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Wireless Power Transfer in the Radiative Near-Field

Article  in  IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters · January 2016

DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
Wireless Power Transfer in the Radiative Near-
Field
Vinay R. Gowda, Student Member, IEEE, Okan Yurduseven, Member, IEEE, Guy Lipworth, Tomislav
Zupan, Matthew S. Reynolds, Senior Member, IEEE, and David R. Smith, Member, IEEE
 For distances beyond the reactive near-field, magneto-
Abstract— A scheme for wireless power transfer (WPT) in the
radiative near-field (Fresnel) region is presented. The proposed
Fresnel WPT scheme is designed to focus microwaves to a
diffraction-limited region where a detector can be positioned,
achieving reasonably high power transfer efficiency over
moderate distances. The configuration consists of transmit and
receive microstrip patch array antennas, with the receiving
antenna connected to a power-harvesting half-wave rectifier
(rectenna). Fresnel region operation enables the fields radiated
by the transmitting aperture to be localized both in range and
cross-range. Using Fresnel region focusing, we achieve an
increase of 66.8% in the amount of received power when
compared to the performance of a conventional beam-forming
array. We also demonstrate the efficiency improvement by
powering an LED using the on-axis and off-axis focusing
configurations.
Index Terms—Wireless power transfer, Fresnel, near-field,
focusing.
I. INTRODUCTION
Wireless power transfer (WPT) schemes have been
proposed that leverage both the near-field and far-field
(Fraunhofer) zones. The near-field zone is divided into the
reactive and radiating (Fresnel) near-field. Most WPT
schemes demonstrated in the literature have been designed for
the reactive near-field [1-3] and far-field [4-6] zones, where
complete systems have been demonstrated. In the reactive
near-field zone, power is transferred between resonant circuits
via magneto-inductive coupling. Systems operating in this
zone can have high WPT transfer efficiencies, but their
usability is restricted to small separation distances 𝑑 between
source and target, since the efficiency of magneto-inductive
systems falls as 1/𝑑 6 [3]. In addition, the strong coupling can
introduce a resonance frequency shift that varies strongly as
distance between the resonant circuits [1], necessitating some
method of either changing the operating frequency or
dynamically re-tuning the resonators to maintain optimal
efficiency.
Manuscript received December 12, 2015; revised February 6, 2016;
accepted March 12, 2016.
V. R. Gowda, O. Yurduseven, G. Lipworth, and D. R. Smith are with the
Center of Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics, Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
(vinay.ramachandra.gowda@duke.edu; okan.yurduseven@duke.edu).
Matthew S. Reynolds is with Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA.
Tomislav Zupan is with Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing,
University of Zagreb, Unska, 3, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
1536-1225 (c) 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
inductive coupling becomes insignificant. Long-range WPT
applications with microwave or laser sources [5, 6] can be
applied in the far-field region, which begins at a distance of
𝑧 = 2𝐷 2 /𝜆0 from the transmitting (Tx) antenna [7], where D
is the largest aperture dimension, 𝜆0 is the free space
wavelength, and the aperture lies in the 𝑥𝑦-plane. However,
achievable power transfer efficiencies in the far-field region
are often unacceptably low. Moreover, the footprint of the
receiving (Rx) aperture must increase with distance to
intercept the power diverging from the Tx aperture.
Near-field schemes can still be considered if the target to be
powered lies within the radiating near-field of the source,
where quasi-optical approaches can be used. In this
intermediate Fresnel zone, which begins at a distance 𝑧 =
0.62√𝐷3 /𝜆0 [7], a focal point, F(x, y, z), can be defined by
optimizing the phase distribution across the Tx aperture [8-
10]. This enables control of the field radiated by an aperture
not only in the cross-range, xy-plane, but also in range, z-axis.
The field intensity from the source can thus be localized,
increasing the amount of power received by the Tx aperture
placed at the focal point.
In this paper, we consider focusing in the radiating near-
field to enhance WPT efficiency. Our configuration consists of
planar Tx and Rx microstrip patch array antennas, with the Tx
antenna producing a focused beam and the Rx antenna placed
at the focal point. Using the Rx aperture and a half-wave
rectifier (HWR) circuit we form a rectenna structure that
converts the RF signal to DC. The output of the Rx antenna is
alternatively connected to a microwave power meter to
measure and compare the power received with and without
focusing.
II. TRANSMITTING FRESNEL REGION ANTENNA DESIGN
Analyzing the characteristics of the fields produced by an
antenna aperture within each of the surrounding field regions
