Reference 06
Reference 06
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2018.2882632, IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
Abstract—A compact and broadband rectifying antenna Nowadays, considerable research has been carried out on the
(rectenna) which consists of a novel slotted antenna and an wireless power transmission for the recharging. Microwave
efficient rectifying circuit is presented for wireless power transfer power transmission (MPT), by harvesting the ambient radio
at LTE-2300/2500 band. Three different broadband antennas have frequency (RF) energy at a far-field distance, is one of the
been investigated and compared. It is found that the newly
most potential solutions for battery replacement [2-6].
designed antenna which combines the annular slot radiation patch
and a slotted ground plane has the widest bandwidth and the best Rectifying antenna (rectenna) is a crucial element in
matching characteristic. A new broadband dual-stub matching harvesting the ambient RF energy, which is focused on
network is proposed to maximize the transmission of wireless extracting and converting RF signals produced by WiFi
power and enhance the reliability of the rectifier when the input routers, radio towers and broadcast stations. By exploiting the
power and load varies. Additionally, the ground of the rectifier is available RF energy from the various sources, electronic
directly connected to the ground plane of the antenna for devices are able to be powered wirelessly [7-9]. Rectenna has
compactness and low energy loss. The proposed designs have been investigated for many years as a continuous power
been simulated, fabricated and tested. The results indicate that supply and significant achievements have been made in MPT.
the proposed receiving antenna performs well at LTE band with
Many topologies of rectenna including monopole, dipole,
a wide bandwidth from 2.0 GHz to 3.1 GHz. The maximum
efficiency of the proposed rectenna reaches 70% at 2.5 GHz loop and slot antennas have been designed which are operated
under the input power of 5 dBm. Furthermore, the rectenna at different frequency bands [10-13]. So far, the main
remains at a relatively efficient power conversion when the load constraint of the RF energy harvest is the low power density
varies in a wide range from 2 kΩ to 20 kΩ under different low obtained from the ambient RF source. With the advent of
input power, which is of great significance when the ambient RF more and more communication frequency bands, multiband
signal is weak. Therefore, the rectenna is potentially applicable and broadband rectennas are developed and investigated
to a wide range of low-power electronic devices by harvesting RF extensively to enhance the utilization of energy [14-18].
energy at LTE band. Employment of rectenna arrays is another alternative to
Index Terms—Wireless power transfer, RF energy harvesting, capture more ambient RF energy. In [19], a new approach
broadband slotted rectenna, dual-stub matching network, LTE- using hybrid power combined with rectenna array is proposed
2300/2500 band in energy transfer systems to receive more energy in a wide
incident angle range. A beam-forming matrix and a dc power
I. INTRODUCTION management network are introduced in the hybrid power
With the great advances of communication systems, the combining. However, the array which is realized by combing
emerging Internet of things (IoT) has been widely used in the antenna elements increases the total size of the rectenna
many fields including the medical health services, the and is not appropriate for portable low-power applications.
environment monitoring and the manufacturing industry. An Slot antenna, by cutting slots on the radiation patch, is another
enormous information network can be established by IoT possible approach to receive energy from broadband or
based on various sensing devices such as the radio frequency multiband without the increase of the rectenna dimension. In
identification devices, wireless sensors, global positioning [20], an efficient broadband rectenna is proposed for wireless
systems and other electronic equipment. The low-power energy harvest from 1.8 GHz to 2.5 GHz. A novel dual-
sensing devices can be found almost everywhere with the polarized cross-dipole antenna with flower-shape slots is
popularity of the IoT, which requires a large amount of developed for harmonic-rejection. An ultra-lightweight
maintenance cost caused by the recharging or replacement of multiband rectenna is presented for the next generation LTE
the battery [1]. Additionally, the devices are supposed to be bands and there are two annular slots with one nested inside
portable and self-sustainable in most cases, thus wireless the other [21].
power charging is urgently required. Generally, a large number of low-power electronic devices
are connected to the output of the rectenna, hence the RF to
Manuscript received ×××× ××, ××××; revised ×××× ××, ××××; accepted DC conversion efficiency is the most critical parameter in
×××× ××, ××××. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation rectenna. Besides, the load value of the rectenna is variable in
of China under Grant 61640303 and the Key Science and Technology Project
real cases, which leads to the mismatching of the impedance
of Henan Province of China under Grant 182102210080. (Corresponding
author: Meng Wang.) and the fluctuation of the conversion efficiency [22]. In order
Yanyan Shi, Yue Fan, Yan Li, Lan Yang and Meng Wang are with the to achieve a high and stable efficiency in a wide range of load
College of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Henan Normal University, and input power, some approaches are proposed such as the
Xinxiang 453007, China (e-mail: [email protected]).
resistance compression technique [23-24]. In addition,
considering the available weak RF signal, numerous designs
have been reported to enhance the efficiency under a relative
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Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
L =0.412h
reff +0.3 W / h 0.264
g 4.2 h 12.88
i 1.5 j 20.12
reff 0.258 W / h 0.8
k 26 l 2
where εreff is the effective permittivity of substrate, h is the
thickness of substrate which is taken as 1.6 mm.
