Investigation on the RF and Microwave Energy

Harvesting from wireless and mobile

communication networks

Chemseddine BENKALFATE( 1), Mohammed FEHAM(1), Achour OUSLIMANI(2), Abdelhak KASBARI(2)

(1)STIC Laboratory, University of Tlemcen, Algeria,

(2)Quartz Laboratory, ENSEA-Paris, France
chemseddine.benkalfate@univ-tlemcen.dz

Abstract—This paper presents the design and the

realization of an antenna and a rectifier circuit for RF and
microwave energy harvester. Our study is focused on the
analysis of the antenna response and the suitable rectifier
circuit for capturing the set RF power, from wireless and
mobile communication networks, operational in the frequency
band (0.890 - 4) GHz. The used antenna, gives a measure
efficiency of around 95% within the previous bandwidth, and
the proposed rectifier circuit present a simulated RF-DC
conversion efficiency of almost 92% at -75dBm, and the
measured one is equal nearly to 60% at -30dBm. The
simulation sensitivity of this rectifier circuit is very low, a 5V
output voltage is detected at -80dBm RF input power, and the
practical sensitivity of this circuit is getting when 1V output
voltage is detected at -25dBm input power. Both antenna and
rectifier have been fabricated and tested.
Index Terms—Energy Harvesting, RF, Power, UWB patch
Antenna, DC feeding, Network impedance matching.
I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, the power feeding has been one of the most
critical problems for wireless communications. The request
for battery-less based nodes becomes a stringent
requirement for most of actual electronic systems, like
wireless sensor networks, integrable medical sensor, and
aerospace applications. For maintaining the energy, all
wireless sensor nodes need a permanent power source and
all subsystems in the transceiver [1, 2]. Currently,
radiofrequency (RF) energy can be harvested to ensure the
sensors energy autonomous, either from the surrounding
environment or dedicated RF sources. The power can be
harvested from ambient electromagnetic (EM) sources
including broadcast TV signal (ultrahigh frequency (UHF)),
mobile communication networks (GSM, DCS, UMTS, LTE,
5G), or LAN and WAN networks (Wi-fi, WiMAX) [3]. The
RF and microwave energy harvesting system (Fig. 1), is
composed of four essential parts: the antenna, the network
impedance matching, the amplifier and the rectifier. In the
first part, we present our proposed antenna, which can
harvest the maximum waves from the environment where
our system is deployed. In the second part, we develop the
network impedance matching circuit, to ensure the
Fig. 1. RF and Microwave Energy Harvesting System
adaptation between the antenna and the other parts of the
system,
the response of this circuit in term of frequency is more
widely than that of the antenna, for having a maximum
power transmission from the antenna to the amplifier.
In the third part, we give the amplification and the
rectification models, which can make the signal amplitude
higher and then transform this signal from the AC mode to
the DC mode. The DC signal can be used for feeding
different machines such as smart-phones, laptops, sensors ...
The power variation between a transmitter and a receiver
(Fig. 2) is given by the Friis equation (1).
P =G ⋅G ⋅ P (1)
Where is the transmission power, is the reception
power, is the reception antenna gain, is the
transmission antenna gain, and are the wavelength and
the distance between the transmitter and the receiver,
respectively.
The received power is inversely according with the distance
between the transmitter and the receiver. For having an
important received power value, we can either decrease the
distance between both sides (transmission and reception), or
increase the antennas gains, but for that the receiver can
receive a quite high power from the far transmitter, the
antenna gain has to have a sufficient value.

