994 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 62, NO.
4, APRIL 2014
A Load-Modulated Rectifier for RF Micropower
Harvesting With Start-Up Strategies
Diego Masotti, Member, IEEE, Alessandra Costanzo, Senior Member, IEEE,
Paolo Francia, Matteo Filippi, and Aldo Romani
Abstract—In this paper, we introduce a new load-modulated
two-branch rectifier, designed to dynamically cooperate with an
ultra-low power management unit (PMU), interposed between
the rectenna and application circuits. The design targets battery-
less RF energy harvesting applications with typical input power
ranging from 10 to 100 W. Energy is stored in a low leakage
capacitor. In order to allow activation in discharged states, the
PMU implements a low-voltage start-up stage, whose current
consumption is specifically optimized for biasing the rectifier
accordingly. When a sufficient voltage is reached, the PMU acti-
vates a more efficient boost converter stage with maximum power
point tracking capabilities and micro-power consumption. Such
two circuits are designed to provide two very different loading
conditions to the rectifier. A joint design of the nonlinear rectifier
paths and of the two PMU subsystems based on two specific
optimizations of the matching networks is proposed, along with a
circuit solution for automatically switching between the start-up
stage and the boost converter. In order to validate the concept,
a microstrip prototype operating at 900 MHz with a discrete
components PMU is characterized, although the proposed idea
is fully technology independent. With respect to a conventional
rectifier, the proposed design allows the system to operate with
significantly lower input power, while preserving efficiency during
steady-state power conversion.
Index Terms—DC–DC converter, harmonic-balance (HB) anal-
ysis, rectenna, RF energy harvesting, transient analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
I N HEALTH care, civil structures, and harsh environment
monitoring, RF energy harvesting platforms are gaining in-
creasing interest for various wireless applications. Usually they
are adopted for power supplying wireless micro-systems with
identification and/or sensing capabilities that are intended to be
pervasively distributed in the ambient [1]–[3]. However, to ef-
fectively implement such “smart” scenarios, reduced size, main-
Manuscript received October 01, 2013; revised January 19, 2014; accepted
January 25, 2014. Date of publication February 17, 2014; date of current ver-
sion April 02, 2014. This work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of
the Instruction, Research and University (MIUR) within the framework of the
national project “Green Tags and Sensors with Ultra-Wideband Identification
and Localization Capabilities” (GRETA).
D. Masotti is with DEI, University of Bologna, 40123 Bologna, Italy.
A. Costanzo, M. Filippi, and A. Romani are with DEI, University of Bologna,
47521 Cesena, Italy (e-mail: alessandra.costanzo@unibo.it).
P. Francia is with the Center for Industrial Research on Information and Com-
munication Technologies (CIRI ICT), University of Bologna, 40123 Bologna,
Italy.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2014.2304703
0018-9480 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
tenance-free, and possibly batteryless [4] wireless systems are
required.
To improve the wireless power transmission, RF power
sources may be ad-hoc designed to optimize the entire system
efficiency [5], [6]. However, if the available RF energy in the
ambient is the only source, wirelessly powered systems often
fail to autonomously operate due to low available dc voltages
or power with respect to the minimum requirements. Very
promising solutions [7], [8] adopt a power management unit
(PMU) based on switching converters for efficiently biasing
the rectenna, controlling power conversion, and storing the
harvested energy for subsequent use by application circuits.
In these cases, the rectenna nonlinear design includes the
optimum load among the design variables, as demonstrated in
[8], where multi-band solutions are presented. However, the
main limitation consists in the fact that rectennas biased in their
maximum power point (MPP) may provide voltages lower than
the minimum supply voltage of the PMU. Nonetheless, the in-
trinsic power consumption of the PMU must be lower than the
harvested power. In the above cases, when the power received
by the antenna is lower than 15 dBm, both power and voltage
requirements of the PMU stage are not simultaneously fulfilled.
In RF energy harvesting, besides the limit imposed by the
intrinsic power consumption of electronic components, the
rectenna output voltage is often not sufficient to activate the
dc–dc converter. As a matter of fact, in batteryless imple-
mentations, sufficient levels of power cannot be exploited
by electronic circuits unless the developed voltages on the
rectennas are also comparable with the threshold voltage of
diodes and transistors [9]. Currently, in order to overcome this
drawback, multistage PMU architectures have been proposed
in which passive or less efficient start-up circuits are used to
initially activate a separate optimized boost converter stage.
When the source voltages are sufficient, passive circuits can
be used for this purpose, as in [10]. When the available volt-
ages are significantly lower, integrated circuits based on ring
oscillators and charge pumps [11] or analog step-up oscillators
[12] generate the initially required voltages. With this type
of architecture, the RF rectifier is required to provide high
conversion efficiencies in very different loading conditions,
namely, the start-up phase and steady-state power conversion
in proximity of the MPP. This is not possible with traditional
rectifiers that are designed and optimized for a single specific
load condition. In this latter case, different load conditions will
undergo lower energy conversion efficiencies.
