Master Thesis

Design of a Large Area Rectenna
for Energy Harvesting

using Ambient RF Energy

Student: Octavian Sima

Thesis submitted to
obtain the degree of Master
in Engi neering:
Electrical Engineeri ng,
with an option i n Telecommunication
Promoters:
Prof. Dr. Ir. Guy Vandenbosch
Prof. Dr. Ir. Georges Gielen

Assessors:
Prof. Dr. Ir. Robert Mertens
Dr. Ir. Vladimir Volski

Supervisor:
Drd. Hidayath Mirza

Academic Year 2010 - 2011

ii

Copyright by K.U.Leuven

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A written permission of the promoter is also required to use the methods, products,
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iii
Foreword

The area of RF Energy Harvesting is picking up speed, while the need for using our resources
more efficiently grows day by day. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the details that are
important to follow when designing a Rectenna system, in order to make a small but relevant
contribution to science.

I would like to thank Professor Guy Vandenbosch for his enriching guidance, teachings and
encouragement thorough the master thesis progress. Furthermore, I want to thank Professor
Georges Gielen for his valuable feedback and for the priceless information given through the
course of Analog Building Blocks.
Moreover, I want to address a big Thank You! to Hidayath for always finding time to share
his knowledge from the field of Antennas and Microwave Simulators, and to Dr. Vladimir Volski
for his help with the measuring equipment.
Finally, I would also like to thank Rogers Corporation for supplying the free laminates.

Octavian Sima

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Thomas Alva Edison

iv

v
Table of Contents

Foreword.....................................................................................................................................iii
Table of Contents......................................................................................................................... v
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... vii
List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................................................ix
List of Figures ..........................................................................................................................ix
List of Tables.......................................................................................................................... xiii
List of Abbreviations and Symbols .............................................................................................. xv
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 2: Rectenna Design Theory ............................................................................................. 5
2.1 A Global View ..................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Simulator Considerations ................................................................................................... 7
2.3 The Antenna....................................................................................................................... 9
2.3.1 Bandwidth and Efficiency............................................................................................. 9
2.3.2 Material Losses .......................................................................................................... 12
2.3.3 Circular Polarization and Antenna Arrays .................................................................. 13
2.4 The Transmission Lines ................................................................................................... 16
2.4.1 Microstrip Lines vs. CPW............................................................................................ 16
2.4.2. Losses from Discontinuities....................................................................................... 20
2.5 The Diode and the Rectifying Circuit ................................................................................ 23
2.6 The RF Filter and the Matching Network .......................................................................... 29
Chapter 3: Single Antenna System ............................................................................................. 33
3.1 The Air Dielectric Antenna ............................................................................................... 33
3.2 The Stepped Impedance Low-Pass Filter .......................................................................... 43
3.3 The Rectifying Circuit ....................................................................................................... 47
3.3.1 The Peak Detector ...................................................................................................... 48
3.3.2 The Voltage Doubler................................................................................................... 52
vi
3.3.3 Peak Detector vs. Voltage Doubler Performance Comparison ..................................... 54
3.4 Full System Measurements............................................................................................... 56
Chapter 4: Antenna Array System .............................................................................................. 59
4.1 The Antenna Array ........................................................................................................... 59
4.1.1. Antenna Feeding Network ......................................................................................... 60
4.1.2. Design of the Patches................................................................................................. 64
4.1.3. Full Array Implementation and Measurement Results ............................................... 66
4.2 Measurements of the Rectenna Array............................................................................... 70
4.3 Possible Improvements .................................................................................................... 73
4.3.1. Improving the bandwidth .......................................................................................... 73
4.3.2. Improving the efficiency ............................................................................................ 73
4.3.3. Improving the precision of fabrication ...................................................................... 74
4.3.4. Feasibility study over the development of optically transparent antennas based on
High Transmissive Silver .................................................................................................... 74
Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 77
Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 79
Appendix A: Pictures with the Fabricated Components. .......................................................... 81
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 85
Masters Thesis file ................................................................................................................ 89

vii
Abstract

This thesis represents an analysis of the RF Energy Harvesting rectenna systems. Due to the
limited timeframe, the proposed objective is not to achieve an outstanding performance of
energy harvesting, but to perform a thorough analysis of the efficiency distribution in the
system. The purpose is to investigate if harvesting RF energy from the GSM base stations is
possible. The theoretical assumptions will be verified by simulating and fabricating two
prototypes.

The first chapter will introduce the field of wireless power transmi ssion, with an emphasis on
the necessities of the RF Energy Scavengers. It will also give an overview of the applications in
which this technology is currently being used in.

In the second chapter, we will go into further detail regarding the construction of a low power
energy scavenger. This chapter proposes a discussion about the losses and the efficiency of the
system. Finally, several solutions will be given to overcome the shortcomings and increase the
output voltage.

The third chapter will present the design workflow of an energy scavenger based on an air
dielectric antenna. All the simulations and construction details will be included, together with
a description of the encountered problems. The results will be compared to the final
measurements, in order to understand which problems can occur in reality. This chapter will
compare results obtained with a peak detector rectifier and a voltage doubler with different
filter configurations.

Next, the fourth chapter will present the design of a low-loss antenna array and its integration
in a rectenna system. The trade-offs will be presented to the reader, together with the
simulations and the measurement results. The possible improvements of the configuration will
also be introduced, together with analyzing the creation of rectenna arrays on glass windows.

Finally, the master thesis will conclude with a short overview of the aspects that must be kept
in mind when designing a rectenna system.

viii

ix
List of Figures and Tables

List of Figures

Figure 1 Energy Storage Gap. Taken from [0] .........................................................................................................1
Figure 2: PinBalls Wirelessly Powered Tags. Taken from [2] ..........................................................................2
Figure 3: Measured GSM-900 Peak power density levels as a function of distance to the nearest
base station. Taken from [10] .........................................................................................................................................4
Figure 4: Measured summed power density levels as a function of distance to the nearest GSM-
900 and GSM-1800 base station. Taken from [10] ................................................................................................4
Figure 5: Block Diagram of Rectenna Circuit. Taken from [11] .......................................................................5
Figure 6: System efficiency sum-up..............................................................................................................................6
Figure 7: Equivalent schematic of a rectenna in ADS. Taken from [13].......................................................7
Figure 8: Effect of substrate thickness and dielectric constant on the impedance bandwidth and
radiation efficiency. Taken from [15] ....................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 9: Variation of radiation Q for a rectangular patch antenna as a function of substrate
dielectric constant; h=1.59 mm, w=0.9L, f=3GHz. Taken from [15] ........................................................... 11
thickness; r = 2.2, W=0.9L, f = 3GHz. Taken from [15]..................................................................................... 11
Figure 11: Circularly polarized patch: a.With two orthogonal feeds; b.With a single feed and
truncated corners; c. With a single feed and a slot. Taken from [14]......................................................... 14
Figure 12: A comparison of the results derived from five different dispersion calculator
techniques for microstrip lines, using r =9.9 and h = 0.65mm. Taken from [20] ................................ 17
x
Figure 13: Comparison of conductor loss for microstrip and CPW on 100 m GaAs substrate (r =
13) at f=20 GHz as a function of line impedance. A 3-m thick copper metallization is assumed.
Taken from [20] ................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Figure 14: Calculated microstrip line loss and discontinuity radiation loss. Taken from [18]....... 20
Figure 15: Reflection coefficients for the uncompensated and compensated step discontinuities
with 1:2 impedance ratio. Taken from [20]........................................................................................................... 21
Figure 16: Reflection coefficients and normalized electrical lengths for uncompensated and
optimally compensated right-angled bends. Taken from [20]...................................................................... 21
Figure 17: Main line and branch line reflection coefficients for uncompensated and compensated
T-junctions. Taken from [20] ....................................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 18: Equivalent circuit of a Schottky Diode. Taken from [29] .......................................................... 24
Figure 19: Effect of Capacitance and Series Resistance on Conversion Loss. Taken from [28]...... 25
Figure 20: Effect on Load Resistance on Conversion Loss. Taken from [27] .......................................... 26
Figure 21: Half wave rectifier with capacitor circuit and waveforms. Taken from [30] ................... 27
Figure 22: Voltage Doubler Schematic. Taken from [13]................................................................................. 27
Figure 23: Butterworth attenuation and return loss functions for order 1-9 and p = 1dB. From
[32] .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Figure 24: Chebychev attenuation and return loss functions for order 1-9 and p = 1dB. Taken
from [32] ............................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Figure 25: Common discontinuities in SIR. A. Open-end fringing effect. B. Step-junction effect.
Taken from [32] ................................................................................................................................................................. 31
Figure 26: Microwave filter realization techniques ........................................................................................... 32
Figure 27: Various forms of stubs, respectively, doubled stubs in parallel, radial stub, butterfly
stub (parallel radial stubs), clover-leaf stub (triplre paralleled radial stubs). ...................................... 32
Figure 28: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in ADS Momentum ............................................. 34
Figure 29: Square patch air dielectric antenna results in ADS Momentum............................................. 35
Figure 30: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio ................................ 35
Figure 31: Square patch air dielectric antenna results in CST Microwave Studio................................ 36
Figure 32: : Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, compensated
with a patch capacitor on top of the radiator........................................................................................................ 37
with a patch capacitor on top of the radiator - results ..................................................................................... 37
Figure 34: Rapid variation of the patch dimensions. B = patch length, in mm. ...................................... 38
xi
Figure 35: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, compensated
with electromagnetic coupling from below the patch Vandenbosch method. ................................... 38
Figure 36: Variation of the capacitor patch height, in mm. Capacitor patch length = 8mm.
Radiator patch size 62x62mm. Note the shift in frequency. .......................................................................... 39
Figure 37: Variation of the capacitor patch height, in mm. Capacitor patch length = 8mm.
Radiator patch size modified from 62x62 to 60x60, to compensate for the shift. ............................... 39
Figure 38: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, final design
before fabrication .............................................................................................................................................................. 40
Figure 39: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, final design
before fabrication results. .......................................................................................................................................... 41
Figure 40: Square patch air dielectric antenna Farfield results ................................................................... 42
Figure 41: Measured S11 parameter of the Air Dielectric Antenna. ........................................................... 42
Figure 42: General L-C ladder implementation for a lowpass filter. Taken from [21]. ...................... 43
Figure 43: SIF filter design, N=13............................................................................................................................... 44
Figure 44: SIF filter design results, N=13, h=0.508mm .................................................................................... 44
Figure 45: SIF filter design results, N=13, h=1.524mm .................................................................................... 45
Figure 46: Filter and Antenna simulation in ADS................................................................................................ 45
Figure 47: Network Analyzer results of the SIF filter with h=1.524mm dielectric thickness ......... 46
Figure 48: Peak Detector with no filter included, diode HSMS2850 .......................................................... 47
Figure 49: Load Resistance vs Voltage..................................................................................................................... 48
Figure 50: Peak Detector with no filter included, diode HSMS2850 Harmonic Balance Results.
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 49
Figure 51: Peak Detector with SIF filter included, diode HSMS2850 Harmonic Balance Results.
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 49
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50
Figure 54: Peak Detector with no filter included, diode HSMS2852 .......................................................... 52
Figure 55: Voltage Doubler with no filter included, diode HSMS2852 Harmonic Balance Results.
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 53
Figure 56: Voltage Doubler with SIF filter, diode HSMS2852 Harmonic Balance Results. ............ 54
xii
Figure 57: Frequency Generator spectrum at 1.84 GHz and 10 dBm power level ............................... 56
Figure 58: Effect of Harmonic Distortion of the frequency generator on the circuit. P = 0dBm. ... 57
Figure 59: Location of the 90 phase difference between the two transmission lines. ...................... 60
Figure 60: Bending effect and the decrease of contribution in feed lines ............................................... 61
Figure 61: Feed network impedances ...................................................................................................................... 62
Figure 62: S parameters of the final design of feed network ......................................................................... 62
Figure 63: Phase differences between the ports of the feed network. Notice the 90 degrees phase
shift between all pairs of probes in the system. ................................................................................................... 63
Figure 64: Smith Chart of the feed network .......................................................................................................... 63
Figure 65: Minimum distance between patches s31 sweep, a is the edge-to-edge patch distance.
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
Figure 66: S11 parameter of the antenna patches. ............................................................................................. 65
Figure 67: Antenna patches test configuration .................................................................................................... 65
Figure 68: Antenna Array .............................................................................................................................................. 66
Figure 69: Antenna Array characteristics No SMA.......................................................................................... 67
Figure 70: Array with SMA connector...................................................................................................................... 68
Figure 71: Antenna Array characteristics With SMA ..................................................................................... 68
Figure 72: Farfield characteristics of Antenna Array no SMA connector. ............................................ 69
Figure 73: Farfield characteristics of Antenna Array With SMA connector......................................... 69
Figure 74: Antenna Array results from the measurements and the simulations.................................. 70
Figure 75: Overall Efficiency Comparison between the Air Dielectric Rectenna and the Circularly
Polarized Rectenna Array .............................................................................................................................................. 72
Figure 76: Air Dieletric Rectenna ............................................................................................................................... 81
Figure 77: Circularly Polarized Antenna Array.................................................................................................... 82
Figure 78: Circularly Polarized Antenna Array Feed Network ..................................................................... 82
Figure 79: All Components Together........................................................................................................................ 83
Figure 80: Test Setup ....................................................................................................................................................... 84

