Wearable Energy Harvesting Using Wideband Textile
Antennas
Andrej Galoić, Branimir Ivšić, Davor Bonefačić, Juraj Bartolić
Department for Wireless Communications, University of Zagreb, FER, Zagreb, Croatia
e-mail: andrej.galoic@fer.hr, branimir.ivsic@fer.hr, davor.bonefacic@fer.hr, juraj.bartolic@fer.hr
Abstract—This paper presents an energy harvesting device
for body centric sensor systems. The focus of collecting energy is
put in the sensor far-field and in a large frequency bandwidth.
The proposed device comprises of the logarithmic spiral textile
antenna paired with a simple rectifier circuit. The antenna is
designed and manufactured by embroidered conductive yarn
into denim material. The antenna prototype has been tested.
Several rectifier circuit topologies were simulated and the DC
voltage at the rectifier output is obtained by simulation.
Index Terms— logarithmic spiral antenna, textile antenna,
rectenna, energy harvesting.
I. INTRODUCTION
The principal application of radio waves from their
beginning was for wireless transmission of information, giving
rise, among others, to ever-growing use of personal mobile
devices and sensors as well as in research in their integration
into so-called body-centric sensor network [1]. Although the
miniaturization of electronic components and antennas has
made a huge variety of applications possible, one of the main
challenges in implementation of such systems is the power
supply. Larger batteries with larger capacity in general make
the device too bulky and obtrusive. Therefore the proposed
solutions go in direction of collecting the energy from the
available outer sources, which could in turn reduce the
dependence on battery power, or ideally, eliminate it.
Alongside e.g. mechanical energy of walking, solar and wind
energy, the electromagnetic energy in space is also recognized
as a possible source of power supply for some body-centric
device [2 – 6].
In this paper we present wearable energy harvesting system
that is developed to wirelessly power on-body sensors. The
system consists of the antenna and the rectifier circuit which
converts the collected AC energy into DC energy, which is
suitable for powering a device. The conversion efficiency is
however inherently rather low [3], which is the result of the
diode nonlinearity, low input voltage and difficulty to obtain
proper impedance matching with a nonlinear element such as
Schottky diode. Thus it is desirable first to focus onto design of
the antenna which is capable of receiving an adequate amount
of power, to make the device useful.
Since the antenna and harvesting circuit are also intended
to be wearable on body, this poses an additional challenge in
This work has been fully supported by Croatian Science Foundation
under the project 6198 Textile Antennas for Smart Environment.
the antenna design. The operation of the antenna in the vicinity
of human body causes its electromagnetic coupling with the
body and alters the antenna characteristics [7]. This occurrence
reduces the antenna radiation efficiency and influences its
matching due to radiation into the body. In [8] it was shown
that placing the antenna on the outermost layer of clothes (e.g.
jacket) can reduce the coupling of the antenna with the body,
meaning that such influence can be somewhat overcome. An
additional challenge is the integration of the antenna into
clothes by use of conductive textile materials which possess
finite conductivity that can also degrade with washing [9].
As a compromise among these issues we have designed a
wideband planar logarithmic spiral antenna [10] which
operates from around 500 MHz up to 8 GHz. This antenna is
capable of simultaneously collecting spatial electromagnetic
energy from various existing wireless systems which improves
the received total power. Due to its wide band the antenna is
robust to detuning [11] when placed on body and suitable for
being placed on the jacket. Furthermore, it is light-weight and
possesses an aesthetic component which makes it unobtrusive
and fully wearable.
II. COMPONENTS OF ENERGY HARVESTER
The main principle of electromagnetic energy harvester
(also known as “rectenna” - combination of the antenna paired
with the rectifier [3, 6]) is to convert RF and microwave power
density incident on textile antenna into usable DC power at the
end of energy harvester circuit. The first step in design is to
estimate and possibly measure the energy density in the
prospective environment of the energy harvester. This provides
information in which frequency band the energy harvester
device can potentially achieve highest yield in amount of
collected power. As the idea is to primarily use
electromagnetic energy of the existing communication systems
(DVB-T, GSM, UMTS, ISM, UWB, etc.) the frequencies of
interest turn out to be from around 500 MHz up to at least
around 5 GHz. This means that wideband antenna suitable for
wearing on the body is sought.
The efficiency of the energy harvester device needs to be
as high as possible due to constraint of limited theoretically
collected power. Nevertheless, due to nonlinearity of diodes in
rectifier circuit matching is difficult to obtain across the whole
range, thus we first rely on optimizing the antenna itself to
collect enough power, while the efficiency and matching issues
are to be addressed in next stage. The central part of the [10] is around -2 to 2 dBi within the observed range, which is
proposed energy harvester is a wideband antenna which is around 45 dB lower than predicted by simulations (Table I).
represented as an equivalent multiple Thevenin source In fact, this drop in gain is realistic and expected due to the
(representing various wireless energy sources), as shown in imperfections in sewing process and the conductivity of used
Fig. 1. The antenna is followed by matching and rectifier yarn of three orders of magnitude lower than copper [13],
circuit and a DC-DC up voltage converter. which was not taken into account while simulating the antenna.
RA≈188Ω
 