The schematic block diagram of an RF energy harvesting
system is depicted in Fig. 1. We point out that the aim of this
MASOTTI et al.: LOAD-MODULATED RECTIFIER FOR RF MICROPOWER HARVESTING WITH START-UP STRATEGIES
Fig. 1. Block diagram of an RF energy harvesting system.
paper is to focus on a micro-power scenario, i.e., different
from RF identification (RFID) applications. By considering
the power quantities at the interconnecting sections, we can
compute the entire system efficiency
– – – tenna based on the received power level. A single-pole multiple-
(1)
The first factor – , which can be accurately evaluated
by electromagnetic (EM) theory, as in [13] and [14], is depen-
dent on the radio channel and is highly variable due to the un-
known source location and to fading effects, especially signifi-
cant in indoor environments.
The second and third factors – and – are strictly
interdependent. In fact, – is the RF-to-dc rectifier conver-
sion efficiency, where is the RF power at the antenna output
port and is the dc power at the rectifier output port,
which is strongly dependent on the rectifier load. The latter gen-
erally consists of the PMU input impedance, which, in this work,
varies depending on whether the start-up or the boost stages are
operating. Similarly, the third factor in (1) is the dc–dc converter
efficiency, which is generally affected by the rectenna output
impedance. Thus, the only approach to maximize the overall
system efficiency is to simultaneously account for the actual im-
pedances of the neighboring blocks.
In a previous conference paper [15], our research group
proposed a new rectifier design approach to reach this goal.
Differently from other works, in which start-up circuits are im-
plemented only in the baseband section, the antenna is loaded
by a parallel connection of two different rectifier/matching
network assemblies to operate alternatively during the start-up
and the boost converter operations. The first rectifier and
matching network are designed together with the rectenna
optimum load to maximize – . In this configuration, the
dc–dc converter should dynamically bias the rectenna in its
MPP condition, in which the available voltage may be lower
than the minimum supply voltage required by the converter.
The second rectifier and matching network are designed by
assuming the input impedance of the converter start-up stage
as a load, which should bias the rectenna for providing both
the required dc voltage and the dc power needed for circuit
operation. In this context, it is not essential to optimize the
maximum – : the main purpose is to let the rectenna
output the highest possible voltages in order to fulfill the
minimum voltage requirements. Given this primary objective,
995
the rectenna may not be biased in its MPP. Along with this,
in order to keep voltage drops low, the current drawn by the
start-up circuit should also be the lowest possible. However,
this is a necessary condition to allow system activation of
a batteryless system from a discharged state when very low
input power is available. In such conditions, without these
specific optimizations, the energy conversion would not be
able to start. The drawback may be a longer start-up time when
high input power is available. More specifically, the use of
the two-branch rectifier allows to exploit the low voltage and
current requirements of a charge pump circuit during start-up,
and of a highly efficient switching converter with maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) during steady-state conversion.
Multiple branches were also adopted in another recent work
[16], although with the different purpose of optimizing steady-
state power conversion by selectively connecting at RF differ-
ently optimized matching networks and rectifiers to a single an-
throw RF switch is used for this purpose in the high-frequency
section. Differently, in the presented work, the two branches are
introduced for separately optimizing start-up and steady-state
power conversion. In addition, the antenna is always physi-
cally connected to the two branches, and each power path is
selected by introducing a strong impedance mismatch on the
other branch, which is accomplished by introducing a short-cir-
cuit condition on the output node of the rectifier, i.e., in the
low-frequency section, by means of a simple field-effect tran-
sistor. This solution resulted to be the best choice, for the power
levels considered in this work, since RF switching would have
introduced excessive losses.
Although the initial concept of the two-branch rectifier was
presented in [15], it was supported only by a very limited set
of simulations. No circuit details and no experimental measure-
ments were reported. This paper introduces all the implementa-
tion aspects, describes specific optimizations based on the prop-
erties of actual circuits, and presents a fully operating batteryless
prototype together with an extensive set of experimental mea-
surements, in order to prove full functionality and assess overall
performances. In this paper, the preliminary numerical results
of [15] are also assessed in depth and used to develop the effec-
tive implementation of the entire system. First, a double-branch
rectifier is realized to simultaneously provide two separate an-
tenna matching networks for the appropriate loading conditions,
namely, the input impedances of the two dc–dc converter stages,
which were purposely designed. For validating this concept, a
start-up stage and a boost converter stage are also designed and
implemented in discrete technology by minimizing all sources
of power losses. In addition, the start-up stage is designed for
operating with the minimum possible supply voltage allowed
by electronics. An extensive experimental verification of oper-
ation of the entire system is then presented. In order to precisely
quantify the actual RF power needed for autonomous operation,
during the reported measurements the rectifier is powered by an
RF source at 900 MHz, with a 50- internal impedance. This
does not represent a limitation since system behavior with a re-
ceiving antenna in place of the power source can be straight-
forwardly derived, as deeply discussed in [8], [13], and [17],
where multi-resonant antennas clearly demonstrate an almost
996 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 62, NO. 4, APRIL 2014
Fig. 2. (a) Block diagram of a single-branch rectifier. (b) Optimized rectifier
efficiency and output dc voltage as a function of the load current consumption
(for W).
