Field trials have been performed in Covilhã to identify the spectrum opportunities for radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting through power density measurements from 350 MHz to 3 GHz. Based on the identification of the most promising opportunities, a dual-band printed antenna was conceived, operating at GSM bands (900/1800), with gains of 1.8 and 2.06 dBi, and efficiency varying from 77.6 to 82%, for the highest and lowest operating frequency bands, respectively. In this paper, guidelines for the design of RF energy harvesting circuits and choice of textile materials for a wearable antenna are briefly discussed. Besides, we address the development and experimental characterization of three different prototypes of a five-stage Dickson voltage multiplier (with and without impedance matching circuit) responsible for RF energy harvesting. All the three prototypes (1, 2 and 3) can power supply the sensor node for RF received powers of 2 dBm, -3 dBm and -4 dBm, and conversion efficiencies of 6, 18 and 20%, respectively.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.