plays an important role in visualizing the concept of Fresnel
focusing. A depiction of a square aperture focusing a beam in
the Fresnel region is demonstrated in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig.
1, the reactive near-field region of the aperture is dominated
by evanescent waves, rapidly decaying as a function of
distance. Within the Fresnel region, the radiated fields can be
confined to a desired focal point by optimizing the phase
distribution of the aperture. Once the far-field limit is reached,
the fields start forming a diverging beam.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
Fig. 1. Depiction of fields produced by a square aperture
(D=20 cm) within the surrounding field regions. Focusing can
be achieved in the Fresnel zone.
Our Fresnel region WPT implementation makes use of two
planar microstrip patch arrays, illustrated in Fig. 2, with an
8x8 array and a 4x4 array serving as Tx and Rx antennas,
respectively. Both antennas were designed using low-loss
1.524 mm thick Rogers 4003 substrate (εr=3.55 and
tanδ=0.0027). Investigating Fig. 2, it can be seen that different
from the Rx antenna composed of edge-fed patches, the Tx
antenna consists of inset-fed patches to better accommodate
the varying length microstrip transmission lines. We designed
the antennas to resonate at 5.8 GHz, a widely used industrial,
scientific, and medical (ISM) band. From standard diffraction
theory it is possible to obtain an estimate for the achievable
focal spot size radius (SS) based on the antenna geometry,
focal length, and wavelength of operation as given in (1) [8].
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Patch array antennas (a) 8x8 Tx array (b) 4x4 Rx array
(DTX=21.7 cm, DRX=16 cm).
0.8868 F 0
SS 
D the Tx antenna. From the calculations of spot size in the
Here, |𝐹| is the on-axis focal length along the optical axis,
z. Each of the patch elements must be tuned to radiate with a
phase such that the collective interference pattern results in the
desired focal spot. Computing the phase difference (or time
delay) for each of the radiating elements using the geometric
length approach [8-10], one can achieve constructive field
interference at a certain focal point, F(x, y, z), in the Fresnel
region. To perform this design, we choose an arbitrary focal
point along the optical axis (on-axis), Fon = (0 cm, 0 cm, 40
cm) and calculate the required phase distribution for the
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individual patch elements within the Tx antenna array shown
in Fig. 2(a). The length of the microstrip transmission lines
feeding the patches are adjusted accordingly to achieve
focusing at Fon. When an antenna is designed conventionally,
its parameters, such as antenna gain, half-power beam width
(HPBW) and radiation efficiency, are defined in the far-field
region. Although this work demonstrates Fresnel zone
operation, it is still important to analyze these parameters to
assess the performance of the Tx array. Full-wave simulations
of the Tx antenna were performed in CST Microwave Studio.
It was observed that the antenna has a gain of 23.1 dBi with a
radiation efficiency of 86% and a HPBW of 7°.
Since the proposed WPT system operates in the Fresnel
region, it is important to calculate the spot size or focus width
for the focused fields produced by the Tx aperture. This is an
important parameter for the design of the Rx antenna which
will be discussed in the next section. From CST simulations,
the -3 dB points (full width at half-maximum, FWHM) of the
electric field produced by the Tx antenna at the focal plane is
found to be 13.5 cm, providing a good estimate on the size of
the Rx antenna needed to maximize transfer efficiency. The
simulated and measured 1-D electric field plots to calculate
the FWHM points are shown in Fig. 3. For measurement, we
used a planar near-field scanning system (NSI 200 V – 3 x 3).
Fig. 3. 1-D plot of the simulated (dotted) and measured (solid)
normalized electric field magnitude plots at the focal plane.
III. RECEIVING ANTENNA AND RECTIFIER DESIGN
An important aspect of the Rx design procedure is the
optimization of the effective aperture size to maximally
capture the power emitted from the Tx aperture. Ideally, the
aperture size of the receiving antenna should be on the order
(1) of the FWHM width of the focused electric field produced by
earlier section, the receiving antenna was designed with
dimensions slightly larger to intercept the fields outside the -3
dB region, reducing the spillover loss. We implement the Rx
antenna using the 4x4 patch array illustrated in Fig. 2(b). The
Rx antenna utilizes identical patches and element spacing as
the Tx antenna, having the same resonance frequency of 5.8
GHz. The Rx antenna also has uniform amplitude and phase
distribution across the aperture, radiating in the broadside
direction. As mentioned earlier for the Tx array, although the
proposed WPT scheme works in the Fresnel zone, full-wave
far-field simulations of the Rx antenna were performed to
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters

