Rectenna Designsfor RFEnergy Harvesting Systema Review
Rectenna Designsfor RFEnergy Harvesting Systema Review
Rectenna Designsfor RFEnergy Harvesting Systema Review
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Article in International Journal on Communications Antenna and Propagation (IRECAP) · April 2016
DOI: 10.15866/irecap.v6i2.8736
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Abstract – In this paper, a review of different types of rectifying antennas (rectennas), used for
harvesting RF ambient signals, is presented. This work focuses on rectenna design as one
important technique of wireless energy transfer. The most important parameters in rectenna
design such as conversion efficiency, rectenna size, antenna gain and polarization, rectifier
element, and overall performance of the rectenna are studied and compared. It is noted from
studies that rectenna design suffers from low conversion efficiency and large size which limit their
use in wireless applications. Therefore, to overcome the above mentioned limitations, some
techniques such as microstrip antenna with, a metamaterial structure, harmonic suppression and
circular polarization properties can be suggested. A voltage doubler rectifier can be used with the
metamaterial microstrip antenna to improve the conversion efficiency of the rectenna. Hence,
High efficiency and small size of the rectenna will enable the rectenna to produce sufficient DC
voltage and current to charge batteries used in medical applications and wireless sensors
applications as well.
Manuscript received January 2007, revised January 2007 Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights
reserved
S. Ahmed, M. N. Husain, Z. Zakaria, M. S. I. M. Zin, A. Alhegazi
TABLE 1
LITERATURE REVIEW SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF RECTENNA DESIGNS
Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved Int. Journal on Communications Antenna and
Propagation, Vol. xx, n. x
International Journal on Communications Antenna and Propagation (I.Re.C.A.P.), Vol. xx, n. x
[10] 2006 Jamal Zbitou, Linear polarized 4- HSMS2820 High electron-mobility transistor is used to
element patch array Schottky Zero-bias reduce the overall rectenna dimensions but due
antenna (ZB) diode to the array antenna adoption, the rectenna size
still large.
[11] 2013 Yong Huang NA MOSFET, Schottky Buck-Boost converter is used for high
diode, conversion efficiency of the rectifying circuit.
[12] 2015 Mei-Juan Nie broadband slot antenna Schottky diode of Ground coplanar waveguide integrated with
fed by GCPW HSMS-2862 voltage doubler rectifier is used to achieve high
efficiency.
[13] 2012 Onur Kazanc Miniaturized tag NMOS bridge NMOS bridge rectifier is used for maximum
antenna power transfer that consists of BSIM model of
zero-VT transistors.
[14] 2014 Chou, J. H., Lin Dual circularly HSMS282c Slotting technique of T and U shapes is used to
polarized patch diode achieve circular polarization and harmonic
antenna rejection properties.
[15] 2008 Tzong-Chee Yo Circularly polarized Tow pair of HSMS- The size of the rectenna is reduced by 12% due
Patch antenna 282c to the use of circular shape slots and double
Schottky diodes layer structure techniques implementation.
[16] 2010 Gianfranco Andia Square coupled patch SMS7630 Schottkty The size of the patch side is reduced by 32.5%
Vera with a cross shaped diode as an advantage of cross shaped slot adaption.
slot
[17] 2010 H. Takhedmit linearly polarized Two HSMS2860 The rectenna design is suitable for wireless
patch antenna Schottky diodes with sensor applications as it does not required a low
SOT23 package pass filter.
[18] 2012 Fu-Jhuan Huang Microstrip antenna NA The output voltage is higher with LP than with
with peripheral CP. However, the LP output voltage is affected
cuts and slits by rectenna rotation.
[19] 2012 Jui-Hung T-shape slot dual HSMS-282c Schottky T-shape slot technique is applied to the antenna
circular polarized detector diode for circular polarization property so that more
patch antenna signals can be captured.
[20] 2012 S. Vinoth Kumar Microstrip patch HSMS-282c diode This design has a low conversion efficiency
antenna which can be improved by using voltage
doubler.