xiii
List of Tables

Table 1: Free space path loss Received Power versus Frequency, Transmitted Power and
Transmitter Distance. Taken from [9] ........................................................................................................................3
Table 2: Some Commercially Available Microstrip Antenna CAD Tools. Taken from [14] ..................8
Table 3: Comparison of different patch shapes and their inherited BW. Taken from [15] .............. 11
Table 4: Optimum substrate parameter values for array performance requirements. From [18]
................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Table 5: Computed efficiency and bandwidth of 16 X 16 patch array. Taken from [18] ................... 15
Table 6: Comparison of planar transmission lines. Taken from [19] ......................................................... 16
Table 7: Comparison of Z0 limits (r = 13, h=100, frequency = 30 GHz). Taken from [20] ............ 31
Table 8: Measured attenuation levels at the frequencies that are relevant for the system ............. 46
Table 9: Diode specifications comparison.............................................................................................................. 47
Table 10: Second Harmonic Distortion Level vs RL size for HSMS2850 Peak Detector, C=15pF. .. 48
Table 11: Second Harmonic Distortion Level vs RL size for HSMS2860 Peak Detector, C=15pF ... 50
Table 12: Voltage Output results of the two diodes in the same identical peak detector system,
P=-10dBm, C=15pF, R=20K .......................................................................................................................................... 51
Table 13: Second Harmonic Distortion Level vs RL size for HSMS2852 Voltage Doubler,
C2=C3=15pF .......................................................................................................................................................................... 53
Table 14: Second Harmonic Distortion Level vs C2 size for HSMS2852 Voltage Doubler, RL=20k53
Table 15: Voltage Output results of the two diodes in the same identical voltage doubler system,
P=-10dBm, C2=C3=15pF, RL=20K................................................................................................................................ 55
Table 16: Second Harmonic Distortion level generated by the frequency generator......................... 57
Table 17: RF Energy Harvesting results with an Air Dielectric antenna. ................................................. 58
Table 18: Air Dielectric Antenna efficiency calculation.................................................................................... 58
Tabel 19: Results of chamfering and smoothing operations.......................................................................... 61
Table 20: Antenna Array Simulated Efficiency in CST Microwave Studio ............................................... 70
Table 21: RF Energy Harvesting results with a Microstrip Rectenna Array. .......................................... 71
Table 22: Rectenna Array efficiency calculation ................................................................................................. 71

xiv

xv
List of Abbreviations and Symbols

the number pi, equal to 3.14159265
0 vacuum permittivity
r relative dielectric constant
angular frequency (rad/s)
wavelength (m)
attenuation
magnetic permittivity
efficiency
loss
conductivity
microwave reflection coefficient ( )

BW impedance bandwidth
c speed of light, equal to 299,792,458 m/s
C capacity (F)
D directivity (dBi)
f frequency (Hz)
f0 fundamental resonant frequency of an antenna (Hz)
I current (A)
S11 input reflection coefficient in the scattering matrix
S12 transmission coefficient in the scattering matrix
tan loss tangent of a dielectric material
V Voltage (V)
Z Impedance ()

AC Alternative Current
AgHT High Transmissive Silver
CAD Computer Aided Design
CP Circular Polarization
CPW Coplanar Waveguide
DC Direct Current
EBG Electromagnetic Bandgap
FDTD Finite-Difference Time-Domain
xvi
FEM Finite Element Method
GaAs Gallium Arsenide
GSM Global System for Mobile communications
HD Harmonic Distorsion
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
LICT LEUVEN Center on Information and Communication Technology
MoM Method of Moments
PCB Printed Circuit Board
PEC Perfect Electric Conductor
PinBalls PINless Battery Low-power microSystems
Rectenna Rectifying Antenna
RFID Radio-Frequency identification
SIF Stepped impedance Filter
SMA SubMiniature version A (connector)
TEM Transverse ElectroMagnetic (mode)

1
Chapter 1: Introduction

In 1965 Gordon E. Moore predicted the exponential increase in the number of
transistors that are part of the integrated circuits. Amazingly precise, his forecast
came true but brought together with it several consequences. The exponential
evolution of the performance of electronics determined a dramatic increase in power
consumption. Unfortunately for the mobile devices, the evolution of the energy
storage components certainly did not obey the same rule. Nowadays, the gap
between power consumption and energy storage increases year by year, as it can be
seen from Figure 1. The designs for low power consumption try to temper the surge
of required energy, most of the time with a dramatic effect on performance.

Figure 1 Energy Storage Gap. Taken from [0]
To compensate for these shortcomings, energy harvesting started to become more
and more popular among mobile devices. From solar energy to piezoelectric
movement, the scavenging devices transform other sources of energy into useable DC
power. Even more, there is an increasing number of low-power silicon based
2
electronics whose autonomy could be increased to the number of years when used
together with an energy harvester.
More and more applications are found for the emerging wireless sensor networks
and are great examples on how RF Energy Harvesting is applied. As we can see in [1],
for a 100W power consumption, the battery lifetime of such devices is of a few
months. For a normal usage this could be enough but if the device is situated in a
place which is difficult to access, then this aspect could become problematic. A
harvester can improve the performance significantly and, for ultra low power
consumption, can even remove the battery dependency.
On the other side, the very low power densities determine the engineers to use a
buffering device even in the case of wireless sensor nodes. Usually, a super capacitor
or rechargeable batteries based on thin film technology are used for this purpose. KU
Leuvens PinBalls project deals with the development of a network of sensor nodes
powered by the base stations they are communicating with (Fig. 2).

Figure 2: PinBalls Wirelessly Powered Tags. Taken from [2]

In this project, the wireless tags harvest the power received from the hubs and
accumulate it into a capacitor. When the capacitor has enough stored energy to
power up a successful transmission, then the information is sent to the hubs. Further
on, the information arrives at the base station, which is connected to the network.
A second very popular usage of energy power transmission is represented by the
RFID systems. Nowadays, this technology is used in many types of applications such
as security systems [3], automobile tolling [4], collision detection [5] and even the
identification of sea mammals [6]. Most RFID systems consist of a reader and a tag.
The reader transmits a signal to the tag, which then replies with a coded signal.
When the tag does not have a battery itself, then it is referred to as a passive RFID
tag and it is powered wirelessly from the reader.
Both examples presented above are typical cases of wireless power transmission
implementation. The frequency source is known, as well as its position with respect
to the receiving antenna. In this case, linear polarization is sufficient as long as the
user knows the direction of arrival of the beam.
Energy Harvesting is a slightly different situation, and is also the case treated in
the current master thesis. The power levels are lower than in the case of wireless
3
power transmission and, due to scattering, the beams could come from any direction.
This requires a circularly polarized antenna with high gain in the direction of the
beams and which enables circular polarization.
According to [7], the word Rectenna has been used for the first time in [8] as an
acronym for Rectifying Antennas. It is used to describe devices which use an antenna
to receive the RF waves and a Schottky diode circuit to rectify them into a DC output.
The efficiency is vital for this type of devices, as the encountered power levels are
very low.
The case analyzed in this master thesis tackles harvesting power from the GSM
base stations. They represent a constant power source, as they radiate continuously
an amount of energy which, if not gathered, is lost into free space. For this reason,
building an efficient device to take advantage of this opportunity could be beneficial.
But what exactly is the amount of power that could be harvested with a Rectenna
system? In ideal conditions, by using the Friis equation for free space path loss

(1.1)

we can calculate the values from Table 1 for the received power.
is the power
transmitted by the base station and
is the received power at the distance R. The

term (/4R)
2
is called the free-space loss factor and it takes into account the losses
due to the spherical spreading of the antennas energy. The gain of the receiving
antenna
is considered 10dBi.

Table 1: Free space path loss Received Power versus Frequency, Transmitted Power and
Transmitter Distance. Taken from [9]
On the other side, the above situation tackles the ideal case, which does not
consider the atmospheric absorption or any misalignment between antennas. Even
more, the situation in this case implies a direct line of sight, without having any
obstacles in between the transmitter and the receiver.
Fortunately, there are many real life measurements that have been conducted in
this sense. According to the survey regarding GSM Power Density Measurements [9],
at a range of 25m to 100m from a GSM base station the expected power density
levels are between 0.1 mW/m
2
to 1.0 mW/m
2
. The study has been conducted on both
GSM-900 (downlink: 933-960 MHz) and GSM-1800 (downlink: 1805-1880 MHz)
systems. As we can see from Figures 3 and 4, the power levels for the two GSM
4
frequency bands are decaying differently with increasing the distance. The
attenuation of the GSM-1800 MHz band is bigger with respect to the distance from
the base station due to the absorption of the environment.

Figure 3: Measured GSM-900 Peak power density levels as a function of distance to the nearest
base station. Taken from [10]

Figure 4: Measured summed power density levels as a function of distance to the nearest GSM-
900 and GSM-1800 base station. Taken from [10]
Harvesting 0.1 mW/m
2
to 1.0 mW/m
2
would imply the construction of a 1 m
2

rectenna array that would be capable of converting a power of -10dBm to 0dBm into
DC. We will analyze in the following chapters if it is possible to achieve such a
performance by designing two prototypes based on an air dielectric antenna and a
2x2 rectenna array.
All the studies on the Rectenna system will be performed in a lab environment, so
we will build the system around the 1.84 GHz center frequency. The choice will
minimize dimension of the components and, thus, the losses due to the material.
Also, the objective is to obtain a 75 MHz bandwidth, in order to cover the entire GSM
downlink spectrum.
5
Chapter 2: Rectenna Design Theory

After taking a look at the initial premises, the second chapter will introduce the
aspects that must be considered when designing a Rectenna. The complexity
increases dramatically when the main goal is the efficiency of the system, so we
should be aware of the problems that appear during the design.
After presenting the general structure of an RF scavenging system, the components
will be analysed separately. The purpose is to identify the important aspects of a
Rectenna system, in order to achieve high performance.
2.1 A Global View

The basic building blocks of a Rectenna are the receiving antenna system and the
rectification device. Sometimes a high frequency filter is also used for harmonic
rejection, as it can be seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Block Diagram of Rectenna Circuit. Taken from [11]
The antenna collects the incident waves and converts them to an RF signal, which
is rectified into DC voltage by the rectifier. As the diode is a non-linear component, it
will generate harmonics at multiples of the center frequency. These harmonics cause
losses, so they need to be attenuated, usually with the help of a filter.
6
Several factors can hold down the efficiency of a Rectenna system, starting from
the antenna implementation to the mismatch and the conductor losses. Some of the
mismatch can be avoided by a good design with no reflections. On the other side, the
rules of physics will not change and, thus, the losses of the conducting material and
of the substrate will play an important role as well.
As presented in [12], the overall contribution of the efficiencies in the system can
be seen in picture 6. We can, thus, derive equation 2.1:

(2.1)

where:
is the total efficiency of the scavenging system
is the antenna efficiency
represents the losses of the matching network and of the HF filter
is the conversion efficiency, that takes into account the losses of the passive
components in the rectifier

Figure 6: System efficiency sum-up. Taken from [12]

The impedance of the antenna, Zant , should ideally be matched to the impedance of
the rectifier, Zrect. The difficult aspect of this design is the load resistance, RL , which
needs a big value for a big output voltage. This is one reason why designing a low-
power system is a difficult task, as the matching network will always introduce high
power losses. Even more, the complexity further increases in non-linear circuits, as it
happens in the case of the low input power rectifier.
We can, thus, consider the overall conversion efficiency as:

(2.2)

7
Equation 2.2 does not take into consideration the losses due to the materials.
Besides the reflections, the system will also have losses because of the transmission
lines and the substrate used. If not taken into account before the design
implementation, they will have a strong impact on the performance of the circuit.
Minimizing the losses is easier with the new mathematical tools that are available
nowadays into a great variety of solvers. Lets discuss next the differences between
the available solutions, in order to choose the tool that is the most fit for the job.
2.2 Simulator Considerations
In order to analyze the performance of the system, simulators such as ADS are
used to test the characteristics of the components by using an equivalent circuit. For
a Rectenna system such as the one considered in Figure 6, the equivalent circuit in
Agilents ADS can be seen below. The system is composed by an antenna, a matching
network and a voltage doubler, but it does not include the HF filter for the
suppression of the harmonics. Both the filter and the antennas S-parameters can be
imported in ADS from most of the microwave simulators available today on the
market. Even more, ADS offers the user an extensive database with many
components, configured according to their datasheet.

