Dualband rectenna for RF energy harvesting using metamaterial reflect array and novel matching technique

Harvesting energy from multiple sources, antenna gain, rectifier power conversion efficiency, and rectenna size are essential properties to consider while designing an antenna for ambient energy harvesting. This paper represents two high-gain, dualband antennas using a metamaterial Artificial Magnetic Conductor array. Both antennas are designed to harvest energy from GSM-1800, and the 2.45 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) frequency bands. The first antenna achieves a gain of 6.85 dB and 6.57 dB at 1.8 GHz and 2.45 GHz, respectively. The second configuration shows a gain of 7.11 dB at 1.8 GHz and 6.79 dB at 2.45 GHz. The antennas are circularly polarized at 2.45 GHZ. A dualband rectifier is designed based on a novel matching procedure to complete the energy harvesting system. The measured peak conversion efficiency is 72 % at 1.8 GHz and 65 % at 2.45 GHz with an area of 33 x55 mm2.