With enhancements in antenna embroidering process and use
  
DVB – T;   of better conductive yarn, the antenna can have even better
    Balun +
GSM; Rectifier DC-DC up-
UMTS     PAC
Matching
converter PDC
   Load characteristics. Nevertheless, the obtained gain can be deemed
circuit
etc.    
  acceptable for the prototype stage and in line with similar
textile antenna realizations [1, 8, 9].
Fig. 1. Scheme of considered energy harvester device

A. Embroidered Textile Logarithmic Spiral Antenna

The proposed energy harvester device is considered to be 160

worn on a human body; hence the general goal is to design an

unobtrusive system which can operate in way, so the user is
not interfered with it. The antenna is the largest component and
400
most important component of the proposed energy harvesting
system. There is a considerable interest in optimization of the Fig. 2. Sketch of the proposed antenna (dimensions in [mm])
antennas for operation in the vicinity of the human body,
therefore it should be optimized accordingly [1]. As a
functional and aesthetically appealing solution, the logarithmic
spiral antenna [10] created by embroidering conductive yarn
into conventional denim fabric has been chosen.
For the initial antenna design CST Microwave Studio [12]
has been used. These simulations have served for generic
calculations of high frequency electromagnetic problems as a
“guide” towards the final design, so as an initial antenna
design the copper firm spiral logarithmic antenna was Fig. 3. Calculated 3D radiation patterns at 800 MHz (left) and 8 GHz (right)
simulated and optimized for broadband operation. The of the logarithmic spiral antenna from Fig. 2
optimized version of the antenna is shown in Fig. 2, while in
Fig. 3 the calculated 3D radiation patterns at 800 MHz and 8
TABLE I. GAIN OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA
GHz are illustrated. The total antenna dimensions (400 mm x
160 mm) are a compromise between coverage of lower (UHF) Frequency [GHz] Calculated gain [dBi] Measured gain [dBi]
frequencies and suitability for being put on an average human
torso. 2.4 4.974 -0.12
The manufactured antenna exhibits an ultra-wideband 5 4.042 0.2
operating frequency band roughly from around 600 MHz to 9
GHz [10]. It exhibits nearly equal pattern shape over the 8 4.949 -0.63
observed frequency range (due to shape that is invariant to
physical scaling of its dimensions [11]). In the considered case
the antenna possesses slightly capacitive impedance with real
part around 188 Ω. In the process of manufacturing the textile
antenna we had to make compromise with the amount of
conductive yarn used. Therefore, the current density
distribution has been calculated on different frequencies (Fig.
4) to serve as a guidance to determine the conductive yarn
sewing direction and portions of the antenna surface which
require larger sewing density to mimic the solid metallic
surface. Accordingly, the antenna has been manufactured to
have a dense mesh embroidered at the areas where current
density is higher and thereby mostly contributing to radiation.
The manufactured antenna prototype is shown in Fig. 5.
The calculated and measured gains at several frequencies
across the operating range are compared in Table I. (more Fig. 4. Calculated current density distribution on the antenna at 800 MHz
details in [10]). It can be seen that the measured broadside gain (above) and 8 GHz (below)
 wave rectifier is shown. The considered diodes used have low
cut-in voltage. The Schottky diode Avago HSMS-285 [15] has
been chosen for use in rectifying the circuit and later tests with
different circuit topologies, although we have also considered
other diodes such as Avago HSMS-282 [16], Avago HSMS-
286 [17], and Skyworks SMS-7630 [18] with only minor
changes in performance. The capacitor values which give the
highest output voltage are found by optimization process to
amount 1 pF. The transient response of the considered full-
wave rectifier is given in Fig 7.
Fig. 5. Manufactured embroidered textile logarithmic spiral antenna
0.28 nH 100 pF 0.59 Ω Vout
Vin
B. Rectifier circuit
HSMS-285
The rectifier circuit in its basic form can be considered as a 0.28 nH
simple radio receiver that rectifies the energy of the
electromagnetic wave collected by the antenna. HSMS-285
100 pF
The representation of the antenna with multiple Thevenin
sources in Fig. 1 (i.e. eight voltage periodic sources at discrete 0.59 Ω
frequencies providing periodic input signal into rectifier) is
somewhat idealized because in real environment sources have
their own bandwidth, and their signal in time domain in almost
all cases is not periodic. Thus, the analysis via only input
impedance of the rectifier circuit (or reflection coefficient S11) Fig. 6. Electrical schematic of a full-wave rectifier circuit (halfwave rectifier
is not fully applicable for real environment analysis, although can be easily obtained by removing reversely polarized diode in relation to
input port)
the prior parameters can be only used in this idealized
simulation so the steady state is applicable [14]. It is important
to use high frequency model of all the elements used in design,
thus the diodes that are used for rectifier modeling use their
full datasheet parameters for Spice simulation [15 – 18], and
capacitors are modeled with additional resistor and inductor.
With respect to these considerations we perform the analysis
and optimization of several rectifier topologies using computer
software ADS [19]. The frequencies and voltages of the
equivalent AC sources representing the antenna (and typical
energy sources from communication systems in outer space)
are summarized in Table II. while the source internal
impedance corresponds to the antenna input impedance (i.e.
188 Ω).
Fig. 7. Transient voltage response at the rectifier output of a two diode
rectifier with HSMS-285
TABLE II. THE USED PARAMETERS OF MULTIPLE SOURCE