Figure 7: Equivalent schematic of a rectenna in ADS. Taken from [13]
As the reflections are a very important factor in our considerations, we want to
choose the simulator that will offer the best real-life approximations. Thankfully, the
technology used nowadays gives us a broad range of microwave simulators to choose
from, as we can see in Table 2. Some of the most popular methods of calculation are
the Method of Moments, Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) and the Finite
Element Method (FEM).
According to [13], the Method of Moments is a two-dimensional integration
technique which is considered to be very accurate and which includes also the effects
of mutual coupling between two surface current elements, as well as the surface
8
wave effect in the dielectric. It is more computationally efficient than the 3D FDTD
and FEM.
ADS Momentum is a 2D wave simulator from Agile that uses MoM and has the
advantage of being fast and reliable. Its disadvantage is the limitation to the 2D
environment, which prohibits the user from integrating stacked structures or from
modelling more complex 3D models. It can be used efficiently for transmission lines
and filters and it benefits from the easier integration in the ADS RF Circuit Simulator.
It can work in either the Microwave mode, which uses a full-wave formulation, or
Momentum RF mode, which uses a quasi-static formulation. In the former method of
simulation, the Green functions are low-frequency approximations of the full-wave
and are more general. This improves the computation speed and the accuracy, but
the approximation is valid only for structures that are small compared to the
wavelength and are not radiators (it does not work with antennas!).
FDTD and FEM are the solvers used for calculation of more complex 3D-models.
We find out from [13] that FDTD discretizes Maxwells equation in 3D space and
time, in many cubic cells. The E and H fields are then solved through Maxwell
equations with given boundary conditions from cell to cell. In comparison, FEM uses
an approximate solution for the entire element. Both methods are computationally
time consuming, with the advantage of FDTD as being more straight forward and
easier to use.
CST Microwave Studio is a 3D solver based on the FDTD method which, if
configured correctly, can be quite fast. It offers very good result accuracy and the
flexibility of modelling the structure with great precision. Another advantage is the
ease and accuracy of its sweeps, which are used to optimize the variables.

Table 2: Some Commercially Available Microstrip Antenna CAD Tools . Taken from [14]
After discussing the simulators and the general structure, in the following
subchapters we will approach the components one by one. The functionality of the
block will be discussed in great detail and the problem of losses will be tackled.
Furthermore, some solutions for improving the performance of the components will
be presented.

9
2.3 The Antenna
We will take into consideration the design of a patch resonator antenna, as it is the
best trade-off between precision, ease of construction and efficiency. Besides, the
popularity this type of antenna pushed towards the discovery of new, low-loss RF
boards that decrease losses and enhance fabrication precision.
In a Rectenna system, the antenna is of great importance, as its role is to capture
the incoming waves with great efficiency. However, the power Pin received by the
antenna depends on several factors, which will be discussed in this chapter. We will
talk about the resonant bandwidth of the antenna, effective area, directivity and the
beam incidence and its polarization. Finally, the entire implementation should target
the objective of achieving a minimum amount of losses.

2.3.1 Bandwidth and Efficiency

Most importantly, the antenna should be resonant at the frequency of the signal
and should cover the entire bandwidth. In our case, a 75 MHz bandwidth is required
to receive the frequencies between 1805 and 1880 MHz. According to [14], a
microstrip antenna is basically a resonating cavity with open side walls. It is well
known that a closed cavity with fixed dimensions indicates narrow bandwidth
behaviour. Thus, the bandwidth of a single patch with nominal substrate thickness
has a bandwidth of less than 5%. However, due to the open side walls of the patch,
the bandwidth significantly increases together with the thickness of the cavity.
Neglecting material loss, the increase in BW can be explained by the equation:

(2.3)

where Q is the quality factor of the antenna. We can thus state that there will be an
increase in bandwidth together with the decrease in the quality factor. In equation
2.4 we can see how this elements value could be determined.

(2.4)

This means that we can have a bigger bandwidth by increasing the thickness
and/or lowering the dielectric constant r. However, according to [15]:

(2.5)

10
Following the model of a lossy capacitor, equation 2.5 tells us that the Q factor
increases together with the stored energy. On the other hand, the radiated power
decreases with the increase in r. Similarly, when the substrate is made thicker, the
decrease in stored energy will also determine a decrease in the Q factor.

Figure 8: Effect of substrate thickness and dielectric constant on the impedance bandwidth and
radiation efficiency. Taken from [15]
Another common problem is that with thicker substrate, the feed line or feed
probe will also start radiating and will create matching issues. This can be solved
easily, by printing the feed lines on another board and by using either aperture
coupling, either vias to the radiating patches. On the other side, this will increase the
complexity of the design.
But we must ask ourselves: what is the maximum limit for increasing the
thickness? Bhartia, in [15], believes that the optimum is 0.02, before the appearance
of unwanted effects, such as:
Increase in surface wave power, resulting in poor radiation efficiency (see
figure 8). The radiation from surface waves may lead to pattern degradation
near end-fire.
Thick substrates with Microstrip edge feed will give rise to increased
spurious radiation from the Microstrip step-in-width and other
discontinuities. Radiation from the probe feed will also increase.
Substrates thicker than 0.11 for r = 2.2 make the impedance locus of the
probe-fed patch antenna increasingly inductive in nature, resulting in
impedance matching problems. We will see in the next chapter how to
retaliate this problem.
Higher order modes along the thickness may develop, giving rise to
distortions in the radiation patterns and impedance characteristics.
Regarding the optimum efficiency, Volakis [16] says that for h=0.02 for a typical
Teflon substrate (r = 2.2 with a loss tangent of 0.001) and copper for the patch and
ground, the efficiency can reach 90%. He specifies that, when using a foam substrate
or an air dielectric, the efficiency increases with increasing substrate thickness,
11
approaching 100% for thicker substrates! This can definitely be used as an
advantage in a low-loss system.
Bhartia goes even further and in [15] he makes a study over the difference in BW
between different shapes of microwave antennas. We can see the study in table 3,
below.

Table 3: Comparison of different patch shapes and their inherited BW. Taken from [15]

Figure 9: Variation of radiation Q for a rectangular pat ch antenna as a function of substrate
dielectric constant; h=1.59 mm, w=0.9L, f=3GHz. Taken from [15]

thickness;
r
= 2.2, W=0.9L, f = 3GHz. Taken from [15]
12
2.3.2 Material Losses

Until now, the ideal case has been presented to the reader. In reality, if we also take
into account the losses of the materials, then we will have the following calculation
for the quality factor:

(2.6)

Where:
Qsp Space-Wave Quality Factor, corresponding to power radiated into space;
Qsw Surface-Wave Quality Factor, corresponding to the power launched into the
fundamental TM0 surface wave;
Qd Dielectric Quality Factor, corresponding to the power dissipated by the dielectric
loss;
Qc Conductor Quality factor, corresponding to the power dissipated by conductor
loss.

The dielectric and the conductor quality factors can be controlled by choosing the
appropriate materials when building the antenna. According to [16], they are
determined by the equations:

(2.7)
and

(2.8)

where
represents the average surface resistance of the ground plane and the
conductor

(2.9)

Therefore, from equations 2. 7, 2.8 and 2.9 we can see that maximum efficiency can
be obtained with a substrate with a small tan, covered by a material of high
conductivity!
Until now, we know from [16] that if the substrate permittivity or thickness is very
high, then the surface wave excitation will increase. By analyzing equation 2.6, we
also learn that the radiation efficiency will degrade also if substrate is too thin! Due
to increased conductor and dielectric losses, the conductor and dielectric Q factors
will become dominant!
13

Now that we have seen the factors that degrade performance, what can we do to
improve the efficiency and minimize the losses? Volakis gives us the answer in [16].
One way to overcome the trade-off is to use a low-permittivity substrate material
such as foam. The foam substrate may be made thick to minimize the conductor and
dielectric losses, without suffering from surface wave excitation. This has the
advantage of increasing the bandwidth while pushing the efficiency close to 100%!
On the other side, Balanis [14] warns us that even with using air as a dielectric, then
the field will not cohere efficiently between the patch and the ground plane if the
thickness is bigger than 0.15 free-space wavelength.
A second alternative to increase the efficiency is to minimize the surface-wave
excitation. The ground plane may be patterned to form a periodic structure, or a
periodic structure may be printed on the substrate surrounding the patch, to form an
electromagnetic bandgap (or EBG) structure [17]. Being a periodic structure, the EBG
has passbands and stopbands, for which modal surface wave propagation on the
structure is allowed or prohibited. In the stopband region, the surface wave of the
structure cannot propagate.

2.3.3 Circular Polarization and Antenna Arrays

Besides the efficiency of the antenna itself, we have to take into consideration also
the aspects regarding propagation. Not only we are talking about low energy levels,
but we should take into account the incidence of the beam on the antenna.
Furthermore, the environment will generate several multipath components having
distinct amplitude, phase and angle of arrival. In this situation, implementing circular
polarization will bring us a big advantage, as the waves will be received in any plane
they would arrive to the antenna, even if the polarization would have changed due to
reflections.
According to [14], circular polarization from a Microstrip antenna can generally be
achieved by a square or a circular radiating patch with two orthogonal feeds, having
equal amplitudes and 90 phase differential (figure 11 a.) . The disadvantage of this
technique is the complexity of the feeding network and the losses that come with the
implementation of such a structure.
In figure 11 b. and c. we can see the implementation of the perturbation
mechanism, in order to obtain circular polarization with only one feed. The small
perturbation has to be just the right amount at the desired frequency to produce two
orthogonal polarizations with the same amplitude but with a 90 phase differential.
A tempting method, as it offers simplicity and much lower losses in the feed network,
but it comes with a big drawback: according to [14], regardless of their impedance
bandwidths, the CP bandwidth of these single feed networks is extremely narrow
(generally around 0.5%).
Rectenna arrays have been implemented in many systems of energy scavenging, as
the array can increase the gain, improve the aperture size or even introduce
polarization diversity by combining differently polarized antennas. There remains
14
the trade-off between efficiency and gain, together with the bandwidth
requirements. A series fed array will offer the benefits of a simple feed structure, but
brings the disadvantage of a very narrow bandwidth (according to [14], it can drop
to less than 1%).

Figure 11: Circularly polarized patch: a.With two orthogonal feeds; b.With a single feed and
truncated corners; c. With a single feed and a slot. Taken from [14]

On the other side, a parallel feeding method such as the corporate feed offers a
wide bandwidth (according to [14], over 15%) and the freedom of designing every
array element separately with regard to amplitude and phase, but comes with the
disadvantage of having a high insertion loss. According to [18], losses in Microstrip
corporate feeds are due to copper and to dielectric losses in straight lengths
compounded with radiation and surface-wave losses from the overall structure. The
same paper also performs an analysis over the dependence of the losses to the
dielectric constant and the substrate thickness.

Table 4: Optimum substrate parameter values for array performance requirements. From [18]
15
As we can clearly see from table 4 and 5, the board requirements for good
patch specifications and low-loss feed lines are contradictory. This is why it is a good
idea to implement the feeding structure on a separate board for reducing losses.

Table 5: Computed efficiency and bandwidth of 16 X 16 patch array. Taken from [18]

To conclude, the antenna design efficiency is critical for achieving a good energy
harvesting result. Keeping in mind the requirements for our case, we can distinguish
the following conditions for the design:
The antenna should have a dielectric constant as low as possible, with a low
t for good dielectric efficiency;
The conductor thickness should be small and made from a highly conductive
material, to decrease the losses.
The thickness of the dielectric should be enough to fulfil the bandwidth
requirements, but not too thick to affect the efficiency of the antenna.
For these reasons, an air dielectric implementation will be presented in Chapter 3
of this master thesis, where simulation results and measurements are presented to
the reader.
Circular polarization is an important factor for the efficiency of the rectenna, so a
2x2 circularly polarized corporate-fed microstrip array will be implemented in
Chapter 4. The design will use two different substrates for the patches and for the
feed lines, the two substrates being connected with vias. The size of the feed network
will be kept to a minimum, in order to avoid the losses due to the conductor and the
dielectric. Simulations and tests will be presented, in order to understand the best
trade-off in the rectenna array configuration.

16

2.4 The Transmission Lines

In the previous chapter, we have discussed the problem of the antenna efficiency.
In order to build the circuit and the feed lines we have to choose for the rectenna
system the most effective type of transmission lines. In table 6 we can see the
difference between several types of planar transmission lines, regarding several
characteristics.
The best candidates are the microstrip line and the coplanar waveguide, due to
their low attenuation, dispersion and ease of fabrication. Indeed, microstrip is by far
the most popular structure due to its characteristics and ease of design, but it does
not offer the flexibility that CPW could offer. On the other side, their efficiency differs
quite a bit in different situations.

Table 6: Comparison of planar transmission lines. Taken from [19]
In the situation of a circuit with very low reflections, the main factors that
decrease the efficiency of transmission lines will be the dispersion and the
attenuation due to losses in the circuit. These components include conductor loss,
dielectric loss and radiation loss. The magnetic loss plays a role only for magnetic
substrates such as ferrites, which is not the case here.

2.4.1 Microstrip Lines vs. CPW

The most popular transmission line, the microstrip, has a very simple structure,
which is considered that has evolved conceptually from a two-wire line
configuration. According to [21], the fields in the microstrip extend within two media
air above and dielectric below so that the structure is inhomogeneous. Even
though the electromagnetic fields involved are quite complex, simple approaches to
the quasi-TEM mode calculations combined with frequency-dependent expressions
17
yield quite acceptable design accuracy for many applications. Accuracies within 1%
are generally achievable.
According to [22], at higher frequencies, particularly into the millimetre
wavelength ranges, losses (including radiation) increase greatly and high order
modes become a considerable problem. It is probable that the frequency limit for the
extensive use of microstrip is in the region of 80 GHz. Furthermore, microstrip is
quite sensitive and limited by substrate thickness: when thick substrates are being
used, then the radiation losses increase dramatically. On the other side, when the
substrate is thin, the efficiency of the transmission line is also limited (section 2.3.2).
Coplanar Waveguide benefits of one big advantage: the signal-carrying conductor
and the ground planes are situated on one side of the substrate alone, thus much less
of the field enters the substrate when compared to the microstrip. This flexibility
brings several advantages, such as decreased radiation losses, reduced dispersion
and much better precision of production when using photolithography.
As far as the dispersion loss is concerned, we can see from figure 12 that the phase
velocity is not a constant in microstrips and CPW lines, but depends on frequency. It
follows that its effective dielectric constant is a function of frequency and can be
defined as the frequency-dependent effective dielectric constant. In our case though,
the dispersion loss can be ignored, as at the frequency of our design dispersion will
not have a dramatic effect on the transmission lines.

