Int. J. Electron. Commun.

(AEÜ) 147 (2022) 154143

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Electronics and Communications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aeue

Regular paper

Semi-Annular-Ring slots loading for broadband circularly polarized

DR-Rectenna for RF energy harvesting in smart city environment
Daasari Surender a, Md. Ahsan Halimi a, Taimoor Khan a, *, Fazal A. Talukdar a, Ahmed A. Kishk b,
Yahia M.M. Antar c, Sembiam R. Rengarajan d
a
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, India
b
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
c
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada/Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
d
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, California State University Northridge, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This article describes a circularly polarized (CP) broadband rectenna enabling sensing nodes connected in the
Dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) smart cities to harvest radio frequency (RF) energy from the surrounding atmosphere. The proposed antenna
Semi-cylindrical DRA (semi-CDRA) efficiently operates at the 5.8 GHz Wi-Fi band (5.725–5.875 GHz) and the Wi-Fi 6E band (5.925–7.125). The
Rectenna
antenna is a semi-cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (S-CDRA) energized by a microstrip feed. Semi-annular
Broadband antenna
Circular polarization (CP)
slots are introduced around a Bow-tie slot from the ground plane side, enhancing the bandwidth, gain, and CP
Bow-tie shaped slot characteristics. The antenna provides an impedance bandwidth (BW) of 2.89 GHz (5.45–8.34 GHz) and offers CP
Annular slots characteristics with an axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 680 MHz (5.67–6.35 GHz). The antenna maintains a
Series-pair topology minimum gain of 4.8 dBic. A series-pair configuration is proposed for an extended operating range and better
conversion efficiency. The maximum simulated and measured conversion efficiencies are 66.6% and 65.2% at 11
dBm input power, respectively.

1. Introduction
The successful implementation of several evolving technologies,
including 5G systems and the internet of things (IoT), will demand un­
interrupted electrical power [1]. In reality, these technologies will
effectively interconnect many deployed wireless sensor nodes that can
monitor autonomously and handle the resources, accumulate the data,
and offer different services such as smart highways, smart airports,
smart cities, etc [2]. To establish efficient smart cities, the demand for
interconnecting sensor nodes is increasing in daily life. Wireless nodes
have already participated in the past decade with substantial growth in
low-power devices for endless functioning. These devices depend on
conventional batteries for energizing themselves. Periodical replace­
ment of conventional batteries increases the system cost and complexity.
Also, replacement of batteries is more difficult in bio-implantable de­
vices, and when wireless sensing nodes are placed at remote places. A
limited lifetime with conventional batteries can be overcome by using
energy harvesting approaches [3–4]. The harvesting system’s ability to
collect renewable energy from the outside atmosphere to charge the
batteries or even realize battery-less energy from the available resources
is a significant task. The battery-free method would significantly enrich
the wireless sensing nodes (WSN) that provide uninterrupted moni­
toring processes and preservation. All these necessities are the main
operating forces behind battery-less semiconductor technology.
All energy harvesting (EH) approaches have their own merits and
demerits. Among all the available EH methods, the RFEH approach has
attracted a lot of attention from researchers. The rapid increase in the
establishment of mobile towers, wireless networks, and Wi-Fi access
points in our surviving atmosphere is performing as significant radiating
sources for RF-EH [5,6]. A special device named “Rectenna” helps
convert ambient RF energy into electricity. The rectenna comprises an
antenna, an input RF filter, a matching network, a rectifying circuit, and
a storage device or a load. The overall system performance primarily
depends on the performance of these key elements [7]. The available RF
energy in the ambient environment is very low (of the order of μWatts).
Therefore collecting adequate energy for producing sufficient electric
power is a challenge. The receiving RF power can be increased by
choosing an antenna with a high gain and multi/broadband