50- -termination behavior in their operating narrow frequency
bands.
We also point out that, although the concepts presented in
this paper are validated with discrete electronics, similar con-
clusions hold with a scaling factor for other types of technology,
such as integrated circuits. Better circuit performance is nor-
mally achieved because of their reduced parasitics. Lower op-
erating voltages are also achieved [18], [19], and custom circuit
sizing also allows to significantly reduce intrinsic power con-
sumption below 1 W [19], [20]–[22], and to operate with RF
input power levels as low as 26 dBm [23]. In addition, other
topologies such as step-up oscillators [12] may achieve even
lower start-up voltages for use in low-voltage low-power appli-
cations. As a matter of fact, each technology has a minimum op-
erating voltage at which the start-up stage is able to operate, and
as RF input power decreases, lower voltages are available from
rectennas. Thus, the proposed approach of differentiating two
power paths with different properties, one for system start-up
from a fully discharged state and one for steady-state power
conversion, is always fully applicable and the RF section can
be optimized based on circuit properties. Once the system is
started, since a sufficient voltage is available on the storage ca-
pacitor, steady-state power conversion is sustained even with
rectenna voltages much lower than the minimum allowed oper-
ating voltage, provided that the power budget is positive.
II. SWITCHED-LOAD RECTIFIER
A. Nonlinear Design
Let us first consider a traditional rectenna design [see
Fig. 2(a)], which usually consists of the nonlinear optimization
of the antenna-rectifier matching network, with the optimum
load as a design variable to accomplish the MPP operating
condition (10 k in the present design). This design will be
referred to in this paper as single-branch rectifier. Let us refer to
typical RF ambient sources providing power levels received by
the antenna in the order of 10–100 W. As a reference, let us
assume a received power W: the simulated conver-
sion efficiency – behavior of a distributed single-branch
rectifier (using SMS7630-001 Skyworks Schottky diodes and
20 and 40 pF as series and shunt capacitors, respectively) with
a single-stub matching network is plotted in Fig. 2(b) as a
function of the rectifier output dc current , i.e., for
variable loading conditions. This is a typical rectenna behavior
due to the existence of an optimum load ,
as extensively demonstrated in [8]. In the same figure, the
corresponding dc output voltage is also plotted. A
maximum – of 60% for an output voltage of 0.5 V is
expected. The associated dc current is 30 A, resulting in an
output dc power of 15 W.
Even if the latter value seems sufficient to sustain the intrinsic
consumption of an MPPT converter, typically in the order of
a few W in discrete electronics [8], the rectifier dc voltage
of 0.5 V at the MPP is lower than the typical threshold
voltage of discrete MOSFETs. As a reference,
V for the commercial MOSFETs is adopted in the proposed
design. In CMOS integrated circuits, typical values for
would range around 0.4 V and similar consideration would hold
with lower input power levels. In such situation, the power con-
verter is unable to operate and autonomous operation of the en-
tire system cannot be accomplished because MPPT would bias
the rectifier at a too low voltage. Although power converters op-
erating slightly below the threshold of MOSFETs have been re-
ported [24], such circuit topologies are usually based on capaci-
tive charge pumps. In addition, subthreshold MOSFETs are not
suitable for implementing switched-mode converters because of
their high resistivity. In addition, with step-up oscillators [12],
it would be difficult to implement a precise MPPT.
Anyway, Fig. 2(b) also shows that the required higher
voltages can be obtained with lower values of , which,
however, yield a lower conversion efficiency. For this reason,
during start-up, very low currents compatible with the required
voltage have to be drawn from the rectifier. The proposed
start-up circuit, which will be introduced later on, corresponds
to a load (computed as ) of approximately
200 k , which we then assume as the target input impedance of
the start-up circuit. Yet, in this loading condition, and
efficiency – are limited with respect to the MPP condi-
tion – . We remark that similar considerations
also hold for integrated circuits, which present lower threshold
voltages and intrinsic power in case of lower input power .
To accomplish the coexistence of these two rectifier operating
states, it is proposed to load the antenna port with a parallel
connection of two branches that operate alternatively during the
start-up (SU) and during steady-state boost converter (BC) op-
eration. The block diagram of this solution is shown in Fig. 3.
For the two matching networks, a distributed solution in
microstrip technology on a low-loss dielectric is adopted:
this has been shown to provide better efficiencies with re-
spect to an equivalent lumped-element solution that we first
designed with commercially available lumped components.
The microstrip-circuit schematic topologies of the two states
MASOTTI et al.: LOAD-MODULATED RECTIFIER FOR RF MICROPOWER HARVESTING WITH START-UP STRATEGIES
Fig. 3. Block diagram of the proposed two-branch rectifier with circuit start-up
optimization.
