Investigation on the RF and Microwave Energy Harvesting from wireless and mobile communication networks

Abstract

This paper presents the design and the realization of an antenna and a rectifier circuit for RF and microwave energy harvester. Our study is focused on the analysis of the antenna response and the suitable rectifier circuit for capturing the set RF power, from wireless and mobile communication networks, operational in the frequency band (0.890 – 4) GHz. The used antenna, gives a measure efficiency of around 95% within the previous bandwidth, and the proposed rectifier circuit present a simulated RF - DC conversion efficiency of almost 92% at −75dBm, and the measured one is equal nearly to 60% at −30dBm. The simulation sensitivity of this rectifier circuit is very low, a 5V output voltage is detected at −80dBm RF input power, and the practical sensitivity of this circuit is getting when 1V output voltage is detected at −25dBm input power. Both antenna and rectifier have been fabricated and tested.