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ktaimoor@ieee.org (T. Khan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeue.2022.154143
Received 16 October 2021; Accepted 1 February 2022
Available online 5 February 2022
1434-8411/© 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
D. Surender et al.
characteristics.
Enormous advancements have been made to increase the antenna
gain using a reflecting plate approach [8,9], a shorted rectangular ring
slot antenna [10], antenna array concept [11,12] differential feeding
approach [13,14] and perfect electric conducting (PEC) walls loaded
design [15]. The antennas reported in [8–15] suffer from large antenna
dimensions or increased design complexity. Also, the antennas are
limited to a single operating band, which limits their compatibility in all
geographical areas. In a single operating band, the power received by
the harvesting unit is also low. To overcome these limitations, the an­
tenna with multiband/ broadband resonance characteristics is found to
be a suitable solution.
Various methods have been adopted to design multi/broadband
characteristics of the antenna. Gradual flaring at each bending in [16],
annular slots in [17], a log-periodic dipole array in [18], a tapered ge­
ometry approach in [19] were investigated for multi/broadband char­
acteristics. The antennas in [16–19] are limited with large dimensions or
low gain. In addition to these losses, the microstrip patch antenna suffers
from additional losses associated with the radiating metallic patch.
These drawbacks can be minimized by replacing the microstrip radiator
with the more efficient and broader bandwidth dielectric resonator
antenna (DRA). The DRA has some desirable properties of ease of
excitation, high radiation efficiency, ease of modeling, etc. [20–21].
Several DRA configurations [22–24] have been implemented for various
applications. Circular/annular sector DRA geometries were investigated
for size reduction [22]. In [23], the concept of size reduction was
introduced for several methods. A notch included a slot-loaded ground
plane in [24], a stacked DRA in [25–27], and a multi-layer DRA in [28]
were designed. For gain enhancement, a Yagi-Uda concept in [29], a
multi-layer DR structure approach in [30] was implemented. In [31] and
[32], DRA is used in reflectarray for high gain and wideband charac­
teristics. In addition to high gain or multi/broadband characteristics, the
antenna’s circular polarization (CP) property is an advantage for energy
harvesting applications.
A limited number of papers have reported on circularly polarized
DRA for RFEH applications. An elliptical DRA with coaxial probe feeding
in [33] and a sequential feeding of a four-element subarray in [34] and
[35], a pixelated DRA with 8 × 8 grid bars in [36], reflectarray approach
[37] was used to achieve the CP properties. However, the antennas re­
ported in [33–37] suffer from large dimension or low antenna gain. A
single-fed circular sector DRA in [38], dual-port excitation in [39] were
investigated for dual CP characteristics. However, the antennas suffer
from design complexity.
In this paper, we propose a semi-cylindrical DRA (S-CDRA) with
semi-annular slots loaded ground plane to achieve the desired charac­
teristics such as wide impedance bandwidth, gain, and CP characteristics
in the desired operating frequency band. The proposed antenna miti­
gates the limitations in the existing designs. The novelty of this work is
that a wideband DR rectenna is implemented for the first time to operate
efficiently within the operating range of the newly introduced Wi-Fi 6E
band (5.925–7.125 GHz) including Wi-Fi 5.8 band (5.725–5.875 GHz),
providing a large conversion efficiency at a high operating range of
frequencies.
This article is organized as follows. Section-2 describes the mathe­
matical and geometrical approaches of the proposed semi-cylindrical
DRA in addition to the parametric analysis and experimental measure­
ment. A description of the proposed voltage doubler rectifier (VDR)
configuration is presented in Section-3. The overall performance of the
rectenna system is presented in Section-4. Finally, concluding remarks
are discussed in Section-5.