Fig. 4. Two-branch rectifier operating principle: (a) initial start-up operation
with the branch designed for the boost converter stage loaded by a short-circuit
and (b) boost converter operation with start-up branch loaded by a short-circuit.
are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b) together with the two loading
conditions. The upper branch is designed to be loaded by the
boost converter stage (optimum load) and consists of two
stubs connected by a low-impedance transmission line. In
such a condition, the lower branch output must be shorted to
ground in order to provide a high reflection coefficient at the
antenna section. The lower branch is a single-stub topology
and is designed to provide the highest possible dc voltage at
the rectifier output, compatible with the minimum dc current
drawn by the start-up circuit to operate (typically in the order of
A for state-of-the-art discrete components implementations),
corresponding to the above-mentioned 200-k load. In such a
condition, the upper branch output needs to be short-circuited
to ground to provide a high reflection coefficient at the antenna
997
Fig. 5. Reflection coefficient at the antenna port of the load-modulated rectifier
(solid line: the upper rectifier is loaded by k , its optimum load,
and the lower rectifier load is shorted to ground; dashed line: the lower rectifier
is loaded by a fixed k and the upper rectifier load is shorted to
ground).
section. The figures also remark the nonlinear behavior of the
input system impedance, which depends on the incoming RF
power level. All the geometrical parameters are used in the
nonlinear optimization of the two-branch rectifier. For each
branch, a voltage doubler rectifier, adopting only two diodes, is
chosen to minimize losses: for the present design, 20- and 40-pF
series and shunt capacitors, respectively, and SMS7630-001
Skyworks Schottky diodes are used and the equivalent circuits
of the packages are included in the nonlinear design of the
entire assembly.
The switching between the two arrangements is controlled
in dc, at the load side, by dynamically providing two sepa-
rate overall antenna matching networks. A scheme, based on
a couple of field-effect transistors, has been designed and is
shown in Fig. 3. The p-channel JFET and the n-channel
MOSFET are mutually exclusive switches controlled by
the enable signal , activated by the start-up circuit when
a sufficient voltage is reached. is a Fairchild MMBFJ270
operating as a normally on switch. Its conduction channel is
pinched off whenever the gate voltage exceeds of
a threshold voltage. For this reason, at system start-up, when
no electrical charge is stored in the output capacitance
(Fig. 3), the node is almost shorted to ground. This optimizes
the power flowing through the lower rectifier loaded by the SU,
which was specifically designed for drawing the minimum pos-
sible current in order to produce low voltage drops on . Suf-
ficient voltage levels are essential for keeping the circuit opera-
tional and are a priority with respect to extracted power. is
a Fairchild BSS138, operating as a normally off switch. Its con-
duction channel is enabled whenever its gate voltage is
higher than the threshold voltage. During the steady-state power
conversion, when the required voltage has been made available,
the node is almost shorted to ground, and the specific power
optimization for the upper rectifier and matching network is en-
abled.
Of course, the coexistence of the two branches, alternatively
loaded by a short-circuit, needs to be considered in the non-
linear design of each one, in order to accurately predict the ef-
fective behavior. In Fig. 5, the simulated two-branch rectifier
reflection coefficient is plotted versus the received RF power
998 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 62, NO. 4, APRIL 2014
Fig. 6. RF-to-dc efficiency of the load-modulated rectenna. (a) BC case (the
load was a design variable). (b) SU case (the load is a fixed parameter).
: these plots show that the new solution is able to preserve
a very good antenna matching to each parallel connected sub-
system, all over the received RF-power range addressed in the
respective design.
Fig. 6 summarizes the performance in terms of modeled
RF-to-dc efficiency – for incoming RF power levels
between 20 and 10 dBm for the upper and the lower rectifier
operations that is whether the start-up or the boost stages are
loading the two-branch rectifier. The corresponding load values
are k and k ,
respectively. The other branch is always assumed to be shorted
to ground. Since a circuit implementation of the boost converter
may somewhat differ from the optimum load, the efficiency in
this case should be intended as an upper bound for the power
extracted from RF. The predicted RF-to-dc efficiency – configuration characterization even at those low power levels
in the optimum loading condition (BC case) is higher than
40%, at the lowest RF power level of 20 dBm, and reaches
about 70% at 10 dBm. However, it has to be stressed that
without the intervention of the start-up circuit, at lower power
levels the BC performances are hypothetical since the boost
power-up conditions in terms of voltage are not met and power
conversion cannot be started autonomously. In addition, the
final output power will also depend on the efficiency and on
power losses of the boost converter implementation, which will
be presented later on in this paper.
The efficiency enhancements at low power levels in the
start-up loading conditions (SU case) are evident compared
to those derived from the design for optimum load: for load
values belonging to the start-up region, the present solution
allows to reach an efficiency of more than 30% for a 20-dBm
RF power. Consequently, an external intermittent load, e.g., a
wireless sensor network node, may be activated earlier.
Fig. 7. (a) Single-branch rectifier. (b) Switched load rectifier. (Dimensions are
in millimeters.)
B. Experimental Characterization in Steady-State Regime
In order to experimentally demonstrate the advantages of the
proposed solution, two rectifier prototypes have been designed
and fabricated to operate at 900 MHz, both on a 1.52-mm-thick
Taconic TLP5 substrate ( , @ 10 GHz).