analyze its radiation characteristics, providing a gain of 17.7 simulation and measurement can be attributed to over-etching
dBi with a radiation efficiency of 88% and a HPBW of 20.7°. of the printed circuit board (PCB) during the fabrication
An important component of a WPT system is the rectifier process. Fig. 5 also shows the S11 of the fabricated HWR
used for harvesting power. Once the transmitted RF signal is (under 13 dBm input power), which is below -10 dB at 5.8
received by the Rx antenna, it must be converted to a DC load GHz, confirming the accuracy of the matching circuit.
connected to the output terminal of the antenna. The
combination of the rectifier with the antenna array is often
termed a rectenna. We used Keysight ADS software to design
a HWR circuit relying on the Schottky barrier diode HSMS
8202. We chose this diode due to its small threshold voltage
and high rectifying efficiency in the 5.8 GHz band [4]. A
schematic circuit diagram of the HWR is shown in Fig. 4(a),
and a microstrip implementation of the proposed HWR circuit
is depicted in Fig. 4(b).

Fig. 5. Simulated (dashed) and measured (solid) |S11| (dB)

patterns for Tx and Rx antennas, and HWR.

In a near-zone WPT scenario, the receiver may be

positioned off of the optical axis of the Tx aperture. Therefore,
(a) (b) it becomes necessary to demonstrate both on- and off-axis
Fig. 4. HWR (a) schematic (b) microstrip implementation. field focusing for WPT applications. We designed and
fabricated two separate Tx apertures to achieve both on-axis
We performed a parametric study of the HWR circuit, and off-axis focusing (using the geometric length approach
varying the values of circuit elements in ADS. The study discussed earlier). The on- and off-axis focal points were
results indicated the optimum discharge time was achieved chosen to be (in units of cm) Fon = (0, 0, 40) and Foff = (8, -8,
with C1=10 pF and RL=1 kΩ. The impedance seen at the input 40), respectively, and the focal plane field patterns are plotted
of the Rx antenna is Zin≈50 Ω while the input impedance of in Fig. 6. In comparison to the on-axis configuration,
the diode is Zin=2-j40 Ω (under 13 dBm input power). To providing a gain of 23.1 dBi and a radiation efficiency of 86%,
maximize the power delivered to the load, we incorporated the off-axis configuration has a gain of 20.1 dBi and a
into the rectifier board an impedance matching circuit as radiation efficiency of 83%.
shown in Fig. 4(a). Fig. 4(b) depicts a microstrip
implementation of the HWR. Starting from the RF connector,
it consists of an open-stub used for impedance matching
between the diode and the Rx microstrip patch antenna array.
The shorted stub within the matching network provides a DC
path to the ground. The diode is connected to the end of the
main transmission line, followed by an RC load. Not shown in
the figure is the LED connected to the output terminal of the
HWR (replacing RL), serving as a DC load.

IV. EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS

To fabricate the Tx and Rx patch arrays, as well as the
HWR microstrip circuit, we patterned the desired structures
into the top copper layer of a double-sided copper-clad Roger
4003 substrate using a U3 LPKF laser milling system. The
radiation efficiencies of the Tx and Rx array antennas were
also measured using the NSI near-field scanning system [11],
and reported to be 85% and 87% respectively, providing good
agreement with the simulation results. The reflection
coefficients (S11) of the Tx and Rx antennas are shown in Fig.
5. From Fig. 5, we observe the simulated and measured S11
patterns are in good agreement. The slight shift between
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Simulated, normalized electric field patterns of the Tx
antenna at the focal plane (a) on-axis focus at Fon = (0 cm, 0
cm, 40 cm) (b) off-axis focus at Foff = (8 cm, -8 cm, 40 cm).
The fields are plotted in a transparent fashion to show the Tx
antenna in the background.
We compared the WPT efficiency of our focusing array
with that of an unfocused array. For the latter, we fabricated a
second 8x8 array, equal in size and element-spacing to our
focusing Tx array, but with a uniform phase distribution
across all patches. This array provides a gain of 26.3 dBi and

