A concurrent 915/2440 MHz RF energy harvester

Abstract

This paper presents the development of two dual-band radio-frequency (RF) harvesters optimized to convert far-field RF energy to DC voltage at very low received power. The first one is based on a patch antenna and the second on a dipole antenna. They are both implemented on a standard FR4 substrate with commercially off-the-shelf devices. The two RF harvesters provide a rectified voltage of 1 V for a combined power, respectively, of −19.5 dBm at 915 MHz, −25 dBm at 2.44 GHz, of −20 dBm at 915 MHz, and −15 dBm at 2.44 GHz. The remote powering of a clock consuming 1 V/5 µA is demonstrated, and the rectenna yields a power efficiency of 12%.