However, an excellent performance of the antenna cannot When cutting slots on the radiation patch of the antenna,
the performance of the antenna changes greatly due to the
be obtained with the rectangular patch. Slot theory provides a
variation of the surface current path. Figure 2 shows three
solution in the design of antenna to enhance the ability of RF
different geometries of the antenna patches including the
energy harvesting [27]:
patch with conventional geometry (Patch with CG),
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Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
Patch
2.42 1.05 2.73 92.3%
with AS
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4
Aside from the geometry of the antenna patches, the ground
plane also has a great impact on the performance of the 3
antenna. Figure 5 illustrates three different ground planes, 2
which are the conventional ground plane (Conventional GP),
newly designed ground plane (Newly designed GP) and 1
newly slotted ground plane (Newly slotted GP), respectively. Conventional GP
0 Newly designed GP
The simulated reflection coefficient and realized gain of the
antenna with the variation of the ground plane is compared in Newly slotted GP
-1
Figure 6. It is noted that the reflection coefficient of the 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4
antenna with Conventional GP has the minimum value of -19 Frequency (GHz)
dB at 2.48 GHz. By adding two symmetrical areas, the (b)
reflection coefficient is greatly enhanced with the minimum Fig. 6. Simulated performance of the antenna with three different ground
value of -36 dB at 2.4 GHz and the bandwidth of the antenna plane. (a) Reflection coefficient and (b) The realized gain.
is also improved. Besides, a significant difference exists when
cutting symmetrical narrow slots on the Newly designed GP Table III
DETAILED SIMULATED PARAMETERS OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA WITH
with the minimum reflection coefficient of -49.6 dB at 2.4 DIFFERENT GROUND PLANES
GHz. Figure 6(b) describes the realized gain of the antenna Resonant Radiation
against frequency with three different ground planes. It can be Impedance
Antennas Frequency VSWR Efficiency
(Ω)
observed that the gain increases gradually with the increase of (GHz) (%)
the frequency. The realized gain is improved when the ground Conventional
plane varies from Conventional GP to Newly slotted GP. And 2.43 1.23 59.5 92.2%
GP
the antenna with Newly slotted GP has the highest realized
Newly designed
gain over 1.7 dBi and up to 4 dBi from 1.8 GHz to 3.4 GHz. GP
2.39 1.12 54.1 94.7%
Table III shows the detailed simulated parameters of the
proposed antenna with different ground planes. It is observed Newly slotted
2.38 1.02 49.2 95.3%
GP
that the antenna performance is gradually enhanced with the
evolution of ground plane with the decrease of VSWR,
impedance and the improvement of the radiation efficiency. For evaluation, the proposed optimal antenna is fabricated
Therefore, the optimal antenna is obtained with the as shown in Figure 7 and experiments are performed to
combination of the annular-slot radiation patch and the Newly estimate its performance. Comparisons between the simulated
slotted GP. and measured reflection coefficient and realized gain are
plotted in Figure 8. It can be observed from Figure 8(a) that
the measured resonance frequency is 2.30 GHz and there is a
small resonance shift to the lower frequency compared with
the simulated result, which may be attributed to the variation
of the dielectric constant of the substrate in the experiment.
Besides, unlike the simulated minimum reflection coefficient
of -49.6 dB, the measured value is around -39.5 dB. The
difference may be caused by the error of fabrication. The
realized gain of the antenna is measured by the two-identical-
antenna method at a far field distance. Figure 8(b) presents
the comparison of the simulated and measured results. It
Fig. 5. Three different geometries of the ground plane. (a) Conventional GP should be noted that the measured gain is lower than the
(b) Newly designed GP and (c) Newly slotted GP.
