A Co-Planar Waveguide Ultra-Wideband Antenna for Ambient Wi-Fi RF Power Transmission and Energy Harvesting Applications

Abstract

This study proposes an ultra-wideband antenna for ambient radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting applications. The antenna is based on a co-planar waveguide (CPW) transmission line and incorporates a rectangular slot as an antenna harvester. The proposed antenna utilizes an evolutionary design process to achieve impedance matching of the 50 Ω CPW feeding line over the desired frequency bands. A parametric study investigates CPW elements and rectangular slot size. The harvester antenna is then connected to the primary rectifier circuit of the voltage doubler to examine the signal characteristics. The antenna covers the Industry, Science, and Medicine (ISM) Wi-Fi bands of 2.45 GHz and 5 GHz, achieving a realized gain of 3.641 dBi and 4.644 dBi at 2.45 GHz and 5 GHz, respectively. It exhibits a relatively broad frequency ranging from 2.16 GHz to 6.32 GHz, covering the ultra-wideband fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 105%.