Authors: Yi Huang, Chaoyun Song, Sheng Yuan, Jiafeng Zhou, Paul Carter, et al
Source: FERMAT, Volume 31, Communication 2, Jan.-Feb., 2019
Abstract: Solar energy is the ideal energy source for us since it is green and readily available everyday! However, the current PV technology has a very low energy conversion efficiency, rectenna technology seems to be a very attractive alternative for this application. In this presentation, I start from the basics and our motivation to work in this area, and then the main challenges and the solutions we have proposed. It will show that the idea of using rectenna to harvest solar energy is indeed a good one, the difficulty is not just in the design but also in the fabrication, at the moment it is just a dream – cannot be realised. However, at RF/microwave frequencies, high-performance rectennas have been developed, our focus has been on high-efficiency broadband rectennas which can harvest wireless energy from mobile and WiFi networks efficiently. An example of using the rectenna for an IoT application is provided at the end to show the potential of the technology.
Index Terms: Broadband rectenna, frequency-selectable, matching network elimination, wireless power transfer, wireless energy harvesting
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Wireless Energy Harvesting for IoT Applications