Design of a 5 GHz Circular Rectenna for Efficient RF Energy Harvesting in IoT Applications

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

2 Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Suez Canal University Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

The growing dependence on wireless technologies in urban areas highlights an important challenge concerning how to ensure reliable and sustainable power for sensor devices. Traditional power solutions, such as batteries or wired connections have many limitations such as the finite lifespan of batteries and the requirement of regular maintenance. An effective alternative for regular power sources is radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting, which improves service efficiency as it extends the lifetime of sensor nodes integrated into urban areas. Electromagnetic energy can be captured and transformed into effective direct current (DC) voltage using a radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting device. This paper presents a compact rectenna for RF energy harvesting at the Wi-Fi 5 GHz band, which covers the IEEE 802.11j band. Firstly, a circular antenna surrounded by a circular patch with a whole ground plane is proposed, followed by a transmission line impedance matching for the rectenna design. Additionally, a high-efficiency rectifier is designed using Rogers4003C substrate with a thickness of 1.524 mm, connected to the antenna to create a small rectenna. Simulation results show that an output DC voltage of 1.12 V is achieved at a 3 kΩ resistor for 0 dBm input power at 5 GHz. The experimental results showed a slight difference, with a 0.9 V DC output voltage at 0 dBm input power. The rectenna was able to reach a maximum efficiency of 30.5% at an input power of 5 dBm. The proposed rectenna is viable for several energy-harvesting applications, compact, and easy to build.

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