Theoretical and experimental investigation of a rectenna element for microwave power transmission

Abstract

A method has been devised to experimentally characterize a packaged GaAs Schottky barrier diode by inserting it into a microstrip test mount. The nonlinear equivalent circuit parameters of the diode are determined by a small-signal test method. A large-signal measurement using the same test mount has also been configured to determine the power conversion efficiency from microwave to DC as well as determining the de-embedded network impedance of the diode. A nonlinear circuit simulation program using a multireflection algorithm is used to verify the experimental results for the 2.45-GHz diode. A Ka-band mixer diode is simulated for a 35-GHz rectenna. Based on the simulation results, a patch-type 35-GHz rectenna is designed and tested in a waveguide simulator. The efficiency is 29% with 120-mW input power. Because the diode could generate undesirable harmonic radiation, a frequency-selective surface is designed to reduce the second harmonic radiation for a 2.45-GHz rectenna. Theoretical results agree fairly well with experiments for all these studies.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>