A compact low-power EM energy harvester using electrically small loop resonator

Electromagnetic (EM) energy harvester is a combination of an antenna or EM collector and a rectifier circuit. It is a concept that has seen applications in a variety of areas, as its essential purpose is to harvest and reuse the ambient microwave power. Compact system solutions for EM energy harvesting are presented and investigated in this work. The objective of this work is to reduce the size of the EM harvesters and simplify the fabrication process. A new approach to design a compact EM energy harvester which based on the concept of an electrically small square-loop collector, is proposed. Coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines are utilized to build the half-wave rectifier. The input impedance of the rectifier is designed to be equaled to the conjugate of the impedance of the square-loop collector at the operating frequency. This method not only reduces the mismatch loss, but also reduces the overall size and simplifies the complexity of the system. The efficiency and the DC output power of the design are examined with respect to the power density on the EM harvester surface. Measurements demonstrate that the system is efficient to harvest EM energy in a low power density environment and generate a reasonable DC power. The proposed EM energy harvester is compact, easy to fabricate and integrate into other devices, and suitable for different energy harvesting applications. The mechanical flexibility of the proposed compact EM energy harvester is also discussed. The EM energy harvester is redesigned and fabricated on a thin flexible substrate. The performances are measured with respect to frequency in both planar and curvature configurations. The results show that the operating frequencies for both planar and curvature configurations do not vary. Furthermore, the output power of the two configurations at the operating frequency are very close to each other. The proposed flexible EM energy harvester requires a simpler fabrication process and a smaller size when compared to the previous work reported in the literature for EM energy harvesting at 2.45 GHz. A single element of EM energy harvester is insufficient for powering common devices. Therefore, two low-cost techniques are proposed and used to increase the capability of the system. In the first method, a parabolic reflector is designed, fabricated and placed behind the system to reflect the beam of parallel rays and concentrates the radiation power at the harvester surface. An alternate technique to boost the output DC power is based on using multi-square-loop collectors. Instead of using a rectifier circuit for each loop collector, multi collectors are combined before feeding into a single rectifier circuit. The experimental results show that these two techniques have significant improvement in the DC output power. The parabolic reflector technique can improve the DC output power by 35%, while in the case of the multi collectors technique, 4 times higher DC output power can be achieved

Design synthesis and miniaturization of multiband and reconfigurable microstrip antenna for future wireless applications

Tese de Doutoramento. Engenharia Electrónica e de Computadores - Telecomunicações. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

Complementary RFID tag antennas

This thesis is mainly concerned with the investigation of a systematic approach to selecting tag antennas whose electromagnetic properties are compatible with the platforms on which they are supported and the immediate environment in which they are to be operated. The work is divided into three parts. The first two explore the design and optimisation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag antennas: firstly, in this section, behaviour of an electric dipole is explored. Secondly, a novel dual band Slot Patch Antenna (SPA) antenna is designed and developed, which employs various resonant slots to perturb the tuning and impedance of a conventional slotline. The third investigates its operation within a roll cage. Complementary dipole and Slot Patch Antennas (SPA) are investigated to obtain a range of options on antenna configurations that, at certain selected frequency bands, give optimum interaction with the antenna support material. This requires that the regions of Perfect Electric Conductor (PEC) and free space dielectric substrate in both antennas be interchanged. The antennas are truncated of the otherwise infinite perfect electric conductor and dielectric substrate. The radar cross sections (RCS) are predicted under various load conditions and orientations when the models are illuminated with plane wave. The convergence of this method has been found to depend on the load conditions and the substrate thickness and permittivity. The RCS at boresight is found to depend on the radiating elements. The effects of various possible mounting platforms are predicted. The feasibility of reading tags through wire meshes such as those on a roll cage is investigated. The cages, of various mesh sizes, exhibit transmission responses characterised by frequency spacing of approximately half the first resonant frequency. The insertion loss is found to decrease with increasing mesh size. Also, the standing waves inside the cage exhibit nulls whose voltage standing wave ratio (v.s.w.r.) decreases with increasing mesh sizes. The distance, or range, over which the tag surveillance operates, is approximated in proportion to the amplitude of the standing wave at the position of the tag with peaks and nulls occurring at every half wavelength. The effects on the read range of either electromagnetic absorber or scatterer packing the space with the roll cage are also investigated