The first one consists of a single-branch rectifier and is op-
timized for the optimum loading condition only, as in the
traditionally adopted method. The second one consists of two
branches and is based on the load-modulated solution presented
in this paper, with the upper branch optimized for the optimum
load and the lower branch optimized for the start-up load. The
photographs of the two prototypes are shown in Fig. 7, together
with their dimensions.
The measured behavior of the different arrangements are
compared in Figs. 8 and 9 in terms of RF-to-dc efficiency, dc
voltage and power, for a 10-dBm range of the RF power. In
this setup, an external supply voltage is used to allow the BC
at which it could not work otherwise. The overall system effi-
ciency (taking into account the actual converter consumption)
has been characterized in Section IV-C.
In Fig. 8, the performance of the single-branch prototype of
Fig. 7(a) with its optimum load is considered, while similar plots
are shown in Fig. 9(a) and (b) for the two-branch rectifier with
the boost branch or the start-up branch alternatively short-cir-
cuited to ground. The performances of Figs. 8 and 9(a) are very
similar: only a 17.5% reduction for dBm
is observed, which means – instead of 40%,
while voltage values are the same. This allows us to conclude
that our new solution preserves almost all the performance of
the traditional approach when the boost stage is active in the
converter subsystem. This means that the rectifier branch op-
timized for the boost loading condition is not significantly af-
fected by the presence of the other branch, optimized to acti-
vate the start-up stage. We point out that in batteryless systems
MASOTTI et al.: LOAD-MODULATED RECTIFIER FOR RF MICROPOWER HARVESTING WITH START-UP STRATEGIES 999

Fig. 8. Measured RF-to-dc efficiency, output dc power, and voltage for the pro-
totype of single-branch rectifier of Fig. 7(a) loaded with the optimum resistor.

Fig. 10. Schematic of the SU circuit.

are available at the output of the lower branch rectifier (3 W

and 0.8 V, respectively), while the circuits designed for op-
timum load are not able to provide these conditions since the
dc power is more than sufficient, but the dc voltage is too low
( 0.3 V).

III. START-UP AND BOOST CONVERTER OPERATION

A. Start-Up Circuit
The start-up circuit, shown in Fig. 10, is mainly composed of
a three-stage ring oscillator, a five-stage Dickson charge pump
[25], and a voltage monitor circuit. In this implementation
of such known circuit blocks, the ring oscillator is based on
complementary Fairchild FDME1034CZT MOSFETs with a
Fig. 9. Measured RF-to-dc efficiency, output dc power, and voltage character- threshold voltage ranging between 0.4–1 V in order to allow
istics for the prototype of Fig. 7(b): (a) with the lower branch output short-cir- operation with comparable input voltages. The two comple-
cuited and the optimum load on the upper branch and (b) with the upper branch mentary outputs CK and drive the Dickson charge pump.
output shorted to ground and the start-up input impedance on the lower branch.
Once a sufficient voltage is available on , the ring oscillator
starts oscillating and the charge pump loads the ultra-low
leakage storage capacitor F.
this is a necessary choice for obtaining from the other branch, The voltage monitor circuit, which is based on a circuit
at least once, the minimum voltage for starting the circuit up. topology introduced in [10], drives the selection signal
With the single-branch rectifier, which is still slightly more effi- and controls the supply voltage of the boost converter
cient in the MPP, in case of low input power, the system would circuitry. During the start-up phase, V.
not be able to start and operate because of the corresponding When the boost converter is activated, is turned on and
low generated voltages. Since our purpose is to operate with . and are enabled and
the lowest possible values of , a comparison of Fig. 8 [or disabled, respectively, when crosses two user-defined
Fig. 9(a)] with Fig. 9(b) clearly shows the advantages of the pro- hysteresis thresholds
posed two-branches rectifier and confirms the simulations pre-
dictions. For example, given dBm, Fig. 9(b) shows
(2)
that the power and voltage required to activate the start-up stage
1000 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 62, NO. 4, APRIL 2014
Fig. 11. Schematic of the boost converter with MPPT.
where is the threshold voltage of , and
F and F . In the
tested implementation, V and V.
The purpose of the start-up circuit is to be operational with
the minimum possible input voltage . For this reason, the
circuit was designed to draw only a very limited amount of cur-
rent of few A in order not to cause significant voltage drops on
the rectifier output , which may prevent circuit operation. In
this context, the primary objective is to start collecting electrical
charge with the lowest possible voltages and currents. How-
ever, it is worth remembering that the matching network was
also specifically optimized for the specific current consumption
of the start-up circuit, yielding increased performance in this
condition with respect to a conventional single-branch rectifier
approach. The power consumption of this block will be charac-
terized in Section IV.