2. Antenna configuration
A. Geometrical description
A pictorial view of the proposed semi-cylindrical dielectric resonator
2
AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143
antenna (S-CDRA) is presented in Fig. 1. Here, the semi-cylindrical DR is
made of Eccostock HIK K10 material with a dielectric constant of 10 is
placed above a 1.6 mm thick epoxy-FR4 (εr = 4.4, and tan δ = 0.02)
substrate. The radius and height of the proposed DR are 10 mm and 5.5
mm, respectively. A substrate of 60 × 50 × 1.6 mm3 is used. The bottom
is the ground plane, and a microstrip line is on the top. The microstrip
line feeds the DRA. Bow-tie slots incorporating two annular slots are
introduced, deforming the ground plane to provide suitable bandwidth,
gain, and achieve CP characteristics.
A complete antenna design improvement strategy is categorized into
four steps as illustrated in Fig. 2: Ant # I, Ant # II, Ant # III, and Ant #
IV, respectively. To design the antenna with a small overall volume, a
half sectored (semi) cylindrical dielectric resonator has been chosen for
the antenna design. The dimension of the ground plane is large
compared to the DR dimension, and it affects the antenna resonant
frequency and gain performance. Ant # I comprises a simple semi-CDRA
excited with a microstrip feed line. Ant # II is created by introducing a
Bow-tie slot into the ground plane of Ant # I, which improves the
impedance matching performance. Ant # III is constructed by incorpo­
rating two semi-annular slots (inner) around the Bow-tie slot in the
ground plane to achieve enhanced bandwidth, gain, and axial ratio (AR)
performance. Further enhancement in antenna impedance matching and
gain characteristics is noticed by introducing another semi-annular slot
pair around the inner slots but rotated 90◦ . Ant # IV additionally holds
circular polarization (CP) properties. The optimized parametric values
(in mm) of the proposed antenna are: Ls = 60, Ws = 50, Lf = 22.8, Wf = 3,
SL = 9.2, Ris = 9.6, Ros = 15.4, G = 4.
A semi-cylindrical DRA is investigated for designing the antenna
with desired resonance characteristics. For better understanding, a cy­
lindrical annular sector DRA is considered, as shown in Fig. 3. It consists
of an annular S-DRA of height, L, and radii, a, and b. For generality, a
sector angle is symbolized as β. The inner-to-outer radius ratio is defined
by α, i.e., α = b/a, and its value lies between zero and unity.
Depending on α and β values, circular/cylindrical (α = 0, β = 2π),
sectored (α = 0, β < 2π), annular (α > 0, β = 2π) and sectored annular (α
> 0, β < 2π) DRAs can be developed. For a cylindrical sector DRA, α =
0 and 0 < β < 2π. The resonant frequency of the circular/cylindrical DRA
for the TMvpm mode can be approximated as [40]:
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
[π a ]2̅
fvpm =
c
√̅̅̅̅ X 2vp + (2m + 1) (1)
2πa εr 2L
where c is the speed of light, a is the radius of the cylindrical sector, εr is
the material dielectric constant, Xvp is the zeros of the Bessel’s function,
p = 1,2,3…, m = 0, 1, 2, 3…, and v = (nπ )/β, n = 1, 2, 3…. Since the
proposed antenna is a cylindrical sector DRA with a half-sectored area,
hence β = π.
The proposed S-CDRA radius a and height L, respectively, are 10 and
5.5 mm. An Eccostock HIK K10 material having (εr = 10) has been
proposed for the DRA. Xvp = 3.054 for the TM210 mode. Hence, the
resultant resonant frequency of the proposed half S-CDRA is
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
[ ]2
300 π(10)
f210 (GHz) = √̅̅̅̅̅ (3.054)2 + (2 × 0 + 1) = 6.33
2 × π × (10) × 10 2(5.5)
B. Simulated performance
The performance of all the four antennas involved in the design
process is analyzed to obtain a suitable optimized antenna, and the
performance is depicted in Fig. 4. An E-field distribution at various
design levels of the proposed antenna is shown in Fig. 5. The simulation
results show that Ant # I is resonating at 6.47 GHz with poor impedance
matching and gain values. In Ant # II, a Bow-tie slot in the ground plane
widens the impedance bandwidth. Also, increment in gain values is
investigated in the lower range of frequencies in Ant # II. A large
D. Surender et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143