[21] 2012 Vlad Marian Single-pole 4 Throw HSMS2860 Schottky The series-mounted diode rectenna, bridge
(SP4T) switch diode configuration rectenna and shunt-connected
integrated structure diode rectenna are considered for very low input
antenna power level, large input power range and mid-
range, respectively.
[22] 2012 H. Takhedm it, L. Antenna with shorted HSMS2850 Rectifier is designed at the back side of the
Cirio annular ring –slot zero bias Schottky antenna, which make the structure more
diode compact and lower cost.
[23] 2013 Wen Huang Microstrip dipole HSMS-282 Schottky The design structure at 2.45 GHz limits the
antenna diode compatibility of the rectenna for some wireless
sensor applications.
[24] 2010 H. Takhedmit, Linear polarized Bride rectifier consists This rectenna has low cost and good
microstrip patch of four Schottky diodes performance but the output DC voltage need to
antenna be further improved.
[25] 2010 A. Georigiadis Square aperture- SMS7630 Schottky Thevenin equivalent circuit of antenna is used
coupled patch antenna diode for receiving signals. However, the total
conversion efficiency is low.
[26] 2008 Douyere, A, Lan Sun Square model patch HSMS2860 Schottky In this design, equivalent circuit model formed
Luk antenna diode of antenna and rectifier is studied. This design
achieves efficiency of 75 % with no need for
any electromagnetic simulation software.
In [16], a dual linearly polarized rectenna is designed at harmonic balance is used to enable the circuit operate at
2.45GHz. It has square aperture coupled patch antenna low power densities, the maximum efficiency obtained is
with etched slot on its surface. The slotting technique 42.1%, at input power of -10dBm, as shown in fig. 3(a).
applied, in this design, has the advantage of reducing the The Rectifier maximum RF-to-DC conversion efficiencies
size of the patch by 32.5%. Although the is 15.7% and 42.1% for incident power of -20dBm and -
10dBm, respectively, as shown in fig. 3(b).
Manuscript received January 2007, revised January 2007 Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights
reserved
S. Ahmed, M. N. Husain, Z. Zakaria, M. S. I. M. Zin, A. Alhegazi
(a)
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4. (a) Receiving antenna Thevenin equivalent circuit (b) RF-to-dc
efficiency versus frequency [25]
(a)
Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved Int. Journal on Communications Antenna and
Propagation, Vol. xx, n. x
S. Ahmed, M. N. Husain, Z. Zakaria, M. S. I. M. Zin, A. Alhegazi
(a)
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7. (a) Simulated and measurement results of Antenna connected to
the Filter (b) Input Power vs. output DC Voltage [20]
rectenna Design suffers from very low efficiency that However, these designs required eight ports and eleven
results in low DC output voltage. feeds which increase the cost and complexity of these
Rectenna size can determines the application in which designs. Orthogonal feed lines technique is used in [14],
it can be used. Array antenna can capture more RF signals [41] and [42] which provides dual polarization mode by
but it increases the overall size of the rectenna [8]. Buck- delay in excitation, but there is trade-off between the
Boost converter circuit can improve the rectenna isolation loss and the return loss which make the design
performance. However, rectenna size and cost are complex. Microstrip antenna with single feed can achieve
increased [11]. The advantages of adding a filter to the circular polarization property as proposed in [43]-[45] to
rectenna design are to reject the generated harmonics and reduce complexity. However, the axial ratio bandwidth
eliminates the interference as presented in [27]-[34]. achieved are 2%, 14.6%, 23%, respectively, which are
Despite the advantages of filter adoption, it has quite narrow.
disadvantages of increasing the size and the cost of the
rectenna. Besides that, it introduces an isolation loss
which reduces the rectenna efficiency. III. Results Comparison of Different
A circular polarization property is another important Rectenna Designs
feature of the rectenna design [35]-[37] that can increase
Table 2 shows the results comparison of several
the captured ambient signals and reduces the polarization
rectenna designs based on input power, output power,
loss associated with the linear polarization antennas. In
antenna gain and total conversion efficiency achieved at
[38], novel planar antenna is presented showing wide
2.45 GHz, where “NA” symbol corresponds to “not
impedance bandwidth, small size and low cost. But this
available data in the reviewed paper”.
antenna suffer from polarization loss due to it is linear
polarization (LP). A dual mode polarization with constant
beam width and compact size is presented in [39]-[40].