Figure 12: A comparison of the results derived from five different dispersion calculator techniques
for microstrip lines, using
r
=9.9 and h = 0.65mm. Taken from [20]

18
Similarly to the case of microstrip antennas, which was presented in section 2.3.2,
the main factors that are causing attenuation in the microstrip or CPW structures are
the dielectric loss, the conductor loss and radiation loss.
According to [22], the attenuation due to dielectric loss can be calculated with the
formula:

dB / unit length

(2.10)

The expression tells us that for microstrip lines with low dielectric permittivity
and a low tangent loss, the dielectric loss is small. According to [20] and [22], for
microstrip lines on alumina substrate, the dielectric loss
is negligible compared to
the total loss . On the other side, for the substrates based on silicon, the dielectric
loss is dominant compared to the conductor loss.
Our rectenna design will be based on a Rogers Duroid 5880 substrate, with a low
permittivity of r = 2.2 and tan = 0.0005, so we expect to have very small dielectric
losses. On the other side, using a low r will lead to thicker transmission lines, which
will increase the conductor losses and will cause higher radiation.
The conductor losses have different values in the case of microstrip and CPW, and
they depend on the impedance that is being used by the transmission lines. In figure
13 we can see that a microstrip line has lower losses for lower impedance lines,
whereas the CPW can be designed to have low losses at higher impedances.

Figure 13: Comparison of conductor loss for microstrip and CPW on 100 m GaAs substrate (
r
=
13) at f=20 GHz as a function of line impedance. A 3-m thick copper metallization is assumed.
Taken from [20]
19
According to [23], conductor losses are a result of several factors related to the
metallic material composing the ground plane and walls, among which are
conductivity, skin effects and surface roughness. The fabrication process of real
microstrip devices creates scratches and bumps on the metal surfaces. The inside
surfaces of the strip conductor and the ground plane facing the substrate repeat the
shape of the substrate. The current, concentrated in the metal surface next to the
substrate, follows the uneven surface and encounters a greater resistance compared
to a smooth surface. As the roughness increases, the length of the current path
increases and, therefore, the losses increase.
Radiation losses must be taken into consideration both in CPW and microstrip.
According to [22], the structure is often used in unshielded or poorly shielded
circuits where any radiation is either free to propagate away or to introduce currents
in the shielding. In particular, discontinuities such as abruptly open-circuit
microstrip ends, steps and bends will all radiate to a certain extent. The subject of
discontinuities will be treated in more detail in chapter 2.4.2. Such discontinuities
form essential features of a microwave integrated circuit and radiation cannot
therefore be avoided altogether.
Both radiation and surface wave propagation may be represented as shunt
admittance at the end of an open circuit microstrip stub or at the plane location
associated with some other abrupt discontinuity. The radiation conductance Gr can
be approximated by:

(2.11)

where
is the effective microstrip width and is defined as:

(2.12)

and is the characteristic impedance of free space:

= 376.7
(2.13)

We can conclude that the radiation losses in microstrip depend mostly on the
thickness of the line w and the substrate thickness h, but increase with frequency.
Radiation losses can become noticeable also with CPW, but they are much lower
than in the case of microstrip. The CPW impedance Z0 is determined by the ratio of
the centre strip width w to the gap width s. This allows more flexibility in the design,
thus being able to minimize the width of the line and decrease the radiation losses.

20

2.4.2. Losses from Discontinuities

Discontinuities are vital elements in an RF circuit, but they can, unfortunately,
decrease the efficiency visibly. As the impact of this type of losses increases
especially at higher frequencies, this is a subject that has been intensely investigated
in the literature thorough the years. On the other side, our design has to deal with
ultra low power, thus we need to take into account all the elements that could
degrade the performance of the system.
Open ends occur frequently in a number of circuits such as resonators, matching
stubs, parallel coupled filters and microstrip antennas. According to [20], for thicker
substrates and for wider microstrip lines, radiation from an open-end discontinuity
becomes significant. Therefore, using a thin substrate for the antenna feed network
and the circuit components is recommended for low losses.
The same recommendation is given by [18] in the development of a corporate feed
network. Figure 14 presents the analysis of a right angle bend and the induced
losses.

Figure 14: Calculated microstrip line loss and discontinuity radiation loss. Taken from [18]
In order to minimize the effect, smoothing or chamfering the edges will increase
the performance of the transmission line. Solutions are presented in [20] and [24],
some which we can see from figures 15, 16 and 17.
After chamfering or smoothing the edge, the component will change its impedance.
It is then necessary to compensate for it to remove the reflections.
21

Figure 15: Reflection coefficients for the uncompensated and compensated step discontinuities
with 1:2 impedance ratio. Taken from [20]

Figure 16: Reflection coefficients and normalized electrical lengths for uncompensated and
optimally compensated right-angled bends. Taken from [20]
22

Figure 17: Main line and branch line reflection coefficients for uncompensated and compensated
T-junctions. Taken from [20]

23

2.5 The Diode and the Rectifying Circuit

Besides the antenna itself, the second important building block in the Rectenna
circuit is the rectifier. Its efficiency is determined by both the diode and the circuit
parameters, but it is heavily dependent on the diode type and speed.
According to [25], the efficiency of the rectifiers can be expressed by:

The formula shows that the influence of VF, the forward voltage at the output
current of the converter, increases when the output voltage Vout decreases. Since we
are talking about low power levels, the diode needs to have a small forward voltage
drop in order to be efficient. According to [26], a Silicon diode has a forward voltage
of 0.6V, which is too high to offer a good performance. On the other side, the
Germanium and Schottky diodes offer a much better performance than the silicon
diode due to a lower VF of less than 0.3. On the other side, we have to deal with high
reverse leakage currents and with a low reverse voltage rating. Germanium diodes
have an even bigger reverse leakage current and are more sensitive to temperature
differences. They also have a more gradual transition to conduction, which makes the
Schottky diodes the preferred candidate for implementation in the rectenna system.
A detailed study of the Schottky diodes is presented in [27]. From there we can
find out that its electrical properties are predominantly defined by the metal and
semiconductor combination, but also by the size and condition of the contacting
surfaces, which will add to the series resistance. Operation at high frequencies
requires low series resistance and low junction capacitance. This implies the use of a
semiconductor with high carrier mobility and saturation velocity. Most of the
Schottky diodes in use at present (N.B. in 1995) are realized on a silicon (Si) or
gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor. Carrier mobility is greater for n-type
materials than for p-type. Hence, n-type semiconductors are used almost exclusively.
Many metals can create a Schottky barrier on either silicon or GaAs semiconductors:
platinum, gold and aluminium are commonly used. GaAs is superior to silicon for
high-frequency applications because its electron mobility and saturation velocity are
much higher. Although the performance achieved with GaAs diodes is clearly
superior, silicon diodes are still in use at lower frequencies because of their
significantly lower price.
As non-linear devices, we can find their functionality expressed as:

(2.15)

(2.14)
24
To obtain an optimum performance of the diode, we will make an analysis of the
equation and discuss about the specifications, according to the equivalent circuit of a
Schottky diode which can be seen in figure 18.

Figure 18: Equivalent circuit of a Schottky Diode. Taken from [29]
According to [28], the series resistance, Rs, is a parasitic element representing bulk
resistance of the semiconductor and the contact resistance. Together with the
resistance of the junction Rj where the frequency conversion takes place, they
represent the dynamic resistance Rd.
In [27], the ideality factor of the junction n is defined n = 1 for pure thermionic
emission (ideal diode). For the value n=1, the slope parameter V0 defined as:

(2.16)

is not dependent on the junction current and its value decreases linearly with
decreasing temperature. Obviously, the value of n should be as small as possible and,
according to [28], less than 1.1 for a silicon Schottky diode.
Increasing the operating frequency of the diode requires reducing the junction
capacitance Cj , which means a reduced junction area. According to [27], a small area
in most cases means higher current densities, and the instant value of the current
density may be high enough to cause the depletion layer almost to vanish.
We can summarize the effect of the parasitic losses under the following equation,
mentioned in [28]:

(2.17)

As proof, an analysis of the conversion loss is being performed in [28]. The
performance of three different diodes is being compared at 2 GHz: a general purpose
diode 5082-2800, a 5082-2817 2GHz detector diode and a 5082-2755 10 GHz
25
detector diode. As it can be seen in Figure 19, the 5082-2800 diode has a conversion
loss several dB worse than all the other diodes, due to higher junction capacitance.

Figure 19: Effect of Capacitance and Series Resistance on Conversion Loss. Taken from [28]
The high saturation current IS represents another important specification besides
the parasitic losses. The saturation current plays an important role in the efficiency
of the diode and is a function of diode barrier height. According to [29], it can range
from picoamps for high barrier diodes to as much as 5A for very low barrier diodes.
In general, very low barrier height diodes (with high values of IS, suitable for zero
bias applications) are realized on p-type silicon. Such diodes suffer from higher
values of RS than do the n-type. Thus, p-type is generally reserved for small signal
detector applications (where very high values of Rv swamp out high RS) while n-type
diodes are used for mixer applications.
Finally, we have to consider the importance of low reverse leakage current. Due to
the non-linearity of the diode (as proven in formula 2.15), the output voltage on the
load resistor of the rectifier will not be the half waveform of the input signal but:

(2.18)

It is the voltage across the diode that is the non-linear portion of the output signal,
which becomes dominant at low input levels and creates the harmonic distortions,
such as the modulation trough of an AM signal.
Several techniques have been employed to reduce the diode component of the
output waveform. One is to drive the detector into a high impedance load resistor.
With the current very low, the voltage produced on the diode will also be low. This
approach is limited by the generally ignored reverse current of the diode. At high
impedance levels, the rectifying function of the diode becomes compromised by the
reverse leakage current, resulting in other performance problems. This is why we
26
need to make sure that the diode used in the circuit will have a low reverse leakage
current. We should also take into account the conversion losses that occur with the
increase of load resistance, as we can see in Figure 20.

Figure 20: Effect on Load Resistance on Conversion Loss. Taken from [27]
There are many ways to perform the RF to DC conversion, but one of the simplest
implementations is the half wave rectifier. As we can see from Figure 21, the diode
turns on during the positive half of the wave and the current flows, charging the
capacitor. On the negative half, the diode is off such that no current is flowing in
either direction. The capacitor is charged with a voltage equal to the peak of the AC
signal. During the negative cycle of the AC input, the capacitor discharges on the load
resistance exponentially, due to the RC time constant and according to the expression
of the voltage across the load as a function of time:

(2.19)

where Vp is the initial value and t is the time measured from peak to peak. At a
frequency of 1.84 GHz, the period is very short compared to the RLC time constant, so
the exponential decrease in the voltage can be approximated as a straight line in
Figure 21.

27

Figure 21: Half wave rectifier with capacitor circuit and waveforms. Taken from [30]
According to the detailed calculations offered by [30], the peak-to-peak ripple of
the voltage waveform is:

and the average DC diode voltage present across the load resistor is:

(2.21)

for such a high frequency.
Even if the design is simple, the performance offered by the peak detector
presented above is definitely not spectacular. There are many other rectifying
techniques that improve the DC voltage output, but they hold a disadvantage:
together with the increased complexity, there will also be an increase in losses. As an
example, a voltage multiplier can be implemented by cascading N stages, and we can
see results for different configurations in [31]. The problem is, the losses increase
together with the number of stages and, thus, the design has to be kept simple for
ultra-low power circuits. For this reason, a two-stage full wave rectifier has been
chosen for implementation (Fig. 23).

Figure 22: Voltage Doubler Schematic. Taken from [13]

(2.20)
28

We find out from [31] that the circuit is called a voltage doubler because in theory,
the voltage that is received at the output is twice the one at the input. The RF wave is
rectified by D2 and CL in the positive and by D1 and CP in the negative half cycle.
During the positive half-cycle, the voltage stored on CP is transferred to CL , where it
can be expressed as:

More generally, in the case of n cascaded stages, our output voltage is given by:

(2.23)

In the expression, every doubler stage can be seen as a battery with open circuit
output voltage V0 and internal resistance R0 . With V0, R0 and RL as constants,
equation 2.23 shows that as n increases, the increase in output voltage will decrease
with every stage.

To conclude this subchapter, a peak detector and a fast one-stage voltage doubler
will be implemented in the final circuit. A fast Schottky diode will be used in the
implementation. For the removal of the unwanted harmonics and for matching the
voltage doubler with the rest of the circuit, we will discuss in the next subchapter
about the construction of an RF filter.