Fig. 1. Proposed design (a) top-view, (b) bottom-view, and (c) isometric 3D-view.

Fig. 2. Proposed antenna development stages (i) Ant #1, (ii) Ant #2, (iii) Ant #3, (iv) Ant #4.

increment in impedance bandwidth (5.27–8.42 GHz) is noted in Ant #

Fig. 3. Conventional top view of a cylindrical annular S-CDRA.
III. Introducing a pair of semi-annular slots in the ground plane around
the Bow-tie slot creates a phase difference of 180◦ between fields passing
through two semi-annular slots positioned opposite to each other, which
brings down the AR value below 3 dB level in the frequency span of
(5.69–5.94 GHz). However, a small reduction in impedance bandwidth
performance (5.45–8.34 GHz) is noted in Ant # IV, but the antenna
offers a good impedance matching at 5.8 GHz and yields a maximum
gain value of 7.80 dBic at 6.65 GHz. By introducing another two semi-
annular slots around the previous slots but rotated by 90◦ , a further
enhancement in the axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is observed within the
frequency range of (5.67–6.35 GHz). It can be seen in Fig. 5 that the E-
field is concentrated along with the outer annular-ring slot including the

Fig. 4. Performance analysis of different antennas. (a) |S11|, (b) Gain, and (c) AR.