978-1-7281-1244-2/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite De Sherbrooke. Downloaded on April 23,2024 at 23:55:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Fig. 2. RF Communication system in general
Fig.3. Antenna ground side Fig.4. Antenna top side
II. THE PROPOSED UWB PATCH ANTENNA
There are three major antenna types, which can be used in
This antenna was simulated by using CST software, which
our application, monomodal antenna [4], multi-band antenna
gives the reflection coefficient (S11), the radiation diagram
[5], ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna [6-7]. For a high system
at some frequencies and the input impedance variation fixed
efficiency, the UWB antenna is chosen operational in all
at 50 Ohm. All these parameters are depicted on Figures 5,
frequency band (0.777 - 4.5) GHz, to cover all mobile
6.
communication and wireless network (GSM to 5G, WIFI
and WiMAX) defined in the frequency band (0.89 – 4) GHz.
The proposed antenna model, is a patch antenna, such as the
strip face contain five resonators(cavities), each one,
radiates in a precise frequency.
The thickness of this proposed antenna is 1.7 mm and the
used substrate is the FR-4(ε =4.4), and the total width and
height are 78 mm and 120.75 mm respectively, the ground
plan has a particular form which is represented in the Figure
3, and the strip side [8] in the Figure 4. This particular
ground form [8] permits to widen the frequency bandwidth,
and pass from a multi-band antenna to an UWB antenna
generally, but sometimes editing a little bit one of the
dimension parameters, going to change absolutely the Fig. 5. Reflection coefficient variation
antenna response, so our study has to be more precise for
getting a perfect result. From the previous figure we can see that this antenna can be
In this context, we present the dimension values of our operational from nearly 0.77 GHz to 4.3 GHz with an S11
proposed antenna, which give a perfect UWB response, the less than -15 dB, which means a very high antenna
table I presents the set proposed dimension values. efficiency within this frequency bandwidth.

TABLE. I.ANTENNA DIMENSION VALUES

Dimensions L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6
Values(mm) 24 10.5 8.5 7.5 6.75 63
Dimensions Lt W1 W2 W3 W4 Wp
Values(mm) 120.75 51 36 27 18 62
Dimensions We Wt a b c d
Values(mm) 3.7 78 24 24 7.1 9.66
Dimensions e f g i j k
Values(mm) 3.7 3.8 16 5.3 3.25 67.5
Dimensions Wa m
Values(mm) 3.2 3.7 Fig. 6. Antenna Radiation diagram at 2.4 GHz

As we can clearly see, that this antenna has almost an

omnidirectional radiation with a maximum gain of 2.26 dB.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite De Sherbrooke. Downloaded on April 23,2024 at 23:55:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
In order to further demonstrate the wide-band operation The parameters C, L, R, are given by the following
mechanism, the surface current distributions on the whole formulas.
proposed antenna at different resonant frequencies are
C ≅n∙
! ²
(2)
shown in Figure 7for the particular frequencies (890 MHz,
$ + ( + 01
2.4 GHz) respectively. L = 'd. ln + W. ln( 02
%!,
(3)
4 6
R = 5 |1 − LCω |
%! 7
(4)

Where, n is the blocks number (for assuring the continuity

between all cavities), W is the width antenna, d is the length,
h is the thickness, ϵ is the relative permittivity, ϵ! is the
vacuum permittivity and it’s equal to 8.85. 10>% F/m, and
finally μ! = 4. π. 10>E H/m, is the vacuum permeability.
So, for each antenna or cavity futures, we deduce an
equivalent electronic circuit, where the elements values
Fig. 7. Antenna electric current variation (TABLE. II) are calculated by using the previous equations (2,
3 and 4).
These current representations are too important for
understanding the next equivalent circuit, especially why we
use the resistors for modeling this circuit, we have TABLE. II.THE ELECTRONIC ELEMENT VALUES FOR EACH
calculated the equivalent electronic circuit of this antenna, CAVITY
which must have the same response than the last simulation
results by CST. For completing this task, we used the ADS W(mm) d(mm) Ceq(pF) Leq(nH) Req(Ω)
software for representing the architecture of the electronic Cavity 3.2 60 0.0014 - -
elements used, this circuit is formed in base of inductors, 0
capacitors and resistors. The values of these electronic
elements are given by equations getting from Gauss theory Cavity 18 7 0.417 2.39 3.3
1
(capacitor value Eq. 2), Ampere theory (inductor value Eq.
3), Resonance condition (resistor value Eq. 4). These Cavity 27 7.5 1.09 3.28 22.35
equations are given according with the width (W), the length 2
(d) and the thickness (h) of the resonator blocks of the
antenna. For our model, we have exactly six blocks, as Cavity 36 8.5 1.69 3.9 20
3
shown in Figure 8.
Cavity 51 10.5 2.1 5.15 37.5
4

Cavity 62 24 4.2 10 35.5

5

Figure 10 depicts the electronic equivalent circuit under

ADS software. In order to compare, Figure 11shows the
reflection coefficient S11 of this circuit simulated with ADS
software and that obtained for the antenna using CST
Fig. 8. Antenna Resonator blocks software.

