A Survey of Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer for Persistent UAV Transportation in Low‐Altitude Economy: The Field–Motion Framework

The endurance limitations of onboard batteries and operational interruptions caused by static charging remain major barriers to scalable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployment in emerging low‐altitude economy. Dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) has recently emerged as a key enabling technology for persistent aerial mobility by allowing energy replenishment during flight without landing. This paper presents a comprehensive survey and introduces a unified field‐motion system framework that links DWPT mechanisms with UAV mobility states and operational requirements. Existing DWPT approaches are systematically classified along two orthogonal dimensions: physical field characteristics (near‐field inductive coupling and far‐field radiative transmission) and motion dynamics (quasi‐static hovering to fully dynamic flight). The survey reveals that near‐field ground‐to‐air configurations achieve high efficiency and robustness through Parity‐Time (PT)‐symmetric compensation and three‐dimensional coil structures, while far‐field air‐to‐air energy transfer enabled by beam‐shaped laser and microwave arrays supports long‐range energy relay under dynamic alignment uncertainty. Building upon these insights, the paper proposes a layered heterogeneous energy architecture integrating high‐efficiency local charging nodes with flexible long‐distance energy relays, forming a multi‐tier aerial energy replenishment network analogous to aerial refuelling systems. By explicitly connecting energy transfer modalities with UAV operational dynamics, infrastructure deployment, and persistent mission planning, this review establishes a system‐level perspective for energy‐aware UAV transportation networks. The presented framework provides design guidelines and research directions toward scalable, continuously operating aerial logistics, inspection, and sensing services in future low‐altitude intelligent transportation systems.