Fig. 5. Surface current distribution at various design levels (a) Ant # I, (b) Ant # II, (c) Ant # III, (d) Ant # IV.

3
D. Surender et al.
bottom of the chosen semi-CDRA. The density of the E-field is compar­
atively less at the DR position; hence, a slight decrement in gain value is
observed in Ant # IV As the circularly polarized antenna receives any
polarized waves, the received power is expected to be continuous
regardless of the available signal polarization. Hence, Ant # IV is
considered as optimized for the proposed antenna design. Table 1 il­
lustrates the performance comparison of all four antennas simulated in
the development process.
Next, the Ant # IV performance is investigated by varying different
design parameters such as radius a, height L, and material εr of the DRA,
inner annular-ring slots in ground plane Ris, the effect of the outer
annular-ring slots in ground plane Ros, and simulated results are
analyzed in terms of |S11|, gain, and AR. The variation in proposed S-
CDRA performance is also investigated by changing gap G, slot width Sw
in the semi-annular-ring slots, and also by rearranging the orientation of
the DR along with different angles ϕ. The respective performance results
are presented here in this section:
i. Effect of the dielectric constant
First, the Ant # IV is further studied with different dielectric con­
stants of the DR, e.g., Rogers RO3006 tm (6.15), Marble (8.30), Ecco­
stock HIK K10 (10.0), Silicon (11.9), and Diamond (16.5). A
considerable variation in antenna behavior in both bandwidth and gain
is noticed with a change in material dielectric constant. The antenna
performance improves when 6.15 ≤ εr ≤ 10.0 and degrades when εr >
10. AR slightly changes with different substrate materials. Hence, εr =
10.0 is used in the proposed design.
ii. Effect of a cylindrical DR radius
Next, the performance of the S-CDRA is investigated by varying the
radius a. The reduction in resonance frequency is observed at the lower
level with improved impedance bandwidth, and gain by increasing a,
from 8.0 to 10 mm. A shift in the upper resonance frequency towards a
higher level is observed by a further changing ‘a’ beyond 10 mm. The
second resonance is also noticed beyond mostly available energy bands.
A wide AR bandwidth is observed at a = 10 mm, used in the final design.
iii. Effect of the cylindrical DR height
The proposed antenna is further simulated by varying the DR height
L from 4.5 to 6.5 mm. From simulated results, as L increases, the reso­
nant frequency shift to the lower end, and the matching improves. A
significant change in the gain is noted as L changes. The best perfor­
mance in terms of impedance bandwidth, gain, and AR is achieved with
L = 5.5 mm used in the final design.
iv. Effect of the inner semi-annular ring slots in the ground plane
Next, the effect of the inner semi-annular slots on the antenna per­
formance is observed by varying the inner semi-annular slots radius Ris
between 7.6 and 11.6 mm. At lower values of ‘Ris’ below 9.6 mm, the
gain value becomes negative at the higher end of the operating band. At
Ris = 9.6 mm, the antenna offers wider bandwidth with a minimum gain
value of 4.8 dBic over the entire operating band. However, a slight
variation in gain is observed beyond 9.6 mm, but return loss and
Table 1
Simulated performance comparison at various development levels.
Antenna Freq (GHz) |S11| (dB) Gain (dBic) AR (dB)
Ant # I 6.47 − 13.89 1.85 22.21
Ant # II 5.90 –23.57 4.59 13.64
Ant # III 5.80 − 17.84 5.34 0.45
Ant # IV 5.80 − 43.25 6.16 2.14
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AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143
bandwidth are degraded. The AR bandwidth is wide at Ris = 9.6 mm
compared to all other AR performance results in all cases. The antenna
shows better results with an inner radius of 9.6 mm.
v. Effect of the outer semi-annular ring slots in the ground plane
Further, the antenna performance is also characterized by changing
the outer semi-annular slots radius Ros. The antenna resonance fre­
quency is affected significantly by the outer annular ring slot, and a
reduction in resonance frequency is noted with an increase in Ros value
from 12.0 to 15.4 mm. At 15.4 mm, the antenna is resonating at the
desired frequency with wide bandwidth and suitable gain. Resonance is
observed at a higher level by a further increase of Ros beyond 15.4 mm.
These frequencies are not efficient for harvesting purposes. Hence, Ros =
15.4 mm is considered as an optimized dimension.
vi. Effect of the gap (G) in the semi-annular ring slots
a) Gap (G) > 0 in mm
The performance of the proposed antenna was studied by changing
the gap G in the semi-annular ring slot. It is noted that the effect of G on
the operating range is small. However, a considerable change in gain
performance is observed by varying the G value from 2 mm to 6 mm. A
suitable |S11|, gain, and AR is studied with a ‘G’ value of 4 mm.
b) Gap (G) = 0
The antenna performance was investigated at G = 0, and it is
compared with the performance obtained at an optimal gap value of 4
mm, as shown in Fig. 6. The antenna with a G = 4 mm enhances the
impedance bandwidth and gain over the antenna with G = 0.
vii. Effect of the inner semi-annular ring slots width (Sw-in)
Next, the effect of inner semi-annular slots width (Sw-in) on the an­
tenna performance is investigated, and related results are presented in
Fig. 7. Here, impedance bandwidth improved when 0.5 mm ≤ Sw-in ≤
1.4 mm and better AR bandwidth with Sw-in = 1.4 mm, but bandwidth
and gain degrade when Sw-in > 1.4 mm. Thus, Sw-in = 1.4 mm width has
been chosen for this parameter.
viii. Effect of the outer semi-annular ring slots width (Sw-out)
Next, the antenna performance was studied by varying the outer
semi-annular slots width (Sw-out) between 0.5 mm and 2.5 mm, and the
results are depicted in Fig. 8. A slight variation in bandwidth and |S11| is
observed by varying Sw-out. However, a considerable enhancement in
antenna gain is noticed with Sw-out = 1.4 mm, which is considered for the
proposed. From the simulation results, the Sw-out value chosen for
designing the proposed antenna is 1.4 mm.
ix. Effect of similar width (Sw) for both semi-annular slots
Finally, the proposed antenna is simulated by equally varying the
width of both semi-annular slots (Sw-in = Sw-out = Sw). The corresponding
simulated outcomes are depicted in Fig. 9. The antenna with an Sw = 1.4
mm achieves better performance in terms of |S11|, gain, and AR.
x. Performance analysis with a change in orientation of DR
Finally, the proposed semi-cylindrical DRA is investigated by
rotating the DR orientation ϕ along with different directions, and the
outcomes are presented in Fig. 10. A negligible variation in antenna
impedance bandwidth and gain characteristics is observed for an
angular rotation of DR from -150 to 150. However, suitable results are
obtained for the 00 angular rotation of the DR.
D. Surender et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143