B. Boost Converter
This circuit, shown in Fig. 11, is a boost converter with
MPPT capabilities, which represents an enhancement with
respect to a previous implementation based on ultra-low power
microcontrollers [8]. A nano-power TS881 comparator from
STMicroelectronics is used to drive the switching converter so
that the rectenna voltage is kept in proximity of a reference
voltage , which is periodically updated to track the MPP
with a fractional open-circuit voltage (FOCV) method. In
order to minimize dynamic power consumption, MOSFETs
with very low values of gate charge have been chosen for
the main power path. In addition, power conversion can be
disabled by driving the signal low. A new circuit
for MPPT with reduced power consumption was designed. An
astable multivibrator based on 2N5210 bipolar transistors from
Central Semiconductor outputs two complementary periodic
waveforms SAMPLE and , with user-defined period
and duty cycle. The above signals periodically disable the
boost converter and enable the sample and hold circuit and
the resistive divider so that a given fraction of the open-circuit
voltage is sampled on . The operation of the MPPT circuit
Fig. 12. Voltage waveforms of the rectified voltage and of the boost con-
verter output voltage F . The start-up branch is shorted to
ground by its control transistor.
with a variable input power is shown in Fig. 12. In the
presented implementation, the MPP is updated every 500 ms,
which means that every 500 ms the boost converter is disabled
for a short amount of time in order to apply the open-circuit
condition, while a fractional voltage is sampled on .
Waveforms show that the operating point is correspondingly
updated.
Differently from the SU, the purpose of this circuit is to max-
imize the extracted power by biasing the rectenna in its MPP
and to minimize intrinsic power consumption. In this context,
it is mandatory to achieve a satisfactory tradeoff between con-
sumed and harvested power. The involved tradeoff factors are:
1) dynamic switching power consumption, which is reduced
by choosing MOSFETs with very low values of gate charge;
2) on-resistance and associated power losses, which usually in-
crease with lower values of gate charge [10]; 3) update fre-
quency of MPP; and 4) static power consumption and leakage
currents of components. Such choices allow the circuit to draw
only a few A during operation. The power consumption of the
BC block will be characterized in detail in Section IV.
IV. ENTIRE SYSTEM CHARACTERIZATION
The circuits described in the previous sections aim to provide
the optimized loading conditions to the two-branch rectifier. Let
us describe how this approach maximizes the extracted power
in both operating points and provides a faster start-up, as well
as a more efficient steady-state power conversion. The designed
system has been assembled and is shown in Fig. 13. However, in
order for the circuit to be fully autonomous, it is mandatory for
the deployed circuits to consume just a fraction of the harvested
power. This section reports a series of experimental measure-
ments aimed at characterizing these and other aspects of overall
system performance.
A. Minimum Required RF Power for Start-Up
A first set of measurements is performed to determine the
minimum allowed level of RF power that ensures an au-
tonomous start-up of the circuit. This requires to achieve both
the minimum voltage and a positive power budget. The boost
converter input node is shorted to ground, and measure-
ments are taken for different values of RF power provided at
the input of the two-branch rectifier by a Hittite HMC-T2100
MASOTTI et al.: LOAD-MODULATED RECTIFIER FOR RF MICROPOWER HARVESTING WITH START-UP STRATEGIES
Fig. 13. (top) Experimental setup and (bottom) assembled prototype. The two-
branch rectifier is loaded with the actual circuit implementations of SU and BC.
synthesized signal generator. The SU is shown to activate
successfully with dBm and to reach an output
voltage V on F [see Fig. 14(a)],
sufficient for supplying the active components of the boost
converter, but yet not sufficient for efficiently driving the power
MOSFETs of the boost converter, which are not yet conductive
enough. An input power dBm allows to reach
V [see Fig. 14(b)], which ensures a more efficient
driving of the power MOSFETs of the boost converter. The
latter value can then be assumed as the practical minimum
required power for start-up. In the same figure, the modest
performance obtained by the single-branch rectifier design
with the start-up circuit are also superimposed: indeed, if the
single-branch rectifier topology is adopted, for any given RF
power, the start-up output voltage raises in a slower way and is
not able to reach the voltage levels achieved by the SU branch
of the two-branch rectifier. This means that the single-branch
rectifier requires a higher for being able to activate the
BC.
The average power - provided by the rectifier
output during this phase can be conservatively estimated by
assessing the energy stored on the rectifier output capacitor
(see Fig. 3) when a steady voltage is reached and the
related charging time. It is worth pointing out that higher values
of instantaneous power are obtained during the transient. In
fact, this estimates account for the average efficiency obtained
in all points of the charging curves in Fig. 14 and also for the
intrinsic consumption of the start-up circuit. For this reason,
lower values than in Fig. 9(b) are obtained and are reported in
Fig. 15, where the average power was evaluated for both the
1001
Fig. 14. Voltage waveforms obtained during circuit start-up with
F and, respectively, input power: (a) dBm and (b)
dBm.
considered load-modulated rectifier, and as a comparison, for
the single-branch rectifier, both loaded with the start-up circuit.
However, the main purpose was to demonstrate that the specific
design optimizations of the rectifier performed for the start-up
circuit allow to reach comparable output power and voltage
levels for significantly lower values of . This means that
the two-branch rectifier allows the system to operate with lower
received power levels at which the single rectifier would not
be able to activate. When the generated voltages are sufficient
for starting both devices (with the two-branch rectifier, boost
power conversion starts before the single rectifier), leading to
lower wake-up times.
