A Wideband and Compact Circularly-Polarized Rectenna for Low Power Application

Abstract

International audienceThis paper presents a wideband and compact circularly polarized rectenna composed by an Archimedean spiral antenna that covers the S and C frequency bands and a silicon Schottky diode. This rectenna (rectifier + antenna) is used for electromagnetic energy harvesting over a wide frequency band, in order to power autonomous wireless sensors used for satellite health monitoring. For low incident power densities (around 14 µW/cm²) the measured efficiency of at least 19% between 2GHz and 3.5GHz can be achieved using this rectenna. The efficiency may reach 37% at some frequencies in this wideband operating bandwidth