Fig. 6. Performance analysis of different antennas. (a) |S11|, and (b) Gain.

Fig. 7. Performance comparison with change in inner semi-annular slots width (Sw-in) (a) |S11|, (b) Gain, (c) AR.

Fig. 8. Performance comparison with change in outer semi-annular slots width, Sw-out (a) |S11|, (b) Gain, (c) AR.

Fig. 9. Performance comparison with change in semi-annular slots width (Sw) (a) |S11|, (b) Gain, and (c) AR.

5
D. Surender et al.
Fig. 10. Performance characteristics at different orientation angles (a) |S11|, (b) Gain.
c) Validation of the proposed antenna
A prototype (Fig. 11) of the proposed S-CDRA is fabricated for vali­
dation. The measurement was carried out by a Vector Network Analyser
(VNA), and a comparison is made with simulated results, as shown in
Fig. 11(d) and 11(e). The results show that the fabricated antenna is
matched in the range of 5.44–8.36 GHz and AR<3 dB within 5.69–6.38
GHz. The antenna exhibits a maximum gain of 7.89 dBic at 6.7 GHz. The
antenna presents a maximum radiation efficiency of 99.8%. The abun­
dance of RF energy is available within the operating frequency due to
the available high number of Wi-Fi routers in the area. The omnidirec­
tional features of the antenna depict that the designed antenna is suit­
able for RF-EH applications. The designed antenna can also harvest
ambient energies from the sources operating over the C-band.
Finally, the 2D radiation patterns in both XZ and YZ planes of the
antenna at different frequencies such as 5.8 GHz, 6.25 GHz, and 6.75
GHz are displayed in Fig. 12. It can be seen that there is a good matching
in the simulated and measured results. The designed antenna exhibits
nearly omnidirectional radiation. Hence, the designed antenna is suit­
able for ambient and as well dedicated RF energy harvesting
applications.
The simulated E-field vector distribution of the proposed antenna at
the top of the DR is presented in Fig. 13. It can be revealed that the E-
field lines rotated in the counterclockwise (CCW) in the right-half of the
DR with respect to feedline and clockwise direction in the left-half of the
DR with respect to feedline, hence the realized antenna radiates both
right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) and left-hand circularly polar­
ized (LHCP) waves. The antenna has a dual-circularly polarized (DCP)
feature, this helps to receive any polarized wave from the surrounding
EM sources.
The performance of the proposed antennas is compared with similar
antennas in the literature in Table 2. The proposed antenna offers better
gain, with a simple microstrip feed and the smaller dimensions of the
DR. The antenna also has wide impedance bandwidth in addition to the
low axial ratio at the operating frequency.
3. Rectifier circuit configuration
A rectifier plays an important role in the rectenna system to convert
the received ambient RF energy into the usable form for driving low-
power electronic devices. The rectifier circuit comprises an impedance
matching network (IMN), diode, DC pass filter, and load resistor. An
Fig. 11. Prototype design and |S11| performance. (a) top-view without S-CDRA, (b) top-view with S-CDRA, (c) bottom-view, (d) |S11|, and (e) Gain and AR.
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AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143
IMN helps achieve the proper impedance matching between receiving
antenna and the conversion circuit at the desired operating frequency
that maximizes the received power delivered to the rectifier circuit for
conversion purposes. A diode is a fundamental component of any
rectifier circuit for converting RF energy into DC. A diode with low turn-
on voltage VTh is a critical characteristic parameter for low-power RF
signals. A Schottky diode is found suitable for the rectifier design due to
its low turn-on voltage and is also found appropriate at radio fre­
quencies. A DC pass filter is usually connected after the diode to
smoothen the signal [41]. A high-performance rectifying circuit is highly
desirable for the rectenna design to realize an efficient harvesting system
that provides a large power conversion efficiency (PCE) with low power
consumption.
Several rectifier configurations are investigated for converting
received RF power to DC by including series/shunt diode rectifier, full-
wave bridge rectifier, voltage doubler rectifier, and Greinacher rectifier
circuits. The traditional single diode series/shunt topology cannot
convert the energy efficiently, while a full-wave bridge or a Greinacher
rectifier comprises more diodes that cause greater loss, which degrades
the overall rectifier performance. Hence, a series-pair rectifier configu­
ration is chosen for obtaining high PCE, which is desirable to drive low-
power devices.
In designing a broadband rectifying circuit, a variety of approaches
have been reported to date. A voltage doubler configuration is investi­
gated for wideband operation in [16]. Two rectifier circuits, one for
octave bandwidth rectifier and the other for decade bandwidth rectifier
are implemented using a nonuniform transmission line approach in
[42]. An integrated VDR circuit with a modified pair of L-section
matching networks is implemented to operate over 0.87–2.7 GHz [43].
In [44], a voltage doubler rectifier (VDR) topology was investigated for
wideband conversion purposes. A rectifier was integrated with a
microstrip nonuniform transmission line (NUTL) for proper impedance
matching. A dual differential rectifier topology was implemented for
rectification purposes over a wideband frequency [45]. A combined
form of a rectifier-booster regulator (RBR) with an impedance matching
network was designed for better output performance [46]. A tapered
transmission line and a shorted stub were used to achieve proper
impedance matching over 1.12 GHz to 2.43 GHz [47]. This paper pre­
sents a broadband rectifier with a dual-stub matching network to
transport the maximum power. The rectifier design is usually carried
using the Advanced Design System (ADS) simulation tools. The sche­
matic view of the proposed rectifier circuit and its prototype are shown
D. Surender et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143

Fig. 12. Proposed antenna radiation pattern at (a) 5.8 GHz, (b) 6.25 GHz, and (c) 6.75 GHz.

