Design of a 5.

8 GHZ Rectenna by Using

Metamaterial inspired Small Antenna
A. Abraray, O. EL Mrabet, A. Farkhsi, B. El Jaafari, J. Floc’h
M. Aznabet, M. Bajtaoui IETR, UMR CNRS 6164, INSA, 20
Information and Telecommunication Systems Avenue Buttes des Coësmes, 35708 Rennes, France
Lab, Faculty of Science, Abdelmalek Essaadi Bilal.el-jaafari@insa-rennes.fr
University, Tetouan 93000, Morocco Jean-Marie.Floch@insa-rennes.fr
abr.abdelghafour@gmail.com

Abstract- In this paper, we present a new inspired In this paper, a new and compact 5.8 GHz rectenna,
metamaterial rectenna which is designed in the using metamaterial inspired antenna is presented.
microstrip line structure at 5.8 GHz for the wireless Both circuits have been achieved designed in a
transmission of microwave power. The proposed simple and a low cost manner. Simulation results are
rectenna achieves RF-to-DC conversion efficiency of
presented and discussed.
52% and a DC voltage of 0.8 V when the received RF
power is 1 mW at 5.8 GHz. The feasibility of this
concept is presented through full-wave simulations. II. RECTENNA REFERENCE STRCUTRES
These simulations results will be updated at the
conference with measurement results. The geometry of the proposed rectenna is depicted
in Figure.1, which is printed on a 0.8-mm-thick
Keywords—Rectenna, Microwave Power Transfert Rogers Duroid 5880 substrate with the relative
(MPT), Microstrip Antennas, Metamterials. permittivity of 2.2, and the loss tangent of 0.0009.
I. INTRODUCTION
L
W
G
The concept of microwave power transmission
L
(MPT) without using wires has been proposed for
Ls
the first time in 1960 to solve the global energy S
Gc
crisis [1]. Nowadays, with Modern communication x

systems, MPT is becoming one of the most Lf Y Lg

x
promising methods to power low-consumption Wf Ws

electronic devices such as wireless sensors and Front view Back view
(a)
RFID [2-3]. The rectenna, which is used to convert
the microwave power to the direct current power, is Matching circuit
one of the key elements of the MPT system. It is TL2
composed of a receiving antenna and an RF to DC 50Ω
TL1 50Ω

rectifying circuit terminated by a resistive load. MW

LPF DC

Up to now, different kind of rectennas has been

reported in the literature since the first rectenna was TL3
designed by Brown in 1963 [4]. Diode
Metamaterials inspired antennas constitute a great
potential for energy harvesting applications. The
main attractive feature of this new and exotic (b)
material is their ability to exhibit a quasi-static Figure.1. The geometry of the proposed rectenna. (a) the
resonant frequency at wavelengths that are much antenna part and (b) the rectifying part.
larger than its own size. Thus, the application of
metamaterials structures, especially single or double The structure of this proposed design is very simple
split ring resonator (SRR) for designing small and consists of a metamaterial inspired antenna with
rectennas is of great interest. In [5] an electrically an RF-DC rectifying circuit. In rectenna design, the
small rectenna was designed and tested at the global antenna and rectifier circuits are typically designed
positioning system (GPS) L1 frequency (1.5754 separately. Indeed, the antenna is designed by means
GHz). On the other hand, in [6] the authors present of CST Microwave studio® transient solver, which
the design and experimental implementation of a is a commercial software package based on Finite
power harvesting metamaterials. A maximum of integration Method (FIT), and its S parameters are
36.8% of the incident power from a 900 MHz signal then included in a nonlinear circuit simulation tool
is experimentally rectified by an array of such as Harmonic Balance (HB) used to design the
metamaterials unit cells. rectifier.
 A. Receiving Antenna Design The input impedance of the receiving antenna is
= (49.4+j0.9) Ω at the resonance frequency.
The antenna part is composed of a single split ring The error between this absolute value and 50 Ω is
resonator (SRR) electromagnetically coupled by a equal to 2%. The simulated gain of this antenna
T-shaped microstrip feed-line. A partial ground reaches 2.74 dBi. The radiation efficiency can be
plane of a size 25mm×8.3mm has been used to calculated from the ratio of the radiated power to
improve the impedance matching of the antenna at the total power supplied to the radiator at a given
resonance frequency. For the simulation, the design frequency. The simulated radiation efficiency
of the parameters of the metamaterial single SRR around the resonance frequency is shown in
are L = 9.6mm, W = 0.5mm, G = 0.8mm, S = Figure.3. We can observe that the peak radiation
0.4mm, and the width of metals is 0.035 mm. The efficiency can reach a maximum value of 95.5% at
width of the feed line is wf =2.45 mm and the gap 5.8 GHz.
distance for the feed is Gc = 1.5mm. The overall size In Figure.4, the simulated 2-D radiation pattern plots
of the antenna is 25mm×23mm. are presented. The 2-D polar plot shows the
It is worthwhile to mention that the gap between the radiation in the two different planar cuts for the x-z
single SRR and the T –shaped microstrip feed-line plane (E-plane) and the x-y plane (H-plane).
plays an important role in impedance matching.
0 180 90
1.4
210 150 120 60
0 1.2
Reflection coefficient(dB)