Microwave Antennas for Energy Harvesting Applications

In the last few years, the demand for power has increased; therefore, the need for alternate energy sources has become essential. Sources of fossil fuels are finite, are costly, and causes environmental hazard. Sustainable, environmentally benign energy can be derived from nuclear fission or captured from ambient sources. Large-scale ambient energy is widely available and large-scale technologies are being developed to efficiently capture it. At the other end of the scale, there are small amounts of wasted energy that could be useful if captured. There are various types of external energy sources such as solar, thermal, wind, and RF energy. Energy has been harvested for different purposes in the last few recent years. Energy harvesting from inexhaustible sources with no adverse environmental effect can provide unlimited energy for harvesting in a way of powering an embedded system from the environment. It could be RF energy harvesting by using antennas that can be held on the car glass or building, or in any places. The abundant RF energy is harvested from surrounding sources. This chapter focuses on RF energy harvesting in which the abundant RF energy from surrounding sources, such as nearby mobile phones, wireless LANs (WLANs), Wi-Fi, FM/AM radio signals, and broadcast television signals or DTV, is captured by a receiving antenna and rectified into a usable DC voltage. A practical approach for RF energy harvesting design and management of the harvested and available energy for wireless sensor networks is to improve the energy efficiency and large accepted antenna gain. The emerging self-powered systems challenge and dictate the direction of research in energy harvesting (EH). There are a lot of applications of energy harvesting such as wireless weather stations, car tire pressure monitors, implantable medical devices, traffic alert signs, and mars rover. A lot of researches are done to create several designs of rectenna (antenna and rectifier) that meet various objectives for use in RF energy harvesting, whatever opaque or transparent. However, most of the designed antennas are opaque and prevent the sunlight to pass through, so it is hard to put it on the car glass or window. Thus, there should be a design for transparent antenna that allows the sunlight to pass through. Among various antennas, microstrip patch antennas are widely used because they are low profile, are lightweight, and have planar structure. Microstrip patch-structured rectennas are evaluated and compared with an emphasis on the various methods adopted to obtain a rectenna with harmonic rejection functionality, frequency, and polarization selectivity. Multiple frequency bands are tapped for energy harvesting, and this aspect of the implementation is one of the main focus points. The bands targeted for harvesting in this chapter will be those that are the most readily available to the general population. These include Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as cellular (900/850 MHz band), personal communications services (1800/1900 MHz band), and sources of 2.4 GHz and WiMAX (2.3/3.5 GHz) network transmitters. On the other hand, at high frequency, advances in nanotechnology have led to the development of semiconductor-based solar cells, nanoscale antennas for power harvesting applications, and integration of antennas into solar cells to design low-cost light-weight systems. The role of nanoantenna system is transforming thermal energy provided by the sun to electricity. Nanoantennas target the mid-infrared wavelengths where conventional photo voltaic cells are inefficient. However, the concept of using optical rectenna for harvesting solar energy was first introduced four decades ago. Recently, it has invited a surge of interest, with different laboratories around the world working on various aspects of the technology. The result is a technology that can be efficient and inexpensive, requiring only low-cost materials. Unlike conventional solar cells that harvest energy in visible light frequency range. Since the UV frequency range is much greater than visible light, we consider the quantum mechanical behavior of a driven particle in nanoscale antennas for power harvesting applications

Microwave power transmission system studies. Volume 2: Introduction, organization, environmental and spaceborne systems analyses