Fig. 13. E-field vector distribution at different phase angles of Phi at (a) 00, (b) 900, (c) 1800, and (d) 2700.

Table 2
Performance Comparison with Existing Literature.
Ref. Operating BW Feeding Approach εr of the DR Dimension (in terms of Max. Gain Polarization AR AR BW
(GHz) λ) (dBic) Type (dB) (GHz)

[24] 1.67–6.70 Inverted feed RO3010 1.93λ × 2.12λ × 0.029λ 8.70 LP NA NA

(10.2)
[30] 5.0–6.04 Slot-feeding Soda-lime 0.35λ × 0.35λ × 0.21λ 6.69 LP NA NA
Glass (7.75)
[36] 2.62–3.63 Dual-offset Taconic (3.5) 1.4λ × 1.4λ × 0.31λ 6.13 CP 1.8 2.85–3.30
[37] 5.71–5.89 Curved Yshaped feed 10.2 0.49λ × 0.49λ × 0.129λ 4.91 CP 0.41 5.74–5.87
[38] 2.4–3.3 Probe HiK (12) 0.57λ × 0.57λ × 0.33λ – CP 0.9 2.54–2.81
[39] 1.7–3.0 Ring with Series Al2O3 0.57λ × 0.57λ × 0.33λ 7.7 CP NS 1.83–2.85
Feeding Ceramics
(9.2)
Prop. 5.44–8.36 Microstrip Eccostock 1.16λ £ 0.96λ £ 7.89 CP 2.1 5.69–6.38
Antenna HiK (10) 0.029λ

λ at the respective resonating frequency.

in Fig. 14(a) and 14 (b), respectively. As presented in Fig. 14, the pre­
sented matching circuit comprises a dual-band microstrip line and a 100
pF capacitor connected in series to realize a proper matching between
the antenna and the rectifier. A series-pair voltage-doubler topology
using an HSMS 2862 Schottky diode is chosen for the conversion pro­
cess. The DC pass filter is realized using a 100 pF capacitor. The optimal
value of the load resistor is 650 Ω. The rectifier circuit is simulated with
various substrate materials having different dielectric constant values.
The performance of rectifiers designed with different substrate ma­
terials is presented in Fig. 15(a). It can be observed that the rectifier
shows better impedance matching within the desired operating band
with the FR4 substrate. Hence, an FR4 (εr = 4.4) substrate is used to
design the rectifier circuit. The rectifier performance is also optimized
for different substrate thicknesses, and the results are illustrated in
Fig. 15(b). The substrate having a thickness of 1.6 mm is chosen as the
optimum dimension for suitable rectifier performance. Hence, the pro­
posed rectifier’s overall dimensions are 15 × 23 × 1.6 mm3. The optimal
dimensions (in mm) of the rectifier are; L1 = 10, W1 = 4.4, L2 = 6, W2 =
1.4, L3 = 3.4, W3 = 1, L4 = 2.2, W4 = 0.6, L5 = 2.4, W5 = 1.0, L6 = 1.3,
W6 = 1.0, L7 = 1.0, W7 = 1.0, L8 = 1.9, and W8 = 1.0.

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D. Surender et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143

Fig. 14. Proposed rectifier (a) equivalent circuit (b) prototype_top view (c) prototype_bottom view.

Fig. 15. Performance comparison of proposed rectifier with (a) different ‘εr’, (b) different ‘h’ of FR4.