It’s clearly seen, that the proposed antenna consists of six

RLC resonators (Fig. 9). The resistor is due to the obstacle
that the excitation current will encounter, and this obstacle is
defined by the change in shape of the patch, the capacitor C
is due to the spacing between the ribbon and the ground
plane, the inductor L is due to the decrease in the width of
the patch.

Fig. 9. RLC resonator Fig. 10. Antenna equivalent electronic circuit

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite De Sherbrooke. Downloaded on April 23,2024 at 23:55:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Fig. 11. Antenna (CST) and circuit simulation (ADS)
responses Fig. 13. Practical S11 response

The first side (Fig. 10), is the input impedance with 50Ω In Figure 14the practical response is compared to the
value, but in the other side the impedance is taken 4.5Ω, this simulated one, where we can see a good agreement.
impedance value is calculated from the next equations (5, 6,
7, 8) according with the antenna parameters (width (W),
thickness (h), the effective permittivity (ϵ GG )) [9]:
H
<1
I
When
P
>
+% >% N
ϵ = + KL1 + 12 ⋅ O + 0.04 L1 − O Q (5)
1
GG N

S! N
z! = ln 8 N + 0.25 (6)
T UVV

H
≥Z
I
When
P
>
+% >%
ϵ = + L1 + 12 ⋅ O
1
GG N
(7)
% !.
z! =
Fig. 14. Simulation and the practical response (S11) of the antenna

[ 1 a
T UVV .' \ +%.]^]+_ `4 \ +%.
For the last cavity, the width is equal to 62mm, the length is
≥
24mm, and 1.7mm for the thickness, we have also
1, so the effective permittivity is equal to 4.2, and z! =4.5Ω.
From Figure 11, we can notice that both responses (antenna
response (CST) and circuit response (ADS)) are almost
duplicated with a sameness rate of around 98%, which
reveals the high-performance antenna equivalent electronic
circuit representation.
Then we have realized this antenna, and we presented its
two sides in Figure 12 (a, b), with a height of 78mm and
width of 120.75mm. The response of this structure is given
in Figure 13.
(a) (b)
Fig. 12. (a) Top side, (b) bottom side of the proposed antenna
2
(8)
The both responses are too similar, mostly into the
bandwidth (1 GHz - 4.2GHz), such as the S11 parameter, go
down less than -15 dB within the frequency bandwidth
mentioned previously.
That was the first part of our RF and Microwave energy
harvesting system, and it was the most important part,
because it's considered like a signal door to the system heart.
III. THE NETWORK IMPEDANCE MATCHING AND
AMPLIFICATION CIRCUIT
The RF and Microwave energy harvesting circuit must
contain components that have matched impedances. So, we
add a matching network after antenna to transfer all power
to the rectifier.
It’s difficult to realize a wideband matching network. This
isn’t surprising when we know that the matching network is
composed of reactive components (inductors and capacitors)
both are dependent on frequency, thus, changing the
frequency of the signals passing through the matching
network can cause it to be less effective [10]. The proposed
network impedance matching circuit is formed from the
resistors and the inductors and the capacitors, and two
cascading transformers, they are placed precisely for having
a wideband, also an impedance value of 50Ω, the
transformers are present, for boosting the input signals
coming from the antenna, each one has a booster factor of
100. This circuit is shown in Figure 15 by using ADS
software.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite De Sherbrooke. Downloaded on April 23,2024 at 23:55:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Fig. 15. Network impedance matching circuit
The network impedance matching response has to be more
widely than that of the antenna, for assuring the maximum
power transfer, in this context, the Figure 16presents an
acceptable circuit response from 0.5 GHz to 6.5 GHz, with
an S11 parameter less than -15 dB, which is too wide
compared with the antenna response (see Fig. 5).
Fig. 16. Network impedance matching response
The next presentation concerns the rectifier, which is the
key for getting a direct output voltage, there are a lot of
rectifier forms, with different diode types and different
electronic elements architectures.
IV. THE RECTIFICATION CIRCUIT
The RF-DC converter (Rectifier) is a primordial element in
the design of the energy harvesting system. In the literature,
there are several architectures able to convert the RF voltage
into a DC voltage, our proposed RF-DC converter is
constituted from the 1N4007 diodes, as shown in Figure 17.
Fig. 17. RF-DC converter (Rectifier)
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite De Sherbrooke. Downloaded on April 23,2024 at 23:55:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
It’s clearly that there are two capacitors separated by a
ground plan, this separation makes the different between the
well and bad results, that means, when the negative
alternation arrives, the first diode D1 is going to be turned
off (blocked state), which means the first capacitor C1 is
isolate, inversely for the diode D2 (passing state), hence, the
second capacitor C2 starts to be charging, and the global
invers operation starts, when the positive alternation arrives
to the rectifier. This charge commutation between both
capacitors, permits to get a stable DC output voltage, in our
application we fix the load resistor at 50Ω. The global RF
and Microwaves energy harvesting system is shown in
Figure 18.
Fig. 18. RF and Microwave energy harvesting system
We have obtained a minimum DC output voltage of 5V,
from -80dBm (750 μV) input power coming from the
antenna, and a maximum DC output of around 500V from
an input power of -40dBm (75 mV).
The next figures (19 and 20), shows both input and output
signals for both input level powers -80 dBm (750 μV) and -
40 dBm (75 mV)., respectively.
(a)
(a) (b)
Fig.19. (a, b) Input, Output signals for -80dBm input power
(a) (b)
Fig.20. (a, b) Input, Output signals for -40dBm input power
The next Figure (Fig.21) shows the realized RF and
Microwave energy harvesting circuit, where the parts 1, 2
and 3 are the network impedance matching, the amplifier,
the RF-DC converter or the rectifier, respectively.
[6] D. Ramaccia et. Al. “Experimental Verification of Broadband
Antennas loaded with Metamaterials” 2015 IEEE Antennas and
propagation Symposium, pp. 1736-1737, 19 July 2018, Vancouver,
CA.
[7] T. Zasowski, F. Althaus, M. Stger, A. Wittneben, G. Trster, “UWB
for noninvasive wireless body area networks: Channel measurements
and results”, IEEE Ultra-Wideband Syst. Technol. Conf. (UWBST
2003), 2003-Nov.
[8] BO GAO and GE WU and JIA-YU HUO and XIAO-JIAN TIAN,
“Planar Antenna Aids UWB Communications”, NOVEMBER 2013
microwaves & RF.
[9] Orfanidis, Sophocles J., “Electromagnetic Wave and Antennas Wave-
guide”, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rutgers
Uniiversity, 1074 P.
[10] T. Le, K. Mayaram and T. Fiez; “Efficient Far-Field Radio Frequency
Energy Harvesting for Passively. Powered Sensor Network”.
IEEEJournal of Solid-State Circuits, 43(5) :1287-1302, 2008.