(2.22)
29

2.6 The RF Filter and the Matching Network

The non-linearity of the rectifying circuit will induce harmful harmonics, but the
most powerful of them is the second harmonic at two times the base frequency. As
explained in the previous section, it is possible to diminish their influence by using a
big load resistor value. On the other side, we will have to deal with the losses that
appear in that case. In order to counter the disruptive effect, a filter can be used to
suppress them. Caution has to be taken in order to control the efficiency of the
system, because a too big insertion loss from the filter can actually decrease the
performance more than the harmonic itself.
We will analyze the filter specifications according to the design flow. First, the
filter specifications relevant to the microwave implementation will be considered.
Second, the best and most used approximations for the microwave will be analyzed.
Finally, the microwave realizations will be presented with their advantages and
disadvantages.
Microwave filters are passive structures which implement the usage of
transmission lines and their capacitive/inductive proprieties. In the pass band
frequency, the filter is resonant and allows the waves to pass, whereas in the stop
band the waves are reflected. Losses are difficult to overcome and the most
important characteristic is the insertion loss in the pass band. For this reason the
function used to characterize a filter is the power loss ratio (the attenuation) instead
of a transfer function. According to [32], this is given by the formula:

(2.23)

Or, in other words:

(2.24)

We can define insertion loss as:

(2.25)

In our case, an insertion loss as low as possible is compulsory, as the powers levels
implied are very low. According to our necessities, we can find a trade-off between
insertion loss and the steepness of the pass band. We can do this by choosing the
most appropriate approximation. For this purpose, the most suited approximations
for microwave filters are Butterworth (Figure 23) and Chebychev (Figure 24).
30
As we can see in figure 23, the Butterworth filter has a smooth attenuation in the
pass band, delimited by the p .

Figure 23: Butterworth attenuation and return loss functions for order 1-9 and
p
= 1dB. From [32]

On the other side, the Chebychev filter has the fastest roll-off for given pass band
attenuation. The drawback comes from a ripple in both return loss and attenuation
in the pass band region of the filter.

Figure 24: Chebychev attenuation and return loss functions for order 1-9 and
p
= 1dB. Taken
from [32]
In our case, we have the liberty to use either a high order Butterworth filter, either
a Chebychev filter with small ripple in the pass band. The disadvantage of a higher
order filter can be understood by analysing the number and magnitude of the
discontinuities (see section 2.4.2.). The insertion loss is amplified by the losses due
to the discontinuities.
The realization phase has to be optimized to achieve a minimum loss in the
system. According to [32], for a frequency range from RF to microwave, various kinds
of resonators exist, including the coaxial, dielectric, waveguide and stripline.
Presently, the most common choice for RF and microwave circuits remains the
stripline resonator. Due to practical features including a small size, easy processing
by photolithography and a good affinity with active circuit elements, many circuits
utilize the stripline resonator. However, its major drawback is a drastic increase in
insertion loss compared to other types of filters.
31
There are several implementations of microwave filters possible, some of which
can be seen in Figure 26. Basically, the filters are taking advantage of the finite length
propriety of the microwave lines. According to [33], if a line is short compared to the
wavelength (<1/10 at p ), then a large Z will create an inductance and a small Z a
capacitance. On the other hand, the minimum and maximum magnitude of the
impedances are quite limited for transmission lines, as we can see from Table 7. The
letter m in the parentheses indicates that the limit is caused by higher order modes
and the letter d indicates that the limit is due to dimensions.

Table 7: Comparison of Z0 limits (r = 13, h=100, frequency = 30 GHz). Taken from [20]
Even more, according to [32], the discontinuities play a very important role in the
filter design. The open end capacitance Cf and the discontinuity due to a step junction
Cd play an important role, especially in the Stepped Impedance Filters.
We can write the expression:

(2.26)

where Cp is the primary capacitance, Cf e is the end-wall fringing capacitance and Cfs
the side-wall fringing capacitance.

Figure 25: Common discontinuities in SIR. A. Open-end fringing effect. B. Step-junction effect .
Taken from [32]
32

Figure 26: Microwave filter realization techniques
For optimum performance, the Voltage Divider circuit will require a matching
network, as the total impedance of the circuit is being pulled up a lot by the load
resistor. There have been many types of implementations to match the rectifying
circuit of the energy scavenger, but the most popular and simple method was to use
stubs (Figure 27). Indeed, this technique has the disadvantage of being very lossy,
but its simplicity and efficiency make it very popular among the rectenna designers.
According to [33], the open circuit stub gives a wide bandwidth and it often has
lower impedance lines than the system characteristic impedance. On the other side,
the microstrip radial stub provides low impedance and is more efficient, due to a
larger fringing capacitance at the open end. The disadvantage of the radial stub is the
size, because low-impedance microstrip lines are wider than the high-impedance
lines.

Figure 27: Various forms of stubs, respectively, doubled stubs in parallel, radial stub, butterfly
stub (parallel radial stubs), clover-leaf stub (triplre paralleled radial stubs).
We can conclude this subchapter by saying that the filter and the matching
network have the biggest losses from the network of transmission lines of a
Rectenna. If it could be possible to avoid using them, then the performance gain
would be substantial. Until a valid alternative will be discovered, we can only try to
minimize the losses in other ways.

33
Chapter 3: Single Antenna System

After covering in the first chapter the theory of the most important design
considerations, we can proceed into the design of the first prototype. This chapter
will summarize the design effort and will include the simulation and measurements
of the created components and the rectenna system.
The designed rectenna consists of three main building blocks, which will be
presented below, step by step. First, an air dielectric patch antenna will be simulated
in ADS Momentum and CST Microwave Studio. After that, a High-Z Low-Z SIF filter
design in Momentum will be presented. Fi nally a comparison between the Voltage
Divider rectifier the Peak Detector system will analyze the benefits of each
component in a low-loss Rectenna circuit.
3.1 The Air Dielectric Antenna
For the prototype, the initial design will be based on a rectangular patch radiator.
As we have seen in section 2.3.3, the propagation characteristics will push us
towards the implementation of circular polarization. This will enable our antenna to
receive the waves regardless how the polarization was changed by the medium, but it
implies choosing a square shape for the radiator.
The basic design equation is given by Hammerstad, according to [16]:

(3.1)

The resonant frequency is, thus, controlled by the length of the radiating patch.
Moreover, the permittivity r of the substrate controls not only the bandwidth but
also the size of the fringing fields. Lower permittivities have wider fringes and
therefore a better radiation. On the other side, according to [36], the wider the patch
is, the lower edge impedance we will have. Using a W/L ratio of 1 will bring us to the
situation of having very high edge impedance, but an even radiation pattern. We will
need to move the feed location closer to the center of the patch for matching at 50.
34
On the other side, as we already know from Table 3, the bandwidth of a microstrip
square patch antenna is very small. As we can see from the expression given by [36]:

(3.2)

Hence, we need to use a thick substrate to achieve a wide bandwidth. Also, the
permittivity r is an important factor, as the lower its value is, the higher the
bandwidth we will obtain.
The contradiction comes from the need to use a substrate with a big thickness and
a low dielectric permittivity to obtain 75 MHz of bandwidth, while being highly
efficient. As we have discussed in Chapter 2.3.1, antennas with thicker substrate have
lower efficiency than the ones with thinner substrate. We have to remember an
exception, though: Volakis [16] specifies that an antenna which uses air as dielectric
has the opposite behaviour, as the efficiency increases with the substrate thickness,
approaching 100% for thicker substrates!
All these factors push us towards an air dielectric implementation, with a large
distance between the patch and the ground to increase the efficiency and the
bandwidth. The first part of the design has been modelled in ADS Momentum, as we
can see in Figure 28.

Figure 28: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in ADS Momentum
35
The resonant frequency of the antenna is 1.833 GHz with a bandwidth of 200 mhz.
For this performance, the air dielectric has a height h=15cm. The 50 location has
been found at a distance f=13.5mm from the center of the patch. Figure 29 presents
the results simulated in ADS Momentum.

Figure 29: Square patch air dielectric antenna results in ADS Momentum
In order to validate the results in a 3D Simulator, CST Microwave Studio has been
used to design the structure from Figure 30. Unfortunately, the results were totally
different than the ones expected (Fig. 31). The extra coaxial feed line makes the
difference in this simulation. For a thick substrate, the feed line is quite long (15cm!).
According to [15], this increases the spurious radiation from the probe, the surface
wave power and the feed inductance, rendering the effects from Figure 31.

Figure 30: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio
36

Figure 31: Square patch air dielectric antenna results in CST Microwave Studio
However, the feed inductance can be compensated for with a series capacitor.
Bhartia [15] gives us several possibilities, most of them implying feeding the antenna
in a capacitive manner by using electromagnetic coupling between the patch and the
probe. The idea is to create a capacitance which is big enough to compensate for t he
inductance of the probe. We can calculate the size of the capacitor and of the distance
to the patch with the expression:

(3.3)

where A is the surface of the capacitive patch and d is the distance between the two
patches. The flexibility of this equation offers a big advantage, as it gives you the
freedom of sizing the capacitive patch. This is important because the patch has to be
soldered manually and if the surface is too small, then the fabrication will be difficult
and the simulated results unreliable.
There are two implementations that have been tested out in the CST simulator. The
first one implies positioning a patch capacitor above the antenna, as we can see in
Figure 32.
37

with a pat ch capacitor on top of the radiator

with a pat ch capacitor on top of the radiator - results
38
The results can be seen in Figure 33. As we can see, we can obtain a bandwidth of
424 MHz, which is almost 24%! A problem is that a 80 MHz shift in the resonant
frequency occured, from the desired 1.82 to 1.74 GHz! Fortunately enough, this can
be compensated by resizing the patch. The downside of this method is the difficulty
of soldering the capacitor patch to the feed when the length is of only 1mm! As we
can see from Figure 34, modifying the size rapidly degrades the performance.

Figure 34: Rapid variation of the patch dimensions. B = patch length, in mm.
The second method of patch compensation has been found to provide similar
results with an easier fabrication. Professor Guy A. E. Vandenbosch and Professor
Antoine R. Van de Capelle from the KU Leuven University found in [38] an innovative
method of feeding the antenna radiator from the bottom. The design is presented in
Figure 35.

Figure 35: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, compensated with
electromagnetic coupling from below the patch Vandenbosch method.
39
This feeding method offers a good trade-off between results and ease of
fabrication, as the capacitor patch was a bit bigger than the previous one (8mm). We
are informed by [38] that the separation between the patches cannot be chosen to be
too large. A large separation yields a large capacitor patch and low resonant
resistances. A large capacitor patch makes it difficult to keep the resonant frequency
constant. The low resonant resistances make it impossible to obtain 50. Therefore,
the separation distance chosen in our implementation is 3.8 mm. In Figure 37 we can
see how the distance from the patch changes the S11 parameter, for a fixed length of
8mm. Note also that the last step in the procedure introduces a shift in resonant
frequency.
This can also be proven by comparing Figures 36 and 37. Figure 36 represents the
S11 parameter for the patch originally designed at 1.84GHz, with the size of
62x62mm. We can see that with the capacitor patch implementation, the frequency
has shifted to 1.78 GHz. In order to compensate, in Figure 37 we have modified the
size of the main radiator to 60x60mm, which corresponds to a 1.9GHz frequency.
Thus, with the 60 Mhz shift, we can obtain the required 1.84 GHz. Figure 37 also
shows us that the frequency shifts drastically even with a small modification in the
separation distance.

Figure 36: Variation of the capacitor patch height, in mm. Capacitor patch length = 8mm. Radiator
patch size 62x62mm. Note the shift in frequency.

Figure 37: Variation of the capacitor patch height, in mm. Capacitor patch length = 8mm. Radiator
patch size modified from 62x62 to 60x60, to compensate for the shift.
40
Before the final implementation, the entire system has been modelled together
with an SMA connector. The impedance of the feed line has been modified, thus the
distance from the center of the patch had to be recalculated. We can see below a
detailed CST simulation of the final results, before the fabrication. The bandwidth of
the design is of 277 MHz, which is around 15%. The resonance frequency is at 1.819
GHz, with -21.8dB at 1.84 GHz. We can see the final design in Figure 38 and the
simulation results in Figure 39.

Figure 38: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, final design before
fabrication

The antenna components have been built at the mechanical workshop of the
university, using the thinnest copper available for the patches, 1mm, to minimize the
losses. The ground plane has been fabricated from aluminium, while keeping a
distance a bit bigger than half of an effective wavelength between the patch and the
edge of the ground plane. Therefore, the size was 190x190mm. The radiator patch is
fixed with a 15mm silicon spacer and screw above the ground plane and needs to be
as smooth as possible to minimize the conductor losses, as discussed in section 2.4.1.
The SMA has been cut to the necessary length and metallic screws have been used
to fasten the connector to the board. Furthermore, the small capacitive patch has
been drilled and soldered on top of the SMA connector. The soldering was the most
difficult part of the production, due to the very restrictive requirements for the
distance value.
41

Figure 39: Square patch air dielectric antenna design in CST Microwave Studio, final design before
fabrication results.
42

Figure 40: Square patch air dielectric antenna Farfield results
As we can see from Figure 40, the simulated total efficiency of the antenna indeed
gets close to 100%. The gain obtained is 9.88dB.
The fabrication results are quite different from the simulation. Due to the
micrometric precision required for the fabrication and soldering, the imperfections
that occurred in the process have shifted the resonant frequency by another 120
MHz, to 1.72 GHz. The measured bandwidth at -10dB is 120 MHz, which is about
14%. Figure 41 shows us the measured S11 parameter of the antenna. Because the
reliability of the fabrication is low, we will not proceed in building an air-dielectric
antenna array, but we will try to find a more reliable method.
In Annex A, photos with the fabricated prototype are presented to the reader

Figure 41: Measured S11 parameter of the Air Dielectric Antenna.
43

3.2 The Stepped Impedance Low-Pass Filter

A stepped-impedance low pass filter has been built to suppress the harmonics
induced by the rectifying circuit, as explained in section 2.6. The circuit needs to
block the frequency of 3.68 GHz, while our working center frequency of 1.840GHz
should ideally not suffer from any attenuation. This means that we can afford having
a lower transition slope.
According to [21], the Stepped Impedance High-Z Low-Z Low Pass Filter uses a
cascaded structure of alternating high and low impedance transmission lines. As
discussed in Section 2.6, we can use transmission lines that are very short compared
to the wavelength, as they act as semi-lumped elements. The high impedance lines
behave as series inductors and the low impedance lines like shunt capacitors. The
SIF filter is directly creating the L-C ladder type of lowpass filters, as we can see in
figure 42.