Table 2
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF RECTENNA RESULTS
Ref Author/year Frequency Antenna Gain Input power Output power Efficiency (ɳ)
(GHz) (%)
[7] Erez Falkenstein, 2012 2.45 6 dB 25-200 µW/cm2 0.1 W 54%
[8] Mohamed Adel 2.45 9.14 dBi 20dBm 7.02V 65.8%
SENNOUNI, 2014
[9] Ugur Olgun, 2011 2.45 4.5 dBi -5dBm NA 68%
[10] Jamal Zbitou, 2006 2.45 6.8 dBi 25dBm 11 V 65%
Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved Int. Journal on Communications Antenna and
Propagation, Vol. xx, n. x
S. Ahmed, M. N. Husain, Z. Zakaria, M. S. I. M. Zin, A. Alhegazi
Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved Int. Journal on Communications Antenna and
Propagation, Vol. xx, n. x
S. Ahmed, M. N. Husain, Z. Zakaria, M. S. I. M. Zin, A. Alhegazi
wireless sensor network (WSN) and radio frequency [16]G. Vera, A. Georgiadis, A. Collado, and S. Via, "Design of a 2.45
GHz rectenna for electromagnetic (EM) energy scavenging," in
identification (RFID) applications.
IEEE Radio Wireless Symp., 2010, pp. 61- 64.
[17]H. Takhedmit, L. Cirio, B. Merabet, B. Allard, F. Costa, C.
Vollaire, and O.Picon, “Efficient 2.45GHz rectenna design
Acknowledgements including harmonic rejecting rectifier device,” Electron. Lett. vol.
46, Jun. 2010, pp. 811– 812.
Authors gratefully would like to express appreciation [18]F.J. Huang, T.C. Yo, C.M. Lee, C.H. Luo, “Design of Circular
to Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) and Polarization Antenna With Harmonic Suppression for Rectenna
Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) for supporting Application,” IEEE Antenna and Wireless Propagation Letters, ,
Vol. 11, 2012, pp 592- 595.
this research activity under the grant [19]J.-H. Chou, D.-B.Lin, K.-L.Weng, and H.-J. Li, “Novel T-shape
RACE/F3/TK8/FKEKK/F00251. slot couple feed dual circular polarized rectenna,” in Proc. Int.
Symp. Antennas Propog, Nagoya, Japan, Nov. 2012, pp. 178 –
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Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved Int. Journal on Communications Antenna and
Propagation, Vol. xx, n. x
S. Ahmed, M. N. Husain, Z. Zakaria, M. S. I. M. Zin, A. Alhegazi
on Sciences and Techniques of Automatic Control and Computer Mohd Nor Husain received B.S in electrical
Engineering (STA), 2014, PP.793-796. and Electronic Engineering from University of
[35]K. A. Abd Rashid, M. N. Husain, A. R. Othman, M. Z. Abd Aziz, Strathclyde and master degree in electronic
M. M. Saad, M. Senon, M. T. Ahmad, and J. S. Hamidon. "A communication from University of Essex
review on circular polarization antenna for wireless MIMO England. He received Ph.D. in optical and
application." IEEE International Symposium Technology waveguide from University of Bath England.
Management and Emerging Technologies (ISTMET), 2014, pp. He is currently a professor in Universiti
73-77. Teknika Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) and his
[36]H. Sun, W. Geyi, "A New Rectenna with All Polarization resesrch intersts are optical, waveguide and antennas. Email:
Receiving Capability for Wireless Power Transmission." IEEE [email protected]
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2015.