B. Intrinsic Power Consumption of Circuit Elements
One of the main objectives of electronic design was to
achieve ultra-low power consumptions in all circuit blocks in
order to allow sustainable operation even in critical (low) input
power conditions. Several design tradeoffs have been defined
for this purpose, as previously discussed. In order to assess the
overall intrinsic power consumption, the average current drawn
by all circuit parts has been measured with a digital multimeter
for a voltage across the storage capacitor V. The
results are shown in Table I.
The efficiency of the boost converter power path between its
input and output ports was also measured. In this
experiment, the boost converter was supplied externally in order
to determine the efficiency – of the power path without
accounting for control circuits. The boost converter was enabled
1002
Fig. 15. Average output power versus input power
of load modulation and of conventional single-branch rectifier (both loaded with
the start-up circuit).
TABLE I
MEASURED POWER CONSUMPTION OF INDIVIDUAL
CIRCUIT BLOCKS AT V
until reached its maximum value at time . The average
output power throughout the charging of was estimated
as . The input power was
estimated as , where
are the extremes of oscillation voltage of around
the MPP and is the duration of an energy extraction. With
values of of 19, 27, and 38 W, the values of efficiency
– were found to be 76%, 82%, and 87%, respectively.
The obtained values are coherent with the current state-of-
the-art for implementations of micro-power harvesters based on
discrete components. However, as a result, the intrinsic power
is also expected to increase as the output capacitor gets progres-
sively charged, and to reach the break-even point with the avail-
able input power. When this condition occurs, the output voltage
reaches a steady value. However, higher capacitor values may
still be used for storing more energy while keeping the voltage
and the associated losses low. In addition, the proposed tech-
nique may also be applied to integrated circuit implementations
for operating with lower input power levels [19].
This limitation directly arises from the design of a fully
autonomous and batteryless implementation. Differently,
battery-supplied systems rely on constant voltage to power
electronic components, which avoids to suffer from this in-
crease in intrinsic power, and to require specific wake-up or
voltage monitor circuits. In RF energy harvesting applications,
the use of rechargeable batteries as energy storage devices is
quite common, even for implementations based on integrated
circuits [26]–[28], because of the very low and intermittent
available voltage. However, battery-based systems are not
able to start from a fully discharged state, and electrochemical
cells progressively degrade performance over time. It is worth
mentioning that the proposed boost converter is also suitable
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 62, NO. 4, APRIL 2014
in case
Fig. 16. Measured voltage waveforms showing start-up capabilities and sus-
tainability of operation of the boost converter for: (a) dBm,
(b) dBm, and (c) dBm F .
for operating with a rechargeable battery instead of the output
capacitor, with even lower power consumptions.
C. Autonomous Start-Up
Besides testing the two individual power paths of the SU and
the BC, it is also essential to prove the capability of the system
of switching autonomously when sufficient power is available,
and to sustain the intrinsic consumption of the power converter
as well. A series of tests has been performed in different con-
ditions, with input power above the minimum requirement of
Section IV-A.
As previously discussed, although the electronic components
are operational starting from 1.1 V, in the tested implementation,
the activation voltage was set to about 2.1 V, in order to reduce
power losses in the BC by applying a stronger overdrive voltage
to MOSFETs, which strongly affects conversion efficiency. In
addition, the output capacitor F provides an en-
ergy buffer able to sustain the requirements of a wireless sensor
node, which typically draws a few mA for tens of ms during a
transmission, without draining below the operating re-
gion of the BC. Fig. 16 shows the voltage waveforms obtained
for input power levels of 10, 12, and 14 dBm. In
these measurements, all circuit blocks of Figs. 10 and 11 are
powered directly by the rectifier. The system is able to start-up
autonomously and to self-sustain in all cases.
MASOTTI et al.: LOAD-MODULATED RECTIFIER FOR RF MICROPOWER HARVESTING WITH START-UP STRATEGIES
As decreases, the break-even with intrinsic power of
the converter is reached. Practical limits arise from the use of
discrete components, for which the current state-of-the-art im-
plementations still require power in the order of W. We are
aware that further reductions in intrinsic power are achievable
by using CMOS integrated implementations [21], [22]. How-
ever, we point out that the goal of this work is to propose a
method for performing specific design optimizations for dif-
ferent operating regimes, which can be applied independently
for the technology chosen for the implementation. Certainly,
within the proposed method, improved performances are ex-
pected from higher efficiencies of the matching network and
rectifiers, and from reduced power consumptions of circuits.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a new perspective for the design of
RF energy harvesting systems in order for them to be effectively
exploited for energy-autonomous applications. For this purpose,
the energy harvested by the rectenna, which might not be suf-
ficient for immediate use, should be managed by an ultra-low-
power highly efficient dc/dc converter, capable of autonomously
charging a storage capacitor (or a battery) even from a fully dis-
charged state. Solutions based on dc/dc converters activated by
a start-up stage have been recently suggested. In order to ac-
complish this, we have proposed a new load-modulated rectifier
architecture designed to provide the best sourcing conditions to
the dc/dc converter and to the start-up stage. The method can
be applied independently from the technology chosen for im-
plementing the electronic circuits.
