power.) These one-wire transmission lines employ an antenna-like "launching structure" in the form of a cone, plane, radial ground-array, etc., to send EM waves along a single conductor. If this is the same physics, then Viziv is building "launching structures" for exploring the 2D analog of the G-line. The ground losses for such a system become quite small in the VLF/ELF bands. For example, natural signals from lightning will make many tens of passes around the planet before falling into the noise (with a typical system-Q of ~8 for sky-bounce Schumann-duct waves.)
Back in the decades before comm satellites, and envisioning the destruction of telephone lines during nuclear war, the US military built a surface-wave communication network using short vertical towers scattered across the US landscape, and operating at ~100KHz, search on GWEN, Ground-wave Emergency Network.
Note that Viziv Techologies Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection Jan 2021!
Answered by wbeaty on October 3, 2021
Under the leadership of General Michael Miller Viziv Technologies is in bankruptcy. Note that the Corum brothers left Viziv after a falling out due to the Board mismanaging the company and most likely deceiving the investors with something called V2(?). Also appears the Corums never received a dime for their life's work or their IP (which is now owned by Rod Sanders). Investor rumors say the technology was demonstrated to work with great efficiency then the company was quickly forced into bankruptcy and the IP was was picked up for a few dollars. It may have been a bankruptcy to force out all the investors/inventors and take complete control of the IP. A loan to own deal. It is unclear. Either way in the court documents the Corums still claim the technology works fine and has been successfully demonstrated, and the Viziv managers know this. It appears the J.P. Morgans of the world have struck again, this time after it was completed. Details of the bankruptcy can be found at, https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/36592191/Viziv_Technologies,_LLC
Answered by Neil on October 3, 2021
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