Introduction, organization, analyses, conclusions, and recommendations for each of the spaceborne subsystems are presented. Environmental effects - propagation analyses are presented with appendices covering radio wave diffraction by random ionospheric irregularities, self-focusing plasma instabilities and ohmic heating of the D-region. Analyses of dc to rf conversion subsystems and system considerations for both the amplitron and the klystron are included with appendices for the klystron covering cavity circuit calculations, output power of the solenoid-focused klystron, thermal control system, and confined flow focusing of a relativistic beam. The photovoltaic power source characteristics are discussed as they apply to interfacing with the power distribution flow paths, magnetic field interaction, dc to rf converter protection, power distribution including estimates for the power budget, weights, and costs. Analyses for the transmitting antenna consider the aperture illumination and size, with associated efficiencies and ground power distributions. Analyses of subarray types and dimensions, attitude error, flatness, phase error, subarray layout, frequency tolerance, attenuation, waveguide dimensional tolerances, mechanical including thermal considerations are included. Implications associated with transportation, assembly and packaging, attitude control and alignment are discussed. The phase front control subsystem, including both ground based pilot signal driven adaptive and ground command approaches with their associated phase errors, are analyzed

Study and miniaturisation of antennas for ultra wideband communication systems

PhDWireless communications have been growing with an astonishing rate over the past few years and wireless terminals for future applications are required to provide diverse services. This rising demand prompts the needs for antennas able to cover multiple bandwidths or an ultrawide bandwidth for various systems. Since the release by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of a bandwidth of 7.5 GHz (from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz) for ultra wideband (UWB) wireless communications, UWB has been rapidly evolving as a potential wireless technology and UWB antennas have consequently drawn more and more attention from both academia and industries worldwide. Unlike traditional narrow band antennas, design and analysis of UWB antennas are facing more challenges and difficulties. A competent UWB antenna should be capable of operating over an ultra wide bandwidth as assigned by the FCC. At the same time, a small and compact antenna size is highly desired, due to the integration requirement of entire UWB systems. Another key requirement of UWB antennas is the good time domain behaviour, i.e. a good impulse response with minimal distortion. This thesis focuses on UWB antenna miniaturisation and analysis. Studies have been undertaken to cover the aspects of UWB fundamentals and antenna theory. Extensive investigations are also conducted on three different types of miniaturised UWB antennas. 5 The first type of miniaturised UWB antenna studied in this thesis is the loaded orthogonal half disc monopole antenna. An inductive load is introduced to broaden the impedance bandwidth as well as the pattern bandwidth, in other words, an equivalent size reduction is realised. The second type of miniaturised UWB antenna is the printed half disc monopole antenna. By simply halving the original antenna and tuning the width of the coplanar ground plane, a significant more than 50% size reduction is achieved. The third type of miniaturised UWB antenna is the printed quasi-self-complementary antenna. By exploiting a quasi-self-complementary structure and a built-in matching section, a small and compact antenna dimension is achieved. The performances and characteristics of the three types of miniaturised UWB antennas are studied both numerically and experimentally and the design parameters for achieving optimal operation of the antennas are also analysed extensively in order to understand the antenna operations. Also, time domain performance of the Coplanar Waveguide (CPW)-fed disc monopole antenna is examined in this thesis to demonstrate the importance of time domain study on UWB antennas. Over the past few years of my PhD study, I feel honoured and lucky to work with some of the most prestigious researchers in the Department of Electronic Engineering, Queen Mary, University of London. I would like to show my most cordial gratitude to those who have been helping me during the past few years. There would be no any progress without their generous and sincere support. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Clive Parini and Professor Xiaodong Chen, for their kind supervision and encouragement. I am impressed by their notable academic background and profound understanding of the subjects, which have proved to be immense benefits to me. It has been my great pleasure and honour to be under their supervision and work with them. Second of all, I would like to thank Mr John Dupuy for his help in the fabrication and measurement of antennas I have designed during my PhD study. Also, a special acknowledgement goes to all of the staff for all the assistance throughout my graduate program