Fig. 21. Realized harvester Circuit

With this circuit, and due to the electronics component

imperfection, we have obtained just 1V output DC voltage
from -25 dBm input power coming from a Wi-Fi source.
To improve this result, we have to replace the passive
electronic elements by elements under microstrip
technologies.

V. CONCLUSION
From this study, we can say that the RF and Microwave
energy harvesting circuit design is very critical particularly
during both, the design process and the realization. For the
antenna, we’ve got almost the same simulation and
fabrication results and a percentage of similarity equal
nearly to 94.20%.
However, our Harvesting circuit has a remarkable
simulation efficiency, but the measured is degraded due to
the incompatible electronic elements used.
The overall rectifier response will be further improved by
attaching a directional antenna, that means the
implementation of a high gain antenna and moving to the
microstrip technology instead of the electronic elements.

REFERENCES
[1] S. S. B. Hong, R. Ibrahim, and M. H. M. Khir et al., “Rectenna
architecture-based energy harvester for low power RFID application,”
ICIAS, pp. 382–387, 2012.
|2] H. J. Visser and R. J. M. Vullers, “RF energy harvesting and transport
for wireless sensor network applications: Principles
and requirements,”in Proc. IEEE, Jun. 2013, vol. 101, no. 6, pp. 1410–
1423.
[3] C. Y. Song et al., “A broadband efficient rectenna array for wireless
energy harvesting,” in Proc. 9th Eur. Conf. Antennas Propag.
(EuCAP), 2015, pp.1–4.
[4] J.L. Volakis, Antenna Engineering Handbook, USA, NY, New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2007.
[5] D. Ramaccia, F. Bilotti, A. Toscano, and L. Vegni, “Dielectric-free
multi-band frequency selective surface for antenna
plications”,COMPEL – the International Journal for Computation and
Mathematics in Electrical and Engineering, Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 1868-
1875, 2013.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite De Sherbrooke. Downloaded on April 23,2024 at 23:55:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.