IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters · 2019 · 21 citations · 22 references
EngineeringElectrical EngineeringPrecision AgricultureAntennasMicrowave EngineeringWireless CommunicationsAntenna EfficiencyAntenna GainAntenna RadiationBroadband AntennasMicrowave AntennasWireless Sensor NetworksAmbient Energy HarvestingBandwidthBroadband Energy HarvestingElectromagnetic Energy HarvestingEnergy HarvestingEnergy Harvesting DevicesEnergy Harvesting SystemsWideband Antennas
Unlike conventional energy harvesters that are tuned to individual frequencies and are directional, the proposed wideband (23% fractional bandwidth), omnidirectional system harvests from all FM towers in vicinity. Hence, it does not require each sensor node to be carefully aligned to any one source and makes itself suited for mass-deployment applications such as precision agriculture and structural health monitoring. It harvests as much as 923 μW on a rooftop at 1.54 km from an FM tower while retaining omnidirectionality partly thanks to the proposed antenna, which has a wider bandwidth and a higher measured gain (2.0 dBi) than the commercial reference wideband antenna. It achieves competitive efficiency (56%) and sensitivity (-17 dBm) while retaining wideband operation rather than being specifically optimized to individual frequencies. The system (fabricated on low-cost FR4) harvested outside ambient FM energy indoors at the same 1.54-km location to power a wireless sensor node without needing to shut down periodically.
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