Figure 42: General L-C ladder implementation for a lowpass filter. Taken from [21].
Before the Microwave SIF filter implementation, we have to take into account the
following design factors, which are given in [21]:
Z0C<Z0<Z0L, where Z0C and Z0L denote the characteristic impedances of the low
and high impedance lines, respectively, and Z0 is the source impedance, in our
case 50 ohms.
A lower Z0C results in a better approximation of a lumped-element capacitor,
but the line thickness cannot be bigger than the maximum size achievable
with a transmission line. (see table 7). For a transmission line section l <<
/2, a capacitor can be expressed by:

(3.4)

A higher Z0L leads to a better approximation of a lumped-element inductor,
but Z0L must not be higher than the minimum thickness of a transmission line
(see table 7). For a transmission line section l << /2, an inductor can be
expressed by:
44

(3.5)

The advantage of the SIF filter is the relatively small size, which decreases the
material loss. Furthermore, having no open ends implies having a smaller radiation
loss due to discontinuities. As we have seen in chapter 2.4.2, the losses due to an
open end can become significant, especially when using a thick substrate. On the
other side, the radiation losses increase also in the case of stepped impedances, so a
thin substrate should be used for the design of the filter.
We will choose a Chebychev approximation with a band-pass ripple of 0.5dB. The
chosen cut-off frequency is 2.1GHz, in order to obtain sufficient attenuation at 3.68
GHz. The filter will be designed to have Z0 = 50 impedance, while taking a Z0L = 20
and Z0H = 120. The sizing of the elements will be done with the help of [38] and the
result is presented in Figure 43.

Figure 43: SIF filter design, N=13
The initial filter was designed on a Rogers Duroid 5880 board with a thickness of
0.508mm, according to the specifications mentioned above. As we can see in Figure
44, the resulted attenuation in the stop-band -98.8 dB at 3.85 GHz. Unfortunately, the
-0.38 dB of attenuation at 1.84 GHz in the pass-band is too much for a low-power
application. The reason of the problem is the small resonance of the s11 parameter
at the needed passband frequency. In order to shift the frequency, we will increase
the thickness of the substrate for the same design.

Figure 44: SIF filter design results, N=13, h=0.508mm
45
As we can see, changing the substrate thickness has shifted the filter frequency
with 500 MHz, but we now have a much better S11 resonance at 1.854 GHz. The
attenuation in the pass-band has been reduced to only 0.054dB. Unfortunately, the
attenuation in the stop-band at the HD2 frequency has also been reduced to -50 dB,
but it should still be sufficient to suppress the harmonics.

Figure 45: SIF filter design results, N=13, h=1.524mm
Even more, the results were satisfying after testing the filter together with the air
dielectric antenna modelled in ADS Momentum, as we can see in Figure 46.

Figure 46: Filter and Antenna simulation in ADS

46
Finally, we can see in Figure 47 the measurements with the network analyzer after
the fabrication of the filters

Figure 47: Network Analyzer results of the SIF filter with h=1.524mm dielectric thickness

In both cases, the insertion loss has increased mostly due to the material and
radiation losses. Table 8 shows the measured attenuation levels at the most relevant
frequencies for our measurements.

SIF filter h=1.524mm
dielectric thickness
SIF filter h=0.508mm
dielectric thickness
1.72 GHz -0.29 dB -1.2 dB
1.84 GHz -0.58 dB -1.19 dB
3.48 Ghz -48.2 dB -83 dB
3.68 GHz -56.4 dB -74 dB
Table 8: Measured attenuation levels at the frequencies that are relevant for the system

47

3.3 The Rectifying Circuit

As an important part of the circuit, the rectifier can make the difference in the
performance of the entire system. For this reason, we will compare two different
configurations of rectifiers: a simple peak detector and a voltage doubler.
Because the diode has such a crucial impact on the performance of the rectenna,
we will test two of the diodes which, at the moment, have the best specifications for
power rectification: the HSMS2850 and HSMS2860 from AVAGO Technologies. You
can see in Table 9 a comparison between the characteristics of the two diodes and a
third candidate, the SMS7630-079 from SKYWORKS.

HSMS2850 HSMS2860 SMS7630 Requirement
VF (mV) 150-250 250-350 260-320 Low
IS (A) 3*10
- 6
5*10
- 8
5*10
- 6
High
CJ (pF) 0.18 0.18 0.14 Low
Rs () 25 6 20 Low
n 1.06 1.08 1.05 1
Table 9: Diode specifications comparison

From the table, we will select HSMS2850 as our main candidate, mainly for its very
low forward voltage. On the other side, HSMS2860 has a higher forward voltage, but
a much lower series resistance. We will test both components in the ADS simulations,
to see which diode offers us the best performance in the circuit.

Figure 48: Peak Detector with no filter included, diode HSMS2850

48

3.3.1 The Peak Detector

The peak detector displayed in Figure 48 is based on the HSMS2850 diode. In
order to obtain a ripple of 0.02V, the value of the output capacitor has been
calculated to 15pF. As discussed in chapter 2.5, we want to select a resistor that
offers us the best compromise between output voltage and losses. Furthermore, the
voltage increase is logarithmic, as we can see in Figure 49. Therefore, the value of the
load resistor that brings the best compromise between voltage output and losses has
been chosen as 20K.

Figure 49: Load Resist ance vs Voltage

The Chebychev SIF Filter designed in the previous chapter with a substrate
thickness of 1.524mm will be introduced in the system. As specified, the filter has a
simulated attenuation of -0.054dB at 1.84 GHz and the cut-off frequency at 2.6 GHz.
The attenuation at the location of the second harmonic is -50dB, as we can see from
Figure 45.
In Figure 50 we can see the level of the harmonics at -10dBm generated power,
when no filter is present in the system. The data from Table 10 tells us that, indeed,
using a higher RL will slightly decrease the harmonic level. In Figure 51 we can see
that the filter does a very good job suppressing the harmonics.

RL size 50 100 1,000 10,000 20,000
HD2 level
(dBc)

-26.04

-26.66

-31.91

-37.46

-38.14
Table 10: Second Harmonic Distortion Level vs R
L
size for HSMS2850 Peak Detector, C=15pF.
49


Lets analyze the harmonic balance behaviour for a system based on an HSMS2860
diode. In Figure 52 we can realize by comparison that the level of the harmonics is
overall lower than in the case of the HSMS2850 diode. We can see in Table 11 that
the second harmonic becomes a bit lower with the increase of RL, but not as much as
in the case of the HSMS2860. Finally, Figure 53 shows us that the SIF filter makes a
big difference also in the case of HSMS2860. Finally, Table 12 summarizes the output
voltages for both diodes, with different filter combinations.

50
L
size for HSMS2860 Peak Detector, C=15pF


RL size 50 100 1,000 10,000 20,000
HD2 level
(dBc)

-26.04

-26.66

-31.91

-37.46

-38.14
51
V
out
case HSMS2850 HSMS2860
a.
no filter

b.
Ideal
Filter,
=60dB
Zout=50

c.
Ideal
Filter,
=50dB,
MATCHED

Zout=255

Zout=240

d.
SIF filter,
=50dB

Table 12: Voltage Output results of the two diodes in the same identical peak detector system,
P=-10dBm, C=15pF, R=20K
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
150
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
563.9p
122.8m
m1
815.2p
116.4m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=122.8mV
563.9psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=116.4mV
815.2psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
150
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
563.9p
49.51m
m1
835.6p
42.58m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=49.51mV
563.9psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=42.58mV
835.6psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
Readout
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=181.7mV
183.4psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=175.2mV
448.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
Readout
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=100.1mV
183.4psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=93.02mV
448.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
176.6p
282.3m
m1
726.9p
282.3m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=282.3mV
183.4psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=270.0mV
448.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
Readout
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=184.9mV
183.4psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=171.7mV
448.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
150
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
Readout
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=115.4mV
319.3psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=109.4mV
577.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
150
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
Readout
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=43.74mV
332.9psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=37.11mV
597.8psec
52
By analyzing the results displayed in Table 12 we can see that the HSMS2850 has a
much better performance in a peak detector system than the HSMS2860. For the
same components in the same system, the HSMS2850 can offer more than twice the
voltage! Most likely this is due to the smaller VF which, in the case of low power
circuits, determines the efficiency (expression 2.14).
Two more simulations have been added for comparison, in order to test the
importance of insertion loss and proper matching. In b. an ideal Chebychev low-pass
filter has been added to the system, with the same configuration as our SIF
microwave filter. Furthermore, not being a periodic structure allows the attenuation
slope to descend further with the same angle and to cancel out the higher order
harmonics completely. The second simulation shows us the importance of matching
in the Voltage Divider circuit. We can see in c the big increase in output voltage, just
from matching the circuit. Unfortunately, matching is quite difficult to perform, as the
impedance is above the impedance achievable with a transmission line (Table 7).

3.3.2 The Voltage Doubler

Next, we will implement the Voltage Doubler circuit and we will analyze the
performance improvement over the Peak Detector configuration. The Voltage
Doubler schematic, as it can be seen from Picture 54, is based on the Agilent HSMS-
2852 and HSMS-2862 SOT-23 packages, which consist of two diodes connected
together instead of just one. In the schematic, the output capacitance C2 has an
influence on the ripple of the circuit. On the other side, C3 influences also the voltage
level of the doubler. The value of the capacitors has been chosen as C2=C3=15pF,
whereas the load resistance will be kept at 20k. The measurements have been done
at a -10dBm level.

Figure 54: Peak Detector with no filter included, diode HSMS2852
One thing that strikes us from the start is that the level of harmonic distortion is
much lower in the case of the voltage doubler! As we can see from Figure 55, the
level of the second harmonic is at -67dB from the fundamental even without a filter!
A peculiarity is the value of the third harmonic, which in our case is bigger than the
53
second one. Even more, we can notice from the simulations the effect of the
capacitors in the circuit: the size of the output capacitor C2 determines not only the
peak level, but also the level of the harmonic. We can see the variation in table 13,
below. In comparison, Figure 56 presents the level of harmonic balance in the system
when a SIF filter is present.

RL size 50 100 1,000 10,000 20,000
HD2 level
(dB)

-57.61

-57.78

-62.53

-66.66

-67.03
L
size for HSMS2852 Voltage Doubler, C
2
=C
3
=15pF

C2 size 5pF 10pF 15pF 50pF 100pF
HD2 level
(dB)

-57.96

-63.63

-67.03

-77.32

-83.31
Table 14: Second Harmonic Distortion Level vs C
2
size for HSMS2852 Voltage Doubler, R
L
=20k

Figure 55: Voltage Doubler with no filter included, diode HSMS2852 Harmonic Balance Results.
In Table 15 we can see a similar overview as the one for the Peak Detector. Two
filters were used, in different situations: first, an ideal Chebychev filter with the same
specifications as the SIF filter was integrated in the system; secondly, the SIF filter
has been included in the system, in order to compare the results. As we can see, the
matching impedance has decreased from 255 to 115 for the HSMS2850 diode and
from 240 to 100 for the HSMS2860 diode.
54

Figure 56: Voltage Doubler with SIF filter, diode HSMS2852 Harmonic Balance Results.

3.3.3 Peak Detector vs. Voltage Doubler Performance Comparison

All in all, we can draw the following conclusions for the usage of a HSMS2850 diode:
Voltage Doubler output voltage 68% higher than the one of the Peak Detector
WITHOUT filter, and 64% higher WITH SIF filter;
The Voltage Doubler second order harmonics are 43.3% lower than the one of
a Peak Detector WITHOUT filter, and 23% lower WITH SIF filter;
The performance of the SIF filter compared to an ideal LPF is 36.47% lower in
the case of a Peak Detector and 34.4% lower in the case of a Voltage Doubler;
The performance in a matched circuit increases with 55% in the case of a Peak
Detector and with 23% in the Voltage Doubler.

We can conclude that the voltage doubler brings many advantages that justify its
implementation. Furthermore, the HSMS2852 diode clearly offers better
performance than its competitor, HSMS2862 and it will be implemented in the
fabricated circuit. Finally, the SIF filter brings small if any advantages to the system
due to its losses, but it will be produced in order to measure the assumptions in the
laboratory.