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Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
simulated values with more than 1.3 dBi and up to 3.5 dBi at output voltage and a load, as illustrated in Figure 9. Until now,
the frequency band from 1.8 GHz to 3.4 GHz. The slight various kinds of rectifiers have been investigated to convert
differences may be due to the energy loss at the coaxial line. the harvested RF power to DC power including the single
series diode rectifier, the voltage doubler rectifier and the full-
wave Greinacher rectifier. The traditional single series diode
rectifier is not able to convert energy efficiently, while the
Greinacher rectifier with a complicated structure causes too
much energy loss at the diodes. Therefore, the voltage doubler
rectifier is selected in this work to obtain a high conversion
efficiency which is significant for low-power operations.
Fig. 7. The photographs of the fabricated antenna. (a) The top view. (b) The
In the design of a broadband rectifier, a variety of
bottom view. techniques has been presented. In [28], the rectifying diode is
directly integrated into the antenna to perform as the rectifier
without matching and filtering circuits for a compact design.
A matching network based on a non-uniform transmission
line is designed for a sufficiently large rectifier bandwidth in
[29]. In [30], a novel coplanar stripline (CPS) low-pass filter
integrated with two additional open-ended T-strip CPS
bandstop filters is proposed to block higher order harmonics
generated from the diode. A highly efficient and sensitive
triple-band rectifier is developed to harvest RF energy in [31].
Three inductors are applied to control three matching
frequencies and the frequency is controlled independently. In
this work, a new broadband dual-stub matching network is
introduced in the design of rectifier to maximize the
transmission of wireless power and enhance the reliability of
the rectifier when the input power and load varies. The
5
rectifier without matching network is initially designed by
4 ADS software. Schottky diode HSMS-2852 is selected.
Generally, a ground plane on the rectifier causes coupling
3 between the antenna and ground plane. Also RF energy loss is
2 induced on the ground plane which affects the performance of
antenna. To address the problem, the rectifier is directly
1 connected to the ground plane of the antenna in the work. The
rectifying circuit is optimized for higher conversion efficiency
0
Simulated with the variation of the load resistance. According to the
-1 Measured Harmonic Balance simulation, the input impedance of the
1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 rectifying circuit is calculated to be 45.428 + j8.364 Ω under
Frequency (GHz) the input power of 5 dBm. Actually, the input impedance of
(b) the rectifying circuit is variable due to the change of the load,
Fig. 8. Comparison of the simulated and measured results. (a) Reflection frequency, and input power. The matching network, which is
coefficient. (b) Realized gain. used to realize the impedance matching between the
broadband antenna and the rectifying circuit, is crucial for
III. RECTIFIER DESIGN maximum power transmission and highest conversion
A high-performance rectifier is of great significance in the efficiency under a wide range of the load and input power.
design of the rectenna to realize excellent power sensitivity, The prototype of the proposed rectifier is depicted in Figure
wide load range, and low power consumption. Generally, the 10. As shown in Figure 10(a), the designed matching network
rectifier mainly consists of an impedance matching network consists of a dual-stub microstrip line and a chip inductor of
for maximum power delivery, a rectifying element for the 3.3 nH.
harvested energy conversion, a DC pass filter to smooth the
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Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
20 Matching Network
4.2 3.3 nH
100 nF
4 kΩ
15.8
21.3 6.3 33.5
11.2
Electrical
Grounding
Unit: mm 4.2 6.5
(a)
Fig. 11. The simulated performance of the rectifier versus input power. (a)
Conversion efficiency and (b) Reflection coefficient.
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experiment, a RF power source is connected to a standard variation of load and the efficiency almost keeps constant for
horn antenna, which is performed as the transmitter. And the a wide range of load under low input power levels. This is of
RF energy from power source at LTE band is carried by a significant practical interest for electronic applications.
continuous wave. The designed rectenna is aligned and placed
at a distance of 70 cm away from the transmitter, which is the
far-field distance determined by
2d 2
R= (4)
where R is the far-field distance, λ is the wavelength of the
operating frequency and d is the largest dimension of the
standard horn antenna (equal to 17.8 cm).
The RF to DC conversion efficiency is the most critical
parameter to evaluate the performance of the proposed
rectenna, which is estimated by
Vdc 2
100% (5) Fig. 14. Measured conversion efficiency of the rectifier versus frequency at
RL Pr different input power levels. The load resistance is 4 kΩ.
where
2
Pr Gr Gt Pt
4π R
and where η is the RF to DC conversion efficiency, Vdc is the
measured output voltage of the load, RL is the load resistance,
and Pr is the received power of rectenna, Gr and Gt is the
realized gain of the designed antenna and the transmitter, Pt is
the transmitting power of the horn antenna.
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Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
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