1.0
-10 -5
-10 0.8
240 120 150 30
-15 0.6

-20 -20 0.4

-25 0.2

270 -30 90 180 0.0 0

-30 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2
0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
-25
0.4
-20
0.6
-15
-40 300 60 210
0.8
330
-10
1.0
-5
1.2
-50 0
330 30 240 1.4 300

0 270

4.0 4.4 4.8 5.2 5.6 6.0 6.4 6.8 7.2 7.6 8.0 X-Z plane X-y plane

Frequency(GHz)
Figure.4. Simulated radiation pattern at the resonance
Figure.2. Simulated reflection coefficient of the frequency.
receiving antenna.
B. Rectifying Circuit Design
According to many simulations not shown here, we
found that the optimized value of S is 0.4 mm. The proposed rectifying circuit composed of a dc-
Figure.2 shows the simulated reflection coefficient pass filter, a Schottky diode and a resistive load. The
of the receiving antenna. As can be observed, the diode used in the rectifying circuit design is the
proposed antenna shows a bandwidth of 1.35 GHz SMS-7630 from Skyworks [7]. It has a series
centered at 5.8 GHz with reflection coefficient less resistance Ohms, zero bias junction
than -10 dB. Thus, the bandwidth can cover entirely capacitance pF, built-in turn-on voltage
the required frequency spectrum of the 5.8 GHz V, and breakdown voltage V.
ISM bands. To match the diode input impedance with the
100
standard 50 Ω, a matching which consists of two
microstrip lines and an open stub has been
90
Radiation efficiency (%)

designed. This kind of matching circuit is sensible

80
to the operating frequency, so the effect of the high
70
harmonics generated by the diode is low. All
60 physicals dimensions of the final matching circuit
50 are obtained by a test and error estimation and are
40 given in Table.1. Concerning the output low pas
30 filter (LPF), this paper uses the same structure of
20
[8]. The reflection coefficient of the rectifying
4.0 4.4 4.8 5.2 5.6 6.0 6.4 6.8 7.2 7.6 8.0 circuit is presented in Figure.5 when the input
Frequency(GHz) power is 0 dBm.
Figure.3. Simulated radiation efficiency across the At 5.8 GHz, the circuit is well matched with 50 Ω,
resonance frequency for the receiving antenna. and S11 is less than −28.4 dB.
 0
60
-5
Reflection coefficient(dB)

50
-10

Efficiency (%)
40
-15
30
-20
20
-25
10
-30
5.0 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6 0
-20 -10 0 10 20
Frequency (GHz)
Figure.5. S11 curve of rectifying circuit. Input power (dBm)
Figure.7. Simulated RF/DC conversion efficiency versus
input power.
Table.1. Relates matching circuit dimensions.

Length [mm] Width [mm] III. CONCLUSION

TL1 7.15 1.2
In summary, an inspired metamaterial small
TL2 9.68 5 rectenna has been presented in this work which can
TL3 6.48 3 work at 5.8 GHz ISM band. The rectenna has been
simulated and it can provide a DC voltage of 0.8V
The main parameters of the rectifying circuit are the with a conversion efficiency of 52% when the input
output voltage and the conversion efficiency ( ). power was 0 dBm and the load resistor was 1KΩ.
This latter can be defined as a ratio of DC power to This proposed rectenna may be applied in the MPT
incident RF power: systems or electromagnetic energy harvesting
devices.
(1)
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DC voltage(mV)

600 [8] Douyere, A., F. Alicalapa, and J.-D. Lan Sun Luk, “High
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200

-20 -10 0 10 20
Input power (dBm)
Figure.6. Simulated DC voltage versus input power.