55
V
out
case HSMS2852 HSMS2862
a.
no filter

b.
Ideal
Filter,
=50dB
Zout=50

c.
Ideal
Filter,
=50dB,
MATCHED

Zout=115

Zout=100

d.
SIF filter,
=50dB

Table 15: Voltage Output results of the two diodes in the same identical volt age doubler system,
P=-10dBm, C
2
=C
3
=15pF, R
L
=20K
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
200
100
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
591.0p
205.2m
m1
856.0p
199.1m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=205.2mV
591.0psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=199.1mV
856.0psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
20
40
60
80
0
100
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
577.4p
64.40m
m1
835.6p
57.80m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=64.40mV
577.4psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=57.80mV
835.6psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
100
200
0
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
183.4p
176.0m
m1
448.4p
166.6m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=288.2mV
149.5psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=280.7mV
400.8psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
150
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
149.5p
126.9m
m1
407.6p
118.6m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=126.9mV
149.5psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=118.6mV
407.6psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
250
350
150
450
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
183.4p
176.0m
m1
448.4p
166.6m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=357.5mV
190.2psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=348.7mV
448.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
100
200
0
300
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
183.4p
176.0m
m1
448.4p
166.6m
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=176.0mV
183.4psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=166.6mV
448.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
100
200
0
250
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
Readout
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=189.7mV
346.5psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=183.8mV
611.4psec
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 1.1
0
150
time, nsec
t
s
(
V
o
u
t
)
,

m
V
339.7p
53.88m
m1
Readout
m2
m1
time=
ts(Vout)=53.88mV
339.7psec
m2
time=
ts(Vout)=47.61mV
604.6psec
56

3.4 Full System Measurements

After the devices have been fabricated and measured separately, the entire system
will be connected together for full-system measurements. A highly directive horn
antenna will be used as a transmitter and will be positioned a bit further than the
limit of its far field, which can be calculated:

89cm (3.6)

where D=25cm is the diagonal of the horn antenna and = 16.2cm is the frequency
wavelength. Thus, the measurements were performed at 1.25m.
A frequency generator was used to generate 1.84 GHz at different power levels. As
the frequency generator itself generates harmonics, it has been connected to a
spectrum analyzer in order to measure its induced distortions. Unfortunately, the
results were not very good. As we can see from Figure 57, the spectrum of the
generator was filled with harmonic components and intermodulation products, even
at low power levels! Table 16 summarizes the results.

Figure 57: Frequency Generator spectrum at 1.84 GHz and 10 dBm power level

57

Power

Frequency
-20dBm -10dBm 0dBm 10dBm 20dBm
1.72 GHz -47.5 dBc -45 dBc -36 dBc -23 dBc -10 dBc
1.84 GHz -48 dBc -46 dBc -35 dBc -24.7 dBc -10 dBc
1.91 GHz -51.2 dBc -51.5 dBc -42.2 dBc -24.7 dBc -47 dBc
Table 16: Second Harmonic Distortion level generated by the frequency generator
As the harmonic distortions from the frequency generator will add up with the
ones from the diode, the results from testing the voltage doubler separately should
also take this aspect into account. Furthermore, the large harmonics create very big
losses in the transmitting circuit and, for this reason, its efficiency will drop
exponentially with the increase in power level. Maybe the biggest problem is the fact
that the dimension of the harmonics and intermodulation products vary with
frequency and do not give predictable results.
But how much would the frequency generator affect the performance of the
doubler and filter circuit? Figure 58 presents measurements of the voltage level
picked up after connecting just the voltage doubler and the filter, for a power of
0dBm. As we can see, the impact is high.

Figure 58: Effect of Harmonic Distortion of the frequency generator on the circuit . P = 0dBm.
58
Finally, the wireless transmission simulations were ran at 1.72 GHz, the resonance
frequency of the air dielectric antenna, and at 1.84 GHz, our targeted frequency and
can be seen in table 17. Unfortunately, the level of -10dBm was not achieved.

Voltage level
SIF filter,
h=1.524mm
SIF filter,
h=0.508mm
NO filter
1.72
Ghz
0dBm 6.8mV 5.4mV 12.2mV
10dBm 49.5mV 44mV 72mV
20dBm 350mV 304mV 440mV
1.84
GHz
0dBm 8mV 12mV 7mV
10dBm 59.2mV 86mV 45mV
20dBm 292mV 392mV 225mV
Table 17: RF Energy Harvesting results with an Air Dielectric antenna.
Obviously, the results are much better at the resonance frequency of the antenna.
At 1.72 GHz, as the efficiency of the antenna is high, the performance will depend
more on the efficiency of the circuit. As in the simulations, the best result is achieved
when no filter is used, when the insertion loss comes into play. As the passband
attenuation of the filters and the performance of the frequency generator depend on
the generated frequency and the power level, we can see a big difference in the
results.
Finally, [48] provides us with the calculated ideal voltages for the dBm in the case
of a 50 ohm system. By using that data, we can calculate the following overall
performance of the system from table 18. The calculation takes into account the
overall losses, including the ones from the transmitter, receiver and the air
attenuation. The calculations are performed at the antennas resonant frequency.

Efficiency
SIF filter,
h=1.524mm
SIF filter,
h=0.508mm
NO filter
1.72
Ghz
0dBm 1,5% 1.2% 2.7%
10dBm 3.4% 3.1% 5.1%
20dBm 7.7% 6.7% 9.7%
Table 18: Air Dielectric Antenna efficiency calculation
59
Chapter 4: Antenna Array System

The second phase of the rectenna design modifies the antenna in order to further
increase the performance of the system. First of all, circular polarization will be
implemented to receive all the beams scattered by the environment more effectively.
Secondly, a low-loss array feed network will be designed and integrated to the
system to connect the circularly polarized patches. Finally, the entire system will be
tested together with the rest of the components and the results will be compared to
the ones obtained in Chapter 3.

4.1 The Antenna Array
An air dielectric antenna offers good efficiency, but building it is difficult and the
result is not as reliable as we would hope. The reliability decreases even more when
we are talking about 1.85 GHz frequencies, where the dimensions of the antenna
elements decrease. For this reason, the air dielectric structure will not be used to
build an array. We should not expect to obtain the big bandwidths obtained in the
previous case. In return, the knowledge gathered with the construction of the first
antenna will be applied on a microstrip structure, to try and achieve the best results
possible.
We will design a circularly polarized antenna array based on a Rogers Duroid 5880
microwave board with a low loss tangent of 0.0005 and r=2.2. To minimize the
problems described in [18] related to the losses of the feed lines, we will use two
separate layers for the radiators and the feeding network, interconnected by vias. In
order to increase the obtainable bandwidth, a thicker board will be used for the
radiating patches, with a dielectric height h=1.524mm. On the other side, in order to
have low losses, the feeding network requires the opposite characteristics, as
discussed in section 2.4, so we will use a thin board, with h=0.508mm
As the purpose is to create a low-loss circularly polarized 2x2 rectenna array, the
problem will be tackled step by step. First, we will target obtaining circular
polarization for only one antenna. After that, the entire feed network will be
60
expanded, while tuning the structure to cancel out the reflections. Furthermore,
chamfering and smoothing the edges and open ends will decrease the losses of the
system. Finally, after the patch distance has been optimized, the two boards will be
connected together through vias.

4.1.1. Antenna Feeding Network

The first step is to obtain a 90 polarization angle between the two feeding
network edges by adjusting the length of the transmission lines. In our case, the
angle of the wave will change by 90 every 29.7mm of transmission line. We will use
CST Microwave Studio to find the place where the difference between the lines is 90.
On the other side, we have to obtain the compromise between a minimum length of
the lines, as few corners and possible. For this reason, the feed line will be designed
as an L-shaped component.

Figure 59: Location of the 90 phase difference between the two transmission lines.
Unfortunately, we need to use a T-junction to add the two feed lines together. The
more T-junctions we add up, the more the lines will be attenuated due to the
discontinuities that it adds to the circuit.
Furthermore, we want to decrease the losses as much as possible. Chamfering or
smoothing the corners and bending the open ends can help us achieve a good
performance in this sense, as we can see from Figure 60. It is obvious that by far the
biggest performance gain was brought by smoothing the T-junction edges! Table 19
presents an overview of the gain of each performed operation.
Overall, the performance gain proves that corner smoothing is a useful operation
which can give us a performance boost when we want to minimize the losses in a
microstrip network
61

Operation none
Smoothen
open ends
Smoothen
open ends +
chamfer
corners
Smoothen
open ends
+ chamfer
corners +
smoothen
T-junction
Smoothen
open ends +
bend
corners +
smoothen
T-junction
Result s11 -30.37dB -30.42 -30.90 -40.24 -35.18
Table 19: Results of chamfering and smoothing operations

Figure 60: Bending effect and the decrease of contribution in feed lines
62
Next, we will gradually interconnect all the structures and create the feed network
for the antenna. Figure 13 from section 2.4.1 gives us a valuable tip about the losses
in the transmission lines. We must keep in mind that the low impedance microstrip
lines are less lossy than the high impedance ones. For this reason, we will keep the
long lines to a low impedance level and, at the end, we will use a quarter wave
transformer to convert the impedance to 50. Furthermore, a lot of re-adjustments
have to be done in order to keep the phase shift between the lines at 90. The final
result can be seen in Figure 61, together with the planned impedances in the system.
Furthermore, the dimensions of the feed can be seen in Figure 68.

Figure 61: Feed network impedances

Figure 62: S parameters of the final design of feed network
63
As we can see from the S parameters graph, the T-junctions will drastically
decrease the contribution of the microwave patches! Overall, we will win from the
gain of the patch antennas, but we will loose from their contribution to the array.

Figure 63: Phase differences between the ports of the feed network. Notice the 90 degrees phase
shift between all pairs of probes in the system.

Figure 64: Smith Chart of the feed network

Finally, by analyzing figures 62, 63 and 64, we can see that the 90 shift is
successful and with very few reflections when matched at 50. Therefore, we can
conclude that the feed network is ready for the integration with the patches.

64

4.1.2. Design of the Patches

To enable circular polarization, we need to choose a patch shape that is compatible
with this feature. Therefore, according to [15], the shape of the patches will be
maintained square, as until now. This will enable circular polarization with the
introduction of two feed lines, connected with a 90 degrees phase difference, at the
patches 100 point from the center.
After the initial design, an important element to take into account is the distance
between the patches. According to [40], one critical measure of an antenna array is to
maintain high isolation between inputs, which is affected mainl y by mutual coupling
between radiating elements. If the radiators are placed far away, mutual coupling will
decrease but the grating lobes will emerge. They will degrade the performance of the
array by dispersing radiation towards unwanted directions. For this reason, CST
Microwave Studio has been used to search for the most appropriate distance between
the patches. First, the sweep was done horizontally, then vertically and, at the end, a
thorough test with the entire 4 antennas and their feeding vias was performed. Figure 65
presents the results of this sweep. As we can see, the distance between the edges which
offers the lowest mutual coupling has been found at 50mm, which gives us an isolation
of -25.94dB.
In order to connect the patches to the ground plane, we need to firstly make sure
that the vias will not touch the ground. Furthermore, if the distance between the vias
and the ground will be too small, then we will have the phenomena of coupling. After
running a sweep in CST Microwave Studio, it has been discovered that the radius of
the hole in the ground has to be with 0.4 mm bigger than the radius of the wire.

Figure 65: Minimum distance between patches s31 sweep, a is the edge-to-edge patch distance.
65

Figure 66: S11 parameter of the antenna patches.

Figure 67: Antenna patches test configuration
All in all, we have discovered all the parameters that are needed to be taken into
account to design the antenna array. The results of the design prove to be successful
and we can, therefore, continue to the next step. It is time to integrate the patches
and the feeding network together.
66

4.1.3. Full Array Implementation and Measurement Results

Both the patches and the feeding network show positive results when tested
separately, but lets see what happens when we put them together. After
interconnecting the two substrates, an adaptive meshing test has been performed to
find the specifications of the resulting system. In Figure 69 we can see positive
results, as the Smith chart shows a very good matching of the rectenna array. The
obtained bandwidth has the value of 44 MHz, centred on a resonant frequency of
1.844 GHz. The corners of the feed network are not chamfered, but the T junctions
are bended to decrease the losses.

Figure 68: Antenna Array

67

Figure 69: Antenna Array characteristics No SMA
As seen in the previous antenna design from Chapter 3, the entire system has to be
verified in combination with an SMA Connector model before the fabrication. The
SMA will be connected as close as possible to the feeding network input, because
drawing a line to the edge of the patch would increase the losses. For this reason, an
SMA connector will be modelled according to the dimensions in the datasheet of the
producer (fig. 70).
Unfortunately, connecting the SMA to the feed network (fig. 71) degraded the
matching of the system, as we can see in Figure 72. The bandwidth of the system
dropped to 38 MHz due to the increase in reflections. The solution to the problem
would be to try and find the right width of the quarter wave transformer that
connects the SMA to the feed network. Unfortunately, the complexity of the problem
has reached the limits of the ESAT computer CST is installed on, as it requires
massive computational power due to the round shapes. For this reason, no further
improvements could be done to the antenna array and it has been sent to production.

68

Figure 70: Array with SMA connector

Figure 71: Antenna Array characteristics With SMA
69
Finally, it is necessary to perform a comparison of the far field characteristics of
the Antenna Array system, with and without an SMA connector. As it can be seen
below, tested without an SMA connector, the overall system efficiency reaches 89.7%!
This means that, indeed, we have managed to create an efficient antenna with low
losses, which was the proposed objective. On the other side, integrating the SMA
drops the efficiency of the system down to 82%, due to the loss in circuit matching.
We can find an overview of the performance of the system in Table 20.

