RFID-Enabled Energy Harvesting using Unidirectional Electrically-Small Rectenna Arrays

Wagih, M. , Nesbitt, R., Ansari, S. , Abbasi, Q. H. and Imran, M. A. (2023) RFID-Enabled Energy Harvesting using Unidirectional Electrically-Small Rectenna Arrays. In: 17th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP2023), Florence, Italy, 26-31 Mar 2023, ISBN 9781665475419 (doi: 10.23919/EuCAP57121.2023.10133250)

Abstract

RFID has been widely adopted in sensing applications based on passive tags. We present, for the first time, a practical room-scale demonstration of a wireless power grid based on 868 MHz UHF RFID, with 27 dBm radiated power. The proposed harvester is a state-of-the-art flexible rectenna surface based on serially-connected tightly-coupled electricallysmall rectenna elements. Reflector-backing is proposed increasing the harvester’s effective area by 3 dB with over two-fold increase in the harvested energy. The DC power harvesting pattern of the array are experimentally characterized showing an 18 dB front-to-back ratio. In a 40 m 2 room with a single reader and 3 antennas, a maximum energy of 5.3 mJ was harvested using the unidirectional array in a capacitor over a 1-minute charging period. The minimum energy yield of 0.5 mJ, sufficient for powering a Bluetooth beacon, evidences that, despite its intermittency, RFID packets can create an indoor RF grid.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the UK Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) and the Office of the Chief Science Adviser for National Security under the UK Intelligence Community Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship programme and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) award EP/R511705/1 and EP/X5257161/1.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ansari, Dr Shuja and Wagih, Dr Mahmoud and Abbasi, Professor Qammer and Nesbitt, Mr Rory
• Authors: Wagih, M., Nesbitt, R., Ansari, S., Abbasi, Q. H., and Imran, M. A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• ISBN: 9781665475419
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP2023)
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
300137		Impact Acceleration Account - University of Glasgow 2017	Jonathan Cooper	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/R511705/1	Research and Innovation Services