Frequency [GHz] Voltage [mV] To improve the obtained voltage level we have
subsequently turned attention to other circuit topologies, and
0.8 200
have chosen two topologies with best potential for physical
0.9 200 implementation. They are namely: three-stage Cockroft-
1.8 200 Walton topology and symmetrical Cockroft-Walton topology
1.9 200 [20]. These circuits are named by physicists that were used the
cascade for most of their research, although the circuit was
2.4 200 discovered earlier, in 1919 by Greinacher [21]. We have also
2.6 200 tested using more stages of each topology, however the output
5.5 200 voltages were not higher anymore (they were even lower due
6 200 to the internal circuit losses).
The DC-DC up voltage converter [21] is based on voltage
multiplier to deliver acceptable voltage for charging a battery,
The first test comprises of rectifier simulation with one and capacitor or as a power supply for wireless sensor. In Figs. 8
two Schottky diodes (half-wave and full-wave circuit and 9 we show the three stage Cockroft-Walton cascade
topologies), example of which is given in Fig. 6, where full- rectifier and its symmetrical version that uses DC-DC voltage
up conversion, respectively. The main purpose of cascading
the same pattern of diodes and capacitors is for generating a
high DC voltage from a low AC voltage that is required as a
driving source. Accordingly, with more stages, the capacitor
values need to be increased, so the highest output voltage after

Vout, V
transient period was given by 100 pF capacitor values shown
in Fig. 9. With higher capacities, the output voltage ripple is
lower (too high capacitor value does not benefit to output
voltage).
The comparison of transient voltage responses for the two
considered topologies after optimization is given in Figs. 10
and 11, respectively. Furthermore, the optimized transient
voltage response after each stage of the symmetrical rectifier is
shown in Fig. 11. Note that although the circuit from Fig. 9 is Fig. 10. Transient voltage response at the rectifier output of a three stage
Cockroft-Walton rectifier circuit
considerably more complicated to previous one, the output
voltage turns not to be any larger despite variety of capacity 1.2
values being used.
1.0
L C R L C R
0.8
Vin L C R Vout
+ 0.6
Antenna
_connections 0.4
L C R L C R L C R
0.2