Figure 72: Farfield characteristics of Antenna Array no SMA connector.

Figure 73: Farfield characteristics of Antenna Array With SMA connector.

70

4.2 Measurements of the Rectenna Array

In this chapter, the Antenna Array measurements will be presented to the reader
and compared to the previous measurements from the air dielectric rectenna.
As we can see from Figure 74, the measurements of the fabricated prototype are
very close to the simulated results indeed! We can notice that the resonant frequency
has shifted by 6MHz, from 1.844 to 1.85 GHz. The bandwidth has the value of 45 MHz
and it is obtained due to a better matching than the one predicted in the simulation
with an SMA connector. This can be explained by the difference in the size of the
central connector, as it had to be cut before soldering it to the board.

Figure 74: Antenna Array results from the measurements and the simulations
We will test the array on the same setup as the one described in section 3.4. As the
transmitting antenna did not change, the far field value will remain the same and,
thus, the distance between the transmitter and receiver will be kept to 1.25m.

Radiation
Efficiency
Total Array
Efficiency
Gain
No SMA -0.46 dB 89.9% -0.47dB 89.7% 7.18 dB
With SMA -0.51 dB 88.9% -0.85 dB 82.2% 6.6 dB
Table 20: Antenna Array Simulated Efficiency in CST Microwave Studio
71
Voltage level
SIF filter,
h=1.524mm
SIF filter, h=0.508 NO filter
1.84
GHz
0dBm 3mV 4mV 3mV
10dBm 20mV 23mV 26mV
20dBm 118mV 140mV 160mV
Table 21: RF Energy Harvesting results with a Microstrip Rectenna Array.

Taking into consideration that the conditions and RF circuit are the same as used
in the previous test, the measurement results confirm the importance of antenna
efficiency for the performance of a rectenna. As we can see in table 21, the output
voltage is lower than the one of the air dielectric antenna! This confirms our
assumption regarding the antenna efficiency. Indeed, the feed network of the array
dramatically decreases the contribution of the patches and adds a lot to the losses of
the system. Table 22 presents an estimation of the rectenna performance under the
given test conditions.

Efficiency
SIF filter,
h=1.524mm
SIF filter, h=0.508 NO filter
1.84
Ghz
0dBm 0.66% 0.88% 0.66%
10dBm 1.4% 1.61% 1.83%
20dBm 2.62% 3.1% 3.55%
Table 22: Rectenna Array efficiency calculation
Finally, Figure 75 makes an overall comparison between the efficiency of the two
systems: the air dielectric antenna at 1.72 GHz and the rectenna array at 1.84GHz.
To conclude this section, we have to state that an array can be used successfully to
increase the aperture of an antenna. In the case of line-of-sight propagation, the Air
Dielectric antenna has a much better performance.

72

Figure 75: Overall Efficiency Comparison between the Air Dielectric Rectenna and the Circularly
Polarized Rectenna Array

0,00%
2,00%
4,00%
6,00%
8,00%
10,00%
12,00%
Overall Efficiency Comparison
1,72 GHz Air Dielectric Rectenna 1.84 GHz Rectenna Array
73
4.3 Possible Improvements

After testing the antenna array, we can draw a few conclusions about its
improvement. There are three main aspects that can be modified in order to obtain a
better realization, and they will be described below. At the end, an analysis of
building a transparent antenna on a glass structure will be made.

4.3.1. Improving the bandwidth

As we can see from the measurements, the proposed 75 MHz bandwidth has not
been realized by the array. One of the reasons is the small inherent bandwidth of the
microstrip patch antenna, as it was discussed in chapter 2.3.1. As increasing the
thickness will also decrease the antenna efficiency in the case of a dielectric bigger
than 1, we need to find other more feasible ways.
Balanis describes in [14] a way of designing a coaxially fed air dielectric antenna
that has a U-shaped slot on the patch. According to him, this method can achieve a
very high bandwidth (>30%). The size of the U-slot is calculated so that the created
capacitance cancels out the inductance introduced by the longer feed line. The
reliability of this method is bigger than the one used in chapter 3.1 and, thus, an
array can be built much easier and with much higher reliability. On the other side, as
in the case of any air-dielectric antenna, the fabrication complexity will still be high.
Another disadvantage is that creating a discontinuity on the patch will certainly
decrease the efficiency.
An alternative way of obtaining a bigger bandwidth, but also of improving the
fabrication precision, is the implementation of an aperture-coupled feed line in a
microstrip antenna. The method will be described in more detail in section 4.3.3.

4.3.2. Improving the efficiency

As we can see from Figure 63, in a corporate-fed array the contribution of the
patches decreases in a logarithmic manner together with the increase in the number
of T-junctions added to the feed network. In order to reach the proposed bandwidth
of 75 MHz, we need to connect the patches in parallel. Even more, circular
polarization will introduce another T-junction in the system, which will decrease
from the start the contribution with -3 dB. Therefore, it is not an option to cut down
the number of T-junctions in the network.
In this situation, is it still feasible to create large rectenna arrays which imply
connecting the elements together before rectification? In [41] we can find an answer
to this question. According to the authors, doing so has the advantage of harvesting
more power near the main beam, which is due to the higher power fed to a single
rectifier. Otherwise, by rectifying the received RF signal of each antenna element
74
prior to combining it at the DC output can harvest more power at angles away from
the broadside, as each rectifier is connected to the individual antenna elements and
responds to the broad pattern of that element. Thus, it is less sensitive to incidence
angles.

4.3.3. Improving the precision of fabrication

Creating the feed network on a separate board has its advantages, but connecting
it through vias with the patches increases the difficulty of production and the risk of
a bad design.
Balanis [14] and Bhartia [15] talk about Aperture Coupling, a way of feeding the
patches that not only gets us rid of the problem of the vias, but also improves the
achievable bandwidth in a microstrip structure! According to [14], this feeding
method allows the patches to achieve wide bandwidth (>10%) with a thick substrate.
Furthermore, it also allows for circular polarization, the designs being presented in
[42] and [43].
Simulations with aperture coupling have been performed in CST Microwave
Studio, but the method has not been implemented in a feed network due to the
limited timeframe of the project.

4.3.4. Feasibility study over the development of optically transparent
antennas based on High Transmissive Silver

Optically transparent antennas are an emerging technology in the field of
antennas. Based on AgHT coated films ([44],[45]) and on conductive ink ([46]) they
create transparent conductive structures on transparent dielectric materials such as
glass or plastic. It would be very beneficial to have the possibility of building large
transparent rectenna arrays on windows, but the question of the feasibility remains.
Is it, thus, possible to build such structures? Lets briefly analyze the losses that
would occur in such a system according to the discussion from Chapter 2.
According to [44], the most conductive AgHT compound is around 30 times less
conductive than Aluminium. This means that compared to copper, the compound is
almost 59 times less conductive and has a conductivity of approximately
. By applying this to formulas 2.8 and 2.9, we can see that by using
AgHT4 as conducting material would increase the conduction losses dramatically. An
attempt to slightly increase the conductivity is presented in [47]. The design consists
in applying a highly conductive coating or metallization in the form of a narrow strip,
placed at the locations of high current. The downside is that the method does not
improve the performance dramatically and that it decreases the transparency level.
On the other side, using the AgHT compound on a glass dielectric also comes along
with a disadvantage, as the glass dielectric would also increase the losses. This can
be verified by introducing the dielectric constant r = 4.84 and tangent loss tan =
75
0.0054 specific to this material in formula 2.10. After performing the calculations, we
can see how the attenuation constant would surge. Furthermore, the efficiency of the
antenna would drop dramatically together with the increase of the substrate
thickness (Figure 8), so the possible obtainable bandwidth would be very small.
Finally, as presented in section 4.3.2, creating any large array of rectennas would
not be feasible not only due to the lossy feed network, but also because of the
decrease in contribution of the antenna elements. For this reason, not many elements
can be placed together on a glass surface without connecting them to a circuit.
After analyzing these aspects, we can conclude that it is too early to develop
optically transparent antennas on windows. Even if indeed a promising technology,
the level of technology of today does not make it compatible with low-power energy
harvesters.

76

77
Chapter 5: Conclusion

Thorough the paper, we proved that the rectenna is very sensitive to losses. One of
the most important requirements for a proper functionality is having a balanced and
well-calculated system, where the components are perfectly matched and losses are
minimized.
The antenna that brings the biggest advantages to this type of applications is the
one which uses air as dielectric The efficiency will increase together with the
distance between the patch and the ground plane. This will also allow for a large
bandwidth, very appropriate for many of the energy scavenging applications. The big
disadvantage is the reliability of such an antenna structure, which drops together
with the increase in substrate thickness due to the disturbing effects induced by the
feed probe. There are many ways to counter this effect, but all of them add to the
complexity of the antenna and do not always show the best results.
There is no perfect recipe for building a proper rectifier because its configuration
and components vary with the frequencies and power levels used. The
semiconductor technology evolves at a very fast pace, bringing more and more
diodes specialized on low-power rectification. This is good news for the Rectenna
builder because, as demonstrated in the text, the performance of the entire system
heavily depends on the diode sensitivity and specifications. Circuit-wise, the voltage
doubler brings many advantages over the peak detector, especially if the appropriate
diode is selected. Not only that the output voltage will increase, but also the
harmonics in the system will become lower. Even more, the voltage doubler is easier
to match with the rest of the RF circuit. For a higher power level, the designer can
even ramp up the output voltage by increasing the number of stages, with the price
of assuming the losses.
With the progress of the diode technology, the harmonics are becoming less and
less of an issue. Traditional circuits employed RF filters to suppress the harmonic
distortions. These filters come with the disadvantage of having high insertion loss
which becomes a bigger issue than the harmonic itself.
78
Finally, the development of an antenna array can bring a performance boost, but
the contribution of the antennas will dramatically decrease with the increase in the
complexity of the feeding structure. For this reason, it would be more feasible to
connect the elements together in smaller numbers to minimize the losses due to the
T-junctions.
As the emerging technology of antennas printed on glass increases in popularity
among the researchers, it becomes tempting to bring this technology also in the
world of energy harvesting. This technology will find many applications in the future
but, unfortunately, the losses in the material of such a system are difficult to
overcome.
To conclude, it will not be an easy task to harvest the very low energy levels
transmitted by the GSM base stations. Technology advances at a very fast pace, but
the rules of physics cannot be changed. Harvesting 0.1 mW/m
2
to 1.0 mW/m
2
would
be possible with a 1 m
2
large array, with the condition that its feeding network would
be able to transfer such a small power.
This master thesis can be used as a first step to understanding and overcoming the
problems that arise in a Rectenna system. At the end, the author can only hope that
this paper will bring its contribution to science and that the information inside will
be used in developing better Rectennas in the future.

79
Appendices

80

81
Appendix A: Pictures with the
Fabricated Components.

Figure 76: Air Dieletric Rectenna

82

Figure 77: Circularly Polarized Antenna Array

Figure 78: Circularly Polarized Antenna Array Feed Network
83

Figure 79: All Components Together

84

Figure 80: Test Setup

85
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Masters Thesis file

Students: Octavian Sima

Title: Design of a Large Area Rectenna for Energy Harvesting using Ambient RF
Energy

UDC: 621.3

Content in brief:

This thesis represents an analysis of the RF Energy Harvesting rectenna systems.
The proposed objective of the paper is to perform a thorough analysis of the
efficiency distribution in the system. The theoretical assumptions will be verified by
simulating and fabricating two prototypes.
The first chapter will introduce the field of wireless power transmission, with an
emphasis on the necessities of the RF Energy Scavengers. It will also give an
overview of the applications in which this technology is currently being used in.
In the second chapter, we will go into further detail regarding the construction of a
low power energy scavenger. This chapter proposes a discussion about the losses
and the efficiency of the system. Finally, several solutions will be given to overcome
the shortcomings and increase the output voltage.
The third chapter will present the design workflow of an energy scavenger based
on an air dielectric antenna. All the simulations and construction details will be
included, together with a description of the encountered problems. The results will
be compared to the final measurements, in order to understand which problems can
occur in reality. This chapter will compare results obtained with a peak detector
rectifier and a voltage doubler with different filter configurations.
Next, the fourth chapter will present the design of a low-loss antenna array and its
integration in a rectenna system. The trade-offs will be presented to the reader,
together with the simulations and the measurement results. The possible
improvements of the configuration will also be introduced, together with analyzing
the creation of rectenna arrays on glass windows.
The master thesis will conclude with a short overview of the aspects that must be
kept in mind when designing a rectenna system.

K.U.Leuven Faculty of Engineering 2010-2011

90
(Title of the article: Title of the article) Efficiency Analysis in Large Rectenna Array
Systems

(English translation: English translation of the title) Efficiency Analysis in Large
Rectenna Array Systems

Thesis submitted to obtain the degree of Master in Engineering: Electrical
Engineering
Promoter(s): Prof. Dr. Ir. Guy Vandenbosch, Prof. Dr. Ir. Georges Gielen
Assessors: Prof. Dr. Ir. Robert Mertens, Dr. Ir. Vladimir Volski,
Supervisors: Drd. Hidayath Mirza

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Design of a Large Area Rectenna

for Energy Harvesting

is the received power at the distance R. The

is the total efficiency of the scavenging system

is the antenna efficiency

represents the losses of the matching network and of the HF filter

is the effective microstrip width and is defined as:

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