1536-1225 (c) 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138, IEEE
emulates a beam-forming aperture that would typically be
used to create a beam in the far-field zone. It should be noted
here that the advantage of being able to control the radiated
fields in range (and therefore achieving a focus at F) comes
from the Fresnel zone operation. In the far-field, however,
both antennas would work as beam-forming antennas with the
ability to perform beam steering but not focusing.
The complete experimental setup is shown in Fig. 7(a). Our
RF source is realized using a vector network analyzer (VNA)
outputting Pout=20 mW (13 dBm). We used an RF amplifier to
increase the power fed to the Tx antenna, PTx, to 100 mW (20
dBm). We then positioned the Rx array at the focus point,
connected it to a microwave power meter, and recorded the
received power, PRx. This procedure was repeated three times:
once for the on-axis Tx array, again for the off-axis Tx array,
and finally using the conventional on-axis beam-forming
array. The calculated WPT efficiencies, 𝜂 = 𝑃𝑅𝑥 /𝑃𝑇𝑥 , are
reported in Table I for all three cases.
(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Fresnel zone WPT system (a) experimental set-up for
received power measurement (b) powering an LED using the
off-axis configuration at z=40 cm.
TABLE I
WPT EFFICIENCY VALUES FOR ON-AXIS (IN COMPARISON TO NO-FOCUSING
CASE) AND OFF-AXIS FOCUSING, RESPECTIVELY.
On-axis
Fresnel Focus η Beam-Forming η
33.2% 19.9%
As shown in Table I, the experimental WPT efficiency of
the conventional beam-forming antenna was measured to be
19.9%. In contrast, when the phases of the array’s elements
were designed to form a focus, the efficiency scaled to 33.2%.
In other words, designing the Tx aperture using the Fresnel
focusing technique has increased the received power from
PRx=19.9 mW to PRx=33.2 mW, a factor of 66.8%.
Additionally, the transfer efficiency at the selected off-axis
point was measured to be 24.3% with the received power
recorded as PRx=24.3 mW, still larger than the on-axis beam-
forming case. We note that the off-axis efficiency was
expected to decrease when compared to the on-axis focused
configuration due to aperture reduction.
In order to demonstrate the WPT efficiency increase for
practical applications, we connected our HWR circuit to the
output of the Rx antenna, and an LED (Avago HLMP-1700) to
the output terminal of the HWR as shown in Fig. 7(b). For this
experiment, we measured the transmitted threshold RF power
at which the LED turns on for four cases; first, using a direct
connection to the VNA, second, using the on-axis focusing
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Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
configuration, third, using the off-axis focusing configuration,
and finally, using the traditional beam-forming structure. The
measured threshold power values are shown in Table II. As
shown in Table II, the on-axis focusing configuration requires
65.1% less power (40.2 mW) to light the LED in comparison
to the traditional beam-forming configuration (66.3 mW).
Similarly, the required transmitted threshold power level for
the off-axis focusing configuration is 19.7% smaller compared
with the beam-forming configuration.
TABLE II
MEASURED TRANSMITTED THRESHOLD POWER VALUES FOR LED LIGHTING
Direct On-Axis Off-Axis Beam-Forming
7.32 mW 40.2 mW 55.4 mW 66.3 mW
V. CONCLUSION
We have demonstrated a WPT scheme operating in the
Fresnel zone capable of focusing the radiated fields at a
desired focal point. We have achieved an increase by a factor
of up to 66.8% in the received power level as a result of
Fresnel focusing. Although 5.8 GHz ISM band has been
chosen for this work, the proposed Fresnel WPT scheme can
readily be extended to higher frequencies in order to increase
the power transfer range, achieve size reduction of the
antennas and obtain smaller focus regions. When used with
dynamically reconfigurable apertures and some form of target
tracking or serving, the proposed Fresnel WPT scheme could
offer significant advantages in that targets to be powered could
be in motion and power transfer can be achieved in a dynamic
manner.
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