[37]C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory Analysis and Design. 2nd edition Zahriladha Zakaria, PhD, MIEEE, BEM,
John Wiley and Sons (Asia), 2005. Grad IEM - was born in Malaysia in 1975. He
[38]S. Liao, P. Wu, K. M. Shum, and Q. Xue, “Differentially fed received the B. Eng. and M. Eng. in Electrical
planar aperture antenna with high gain and wide bandwidth for and Electronic Engineering from the
Millimeter-wave application,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 1998 and
vol. 63, no. 3, Mar.2015. pp. 966–977. 2004 respectively. He obtained his Doctorate
[39]J. Yang, X. Chen, N. Wadefalk, and P.-S. Kildal, “Design and from The University of Leeds in 2010 in the
Realization of a linearly polarized Eleven add trans./ 8 ports/ field of Microwave Engineering. From 1998 to
Feed for 1-10 GHz,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 2002, he was with STMicroelectronics, based in Malaysia where he
8, Dec. 2009, pp. 64–68. worked as Product Engineer.
[40]H. Raza, J. Yang, and A. Hussain, “Measurement of radiation He is currently an Associate Professor and also the Manager of
efficiency of multiport antennas with feeding network Centre for Telecommunication Research and Innovation (CeTRI) at the
corrections,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 11, Jan. Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering, University Teknikal
2012, pp.89–92. Malaysia Melaka, where he teaches Electronics, Microwave
[41]Haboubi, W., H. Takhedmit, J.-D. Lan Sun Luk, S.-E. Adami, B. Engineering and Signal Processing. His research interests include a
Allard, F. Costa, C. Vollaire, O. Picon, and L. Cirio, “An efficient variety of microwave device developments such as planar and
dual-circularly polarized rectenna for RF energy harvesting in the nonplanar microwave filters, amplifiers and antennas. He also
2.45GHz ISM band,” Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. investigates radiowave propagation as well as energy harvesting for
2014, 148, 31–39. wireless sensor networks and signal processing. Email:
[42]Lai, X.Z., Z.M. Xie, and X.L.Cen, “Design of dual circularly [email protected].
polarized antenna with high isolation for RFID application,”
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 139, 2013, 25–39. Mohd Shahril Izuan Mohd Zin was born in
[43]Wang, Z., S. Fang, Q. Wang, and H. Liu, “An ANN based Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia on 18th October
synthesis model for the single-feed circularly-polarized square 1980. He received his B.Eng and M.Eng
microstrip antenna with truncated corners,” IEEE Trans. degrees from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Antennas and Propag., Vol. 60, No. 12, Dec. 2012, 5989–5992. (UKM) in 2002 and 2004 respectively.
[44]K. L. Chung, “A wideband circularly polarized H-shaped patch He is currently attached to Universiti
antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 58, no. 10, Oct. Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) as a
2010, pp. 3379–3383. Lecturer in Faculty of Electronic and
[45]L. X. Bao, M. J. Ammann, and P. McEvoy, “Microstrip-fed Computer Engineering. His research interests include wireless
wideband circularly polarized printed antenna,” IEEE Trans. networking and ultra-wideband communication.
Antennas Propag., vol. 58, no. 10, Oct. 2010, pp. 3150–3156.
[46]Tae-Whan Yoo and Kai Chang, "Theoretical and experimental Ammar Alhegazi was born in Sadah, Yemen
development of 10 and 35 GHz rectennas," IEEE Transactions in 1990. He received his B. Eng. in Electronic
on Microwave and Techniques, .40.NO.6.June.1992. Engineering from Universiti Teknikal
Malaysia Melaka in 2015.
He is currently a master student at Faculty
of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Authors’ information (FKEKK), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka (UTeM). His research interest is
Centre for Telecommunication Research and Innovation (CeTRI), microwave filtering-antennas.
Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Email: [email protected].
Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal,
Melaka, Malaysia.
Copyright © 2007 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved Int. Journal on Communications Antenna and
Propagation, Vol. xx, n. x