0.0
Fig. 8. Electrical schematic of a three stage Cockroft-Walton cascade
rectifier made using HSMS-285 Schottky diode. The values of passive -0.2

components are C= 100 pF, L = 0.28 nH, R = 0.59 Ω. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

time, usec
_
Antenna Vin
+

Fig. 11. Transient voltage response at the rectifier output of a symmetrical

connections three stage Cockroft-Walton rectifier (blue: first stage, pink: second stage,
L L red: third stage)
C C
The principal problem which arises in implementation of
R R
the proposed harvesting circuit is its small conversion
L efficiency which occurs because of nonlinearity of the diodes
C
and low available power at the input (i.e. antenna). If the input
R
power rises, the conversion efficiency of the circuit also
generally rises [3]. In Fig. 12 the calculated reflection
L L coefficient (S11) of the rectifier is shown. It can be seen that
reflection coefficients for chosen input sources with their
C C
voltage magnitudes and frequencies are rather high meaning
R R
that is not matched. Thus, the rectifier efficiency is accordingly
L low due to cut-in voltage of Schottky diodes which are not low
enough for far-field application. One of the easiest solutions to
C this problem would be in principle to move the energy
R harvester closer to the source of wideband signal, which would
L L actually correspond to optimizing the antenna characteristics
and radiation efficiency and to attempt to obtain better
C C impedance matching.
R R As for matching, the impedance of the rectifier circuit due
L to its nonlinearity depends not only on frequency, but also on
power transferred from the antenna and impedance of the load
C connected to an energy harvester system. This means that the
R impedance needs to be matched not only as a function of the
Vout frequency, but also a function of the input power [4]. For the
wideband sources (i.e. wideband antenna), the matching
Fig. 9. Electrical schematic of a symmetrical three stage Cockroft-Walton should be also wideband (input impedance of the rectifier
rectifier made using HSMS-285 Schottky diode. The values of passive should be conjugate-complex value of the antenna at as broad
components are C= 100 pF, L = 0.28 nH, R = 0.59 Ω. frequency range as possible). The perfect matching is
unfortunately not possible across the whole bandwidth and for
all the cases, so it should be analyzed at which frequencies
better matching is of higher importance and to match the
antenna at least at these frequencies. Our aim is thus to design
rectifier circuit matched with the antenna as good as possible
but also to rely on larger input power by using wideband
source (i.e. antenna).
From the simulated transient voltage responses on the
rectifier connected directly to the antenna (Figs. 7, 9 and 11) it
can be seen that at the end of the rectifier circuit, the level of
the power collected from sources modeled in simulation of the
rectifier with two diodes (Fig. 7) is rather low. This means that
we are dealing with small values of DC voltage. Therefore the
harvester circuit should also have a DC-DC up-converter to
raise the level that is appropriate to supply e.g. low
consumption sensor.
Fig. 12. Magnitude of reflection coefficient of three stage Cockroft-Walton
rectifier circuit
III. CONCLUSION
We have proposed an energy harvesting system suitable for
use in wearable sensor systems. The energy harvester consists
of embroidered textile spiral logarithmic antenna and
electronic circuit. The energy harvester is meant to be used in
wideband on-body sensors and to collect free electromagnetic
energy from various spatial radiating sources (cellular base
stations, access points, TV and radio tower antennas, etc.).
Although the obtained output DC voltage is not as high as
from other conventional power sources (battery), it could be
used for charging a battery or capacitor and to extend
autonomy time of a remote device, smartphone, or to be the
only power supply of a wireless sensor.
Both half-wave and full-wave rectifying circuits are
considered, as well as several other rectifier circuit topologies
with voltage up-converter included. Preliminary results are
given in terms of obtained transient voltage which turns to be
at the promising levels for practical use. Furthermore, the issue
of analysis in steady state parameters between the harvester
electronics and the antenna at the most contributing
frequencies is addressed. The performance of the proposed
energy harvester mounted on-body in a real environment will
be examined, while the measurement results on the prototype
remains for future work.
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