A rigorous design method has been described, combining the
harmonic-balance-based nonlinear design of the rectifier circuit
with the transient design of the start-up and of the boost con-
verter. The switching mechanism between the two circuits is
fully automatic, and is based on the voltage levels involved.
For validation purposes, a prototype based on discrete compo-
nents has then been assembled. The experimental characteriza-
tion proves that the proposed solution allows to start the con-
verter with almost half the RF power required by a traditional
RF harvesting system design based on a single-branch rectifier
in the same conditions. Although intrinsic power consumptions
coherent with the current state-of-the-art have been obtained for
the PMU, stronger benefits are expected from integrated imple-
mentations, which yield significantly lower power losses and
more accurate device modeling for joint co-design with RF el-
ements.
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Diego Masotti (M’00) received the Dr. Ing. degree
in electronic engineering and Ph.D. degree in elec-
tric engineering from the University of Bologna,
Bologna, Italy, in 1990 and 1997, respectively.
In 1998, he joined the University of Bologna, as
a Research Associate of electromagnetic fields. He
has been a member of the Paper Review Board for
the IET Circuit Devices and Systems since 2011.
His research interests are in the areas of nonlinear
microwave circuit simulation and design (with an
emphasis on modern computer-aided design (CAD)
techniques for large-size problems), and nonlinear/electromagnetic co-design
of integrated subsystems/systems.
Dr. Masotti has been a member of the Paper Review Board of the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, IEEE
COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS, and IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS
COMPONENTS LETTERS since 2004, 2010, and 2013, respectively.
Alessandra Costanzo (A’99–M’02–SM’13) re-
ceived the Doctor degree in electrical engineering
(magna cum laude) from the University of Bologna,
Bologna, Italy.
Since 2001, she has been Associate Professor
of electromagnetic fields with the Cesena Campus,
University of Bologna. She has coauthored over
130 scientific publications on peer-reviewed inter-
national journals and conferences and three chapter
books. She holds three international patents. She is
a member of the Editorial Board of the International
Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies. She is Executive Editor
of the Cambridge University Press’ Wireless Power Transfer Journal. Her
research activities have focused on several topics, such as electro-thermal
characterization and modeling of RF/microwave nonlinear devices; simulation
and design of active microwave integrated circuits; and broadband design
of self-oscillating circuits and systems for electrical, stability, and noise
performance. More recently, she has been involved with an innovative software
platform for the nonlinear and electromagnetic co-simulation of RF systems
excited by modulated sources. She has demonstrated the circuit-level analysis
of entire multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and ultra-wideband (UWB)
links, including realistic channel models. She is currently involved in the
development of energy autonomous sensors based on wearable systems and
energy harvesting technologies and of wireless power transfer systems. Many
are her research and industrial collaborations, which have been conducted via
significant funding sources from both institutional and private investors.
Dr. Costanzo is a member of the Management Committee of the recently
approved European Union (EU) COST action Wireless Power Transfer for
Sustainable Electronics (WiPE). She is member of the Technical Program
Committee (TPC) board of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques
Society (IEEE MTT-S) International Microwave Symposium (IMS), European
Microwave Week (EuMW), and the Steering Committee, 2014 EuMW, Rome,
Italy. She is vice chair of IEEE MTT-S TC-26 Wireless Energy Transfer and
Conversion. She is a member of IEEE MTT-S TC-24 RFID Technologies. She
serves on the Editorial Board of many international publications such as the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, the IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND
SYSTEMS, and IEEE MICROWAVE AND GUIDED WAVE LETTERS.
Paolo Francia received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in
telecommunication engineering from the University
of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, in 2009 and 2013, respec-
tively.
He is currently with the Center for Industrial
Research on Information and Communication
Technologies (CIRI ICT), University of Bologna.
He was engaged in research on a patented device
usable for structure monitoring. His research in-
terests include wearable and multi-band antennas
and computer-aided design (CAD) of microwave
integrated circuits with a special emphasis on low-power rectenna, and power
management for autonomous sensors.
Matteo Filippi received the Electrical Engineering
degree from the University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy,
in 2011.
Since 2012, he has been with the Advanced Re-
search Center on Electronic Systems, University of
Bologna, Bologna, Italy, where he has been involved
with energy-harvesting systems, micro-power elec-
tronics, and CMOS design.
Aldo Romani received the Dr. Eng. degree in elec-
trical engineering and Ph.D. degree in electrical engi-
neering, computer science, and telecommunications
from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, in
2001 and 2005, respectively.
In 2002, he joined the Advanced Research
Center on Electronic Systems (ARCES), University
of Bologna, where he is currently an Assistant
Professor. He has authored or coauthored over 35
international scientific publications. He has been in-
volved with CMOS integrated sensors, applications
of piezoelectric materials, and energy harvesting systems.
Dr. Romani was a corecipient of the 2004 Jan Van Vessem Award of the IEEE
International Solid-State Circuits Conference.