Low-frequency Antennas, Transparent Ground Planes, and Transponders for Communication Enhancement in Unfavorable Environments

The communication environment has a major influence on the performance of wireless networks. Unlike antennas, receivers, processors, and other components of a typical wireless system, the designer has almost no control over the communication channel. Therefore, it is imminent that the adverse effects of the communication channel such as path-loss, multi-path, lack of a clear line of sight, and interference are among the most limiting factors in designing and operating wireless networks. Recent investments in infrastructures such as cell-phone towers, communication satellites, routers, and networking devices have been aimed at reducing the aforementioned adverse effects. However, wireless ad hoc networks (WANET) cannot rely on pre-existing infrastructures such as access points or routers. In this thesis, a number of solutions are presented to enhance communication and navigation in harsh environments. 1) At lower frequencies, the defects of the communication channel are less prominent, which has led militaries to use UHF and VHF frequency bands for communication. A number of optically transparent UHF antennas are developed and embedded in the windows of military vehicles to reduce their visual signature. 2) Direction finding at low frequencies using baseline method results in an exorbitantly large array of sensors. However, a vector sensor consisting of three orthogonal two-port loop antennas can be used. A simple and accurate circuit model for the two-port loop antenna is developed for the first time that can be used for direction of arrival estimation over a wide range of frequencies and angles. 3) Using a conventional radio repeater with ad-hoc systems requires a communication protocol and decreases the throughput by a factor of two for every repeater in the chain. A full-duplex repeater, capable of simultaneously transmitting and receiving at the same frequency, is developed for the 2.4 GHz ISM band.PHDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143898/1/manikafa_1.pd

Space Solar Power Satellite Systems, Modern Small Satellites, And Space Rectenna

Space solar power satellite (SSPS) systems is the concept of placing large satellite into geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) to harvest and convert massive amounts of solar energy into microwave energy, and to transmit the microwaves to a rectifying antenna (rectenna) array on Earth. The rectenna array captures and converts the microwave power into usable power that is injected into the terrestrial electric grid for use. This work approached the microwave power beam as an additional source of power (with solar) for lower orbiting satellites. Assuming the concept of retrodirectivity, a GEO-SSPS antenna array system tracks and delivers microwave power to lower orbiting satellites. The lower orbiting satellites are equipped with a stacked photovoltaic (PV)/rectenna array hybrid power generation unit (HPGU) in order to harvest solar and/or microwave energy for on-board use during orbit. The area, and mass of the PV array part of the HPGU was reduced at about 32% beginning-of-life power in order to achieve the spacecraft power requirements. The HPGU proved to offer a mass decrease in the PGU, and an increase in mission life due to longer living component life of the rectenna array. Moreover, greater mission flexibility is achieved through a track and power delivery concept. To validate the potential advantages offered by a HPGU, a mission concept was presented that utilizes modern small satellites as technology demonstrators. During launch, a smaller power receiving “daughter” satellite sits inside a larger power transmitting “mother” satellite. Once separated from the launch vehicle the daughter satellite is ejected away from the mother satellite, and each satellite deploys its respective power transmitting or power receiving hardware’s for experimentation. The concept of close proximity mission operations between the satellites is considered. To validate the technology of the space rectenna array part of the HPGU, six milestones were completed in the design. The first milestone considers thermal analysis for antennas, and the second milestone compares commercial off-the-shelve high frequency substrates for thermal, and outgassing characteristics. Since the design of the rectenna system is centralized around the diode component, a diode analysis was conducted for the third milestone. Next, to efficiently transfer power between the different parts of the rectenna system a coplanar stripline was consider for the fourth milestone. The fifth milestone is a balanced-to-unbalanced transition structure that is needed to properly feed and measure different systems of the rectenna. The last milestone proposes laboratory measurement setups. Each of these milestones is a separate research question that is answered in this dissertation. The results of these rectenna milestones can be integrated into a HPGU