The simulated performance of the proposed rectifier circuit is pre­
sented in Fig. 16. Fig. 16(a) shows |S11| vs. the RF frequency with
different input power levels. It can be found that the proposed rectifier
circuit is suitable to operate for a wide range of input power levels from
2 to 11 dBm. The operating range can be widened with an increase in the
input RF power level. The rectifier operates within 4.29–6.78 GHz with
an input power level of 2 dBm. The operating band increases to>3 GHz
bandwidth as the input power level reaches 11 dBm. The simulated PCE
of the proposed rectifier circuit is presented in Fig. 16(b). The maximum
PCE possible are 44.5%, 52.1%, 60.5% and 66.6% for an input RF power
levels of 2 dBm, 5 dBm, 8 dBm and 11 dBm, respectively. The rectifier
circuit offers a minimum PCE of 50% over the entire operating range at
an input power level of 11 dBm. The output voltage offered by the
rectifier is 2.44 V for an input power of 11 dBm at 5.8 GHz.
The PCE and output voltage are studied for different values of load
resistors, and the corresponding outcomes are shown in Fig. 17. The
rectifier offers good impedance matching with a load resistance value of
650 Ω. Hence, the maximum of the received power is transported to the
rectifier circuit. This increases the PCE and output voltage of the pro­
posed rectifier circuit, which are higher than all other load values.
The proposed rectifier circuit is compared to similar circuits reported
literature in Table 3. The proposed rectifier exhibits greater values of
conversion efficiency and maximum out voltage compared to the ones
reported in the prior literature.
4. Experimental validation of the rectenna system
The rectifying antenna is an integration of antenna and rectifier
circuit. The fabricated prototype of the rectifying antenna has been
developed for validation. The implemented rectenna system is suitable
for both ambient and dedicated environments. Presently, the utilization
of the Wi-Fi 6E band is increasing, and it will become more shortly due
to its faster speed and larger bandwidth. However, the implemented
rectenna system is tested experimentally in the dedicated environment
using an experimental setup sketched in Fig. 18(a). The photo of the
fabricated rectenna is shown in Fig. 18(b).
The experimental setup consists of a horn antenna connected to the
RF generator used for the transmitter. The fabricated rectenna is placed
at the receiving side at 1 m from the transmitting unit. A voltmeter is
connected to the rectenna output to measure the delivered output power
of the rectenna system. The power received at the receiving unit is
usually calculated using the FRIIS free-space transmission equation
[48].
The measurement shows that the fabricated rectenna provides a
minimum PCE of 50% within the operating range. The maximum PCE of
65.2% is obtained at 5.8 GHz for the input power of 11 dBm. The output

Fig. 16. Performance variation of the proposed rectifier for different input power levels (a) |S11| and (b) PCE.

8
D. Surender et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 147 (2022) 154143

Fig. 17. Performance variation of the proposed rectifier for different load resistors (a) PCE, (b) Vout.

Table 3
Comparison of the proposed rectifier with the existing rectifier.
Ref. Operating Range (GHz) Diode Rectifier Type Pin (dBm) PCE (%) Vout (V)

[16] 0.85–1.94 – VDR 7.21 60 1.26

[42] 0.470–0.86 SMS7630 VM 10 60.0 –
0.25–3.0 VDR 40.0
[43] 0.87–2.7 SMS7630 VDR 0 40 1.0
[44] 1.7 to 2.6 HSMS-285C VDR 5 50 1.04
[45] 1.2 to 5 SMS7630 VDR 9 52 –
[46] 2.3–2.7 SMS7630 GRC 13 37.5 2.1
[47] 1.12–2.43 HSMS 2850 VDR 5 58 –
Proposed Rectifier 4.14–7.5 HSMS2862 VDR 11.0 66.6 2.44

Fig. 18. (a) Experimental measurement setup (b) Fab. rectenna prototype.

voltage observed is 2.36 V at an 11 dBm input power level. Acknowledgments

5. Conclusion This work was supported by the Ministry of Human Resource

A circularly polarized broadband rectenna has been implemented
efficiently for Wi-Fi 5.8 and Wi-Fi 6E bands. A semi-cylindrical DR has
been chosen for antenna design. A Bow-tie slot surrounded by two sets of
semi-annular slots on the ground plane has loaded the S-CDRA excited
by a microstrip line to enhance the antenna impedance bandwidth, gain,
and AR performances. The antenna operates efficiently within
5.44–8.36 GHz. The antenna has maintained a minimum gain of 4.8 dBic
over the operating frequency band and polarization insensitivity within
5.69–6.38 GHz. A series-pair voltage doubler rectifier topology has been
chosen for the RF-to-DC conversion. The rectifier circuit has offered a
maximum simulated and measured PCE of 66.6% and 65.2% respec­
tively at 11 dBm. The proposed antenna has been demonstrated to be
applicable for radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH) applications.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Development (MHRD) under Scheme for Promotion of Academic and
Research Collaboration (SPARC), Govt. of India (Research Grant No.
SPARC/2018-2019/P266/SL/2019).
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