REPORT - U15EC148 Last PDF

SEMINAR REPORT
Entitled
“RF ENERGY HARVESTING”
Submitted to the Department of Electronics Engineering

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of
: Presented & Submitted By:
Mr. SURESHBANDARU
(Roll No. U15EC148)
B. TECH. IV (EC), 7th Semester
: Guided By:
Dr.(Mrs.) J. N. Patel
Assistant Professor, ECED.
(Year : 2018_19)
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology
Surat-395007, Gujarat, INDIA.
RF Energy Harvesting Page 1

Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology
Surat - 395007, Gujarat, India.
ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the SEMINAR REPORT entitled “RF Energy

Harvesting” ispresented & submitted by Candidate Mr.Suresh Bandaru, bearing Roll
No.U15EC148, of B.Tech. IV, 7th Semesterin the partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of B. Tech.degreeinElectronics & Communication
Engineering.
He has successfully and satisfactorily completed his Seminar Exam in all

respect. We, certify that the work is comprehensive, complete and fit for evaluation.
Dr.(Mrs.) J. N. Patel
Assistant Professor
Seminar Guide
SEMINAR EXAMINERS :
Name of Examiner Signature with date
1.Prof. Golak Santra __________________

2.Dr. KirtiInamdar __________________
Dr. J. N. Sarvaiya DEPARTMENT SEAL

Associate Professor & (October - 2018)
Head, ECED, SVNIT.

Acknowledgement
It gives me a great pleasure to present my seminar report on “RF Energy Harvesting". I

would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Seminar Guide- Dr. (Mrs.) J. N.
Patel, Electronics & Communication Engineering Department, Sardar Vallabhbhai
National Institute of technology, Surat for his valuable guidance, useful comments and
support to my seminar.
I am also thankful to Dr. Jignesh N. Saravaiya, Head of the Department, Electronics &
Communication Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of technology,
Surat for providing me the opportunity to present my seminar.
Suresh Bandaru
U15EC148
RF Energy Harvesting Page i

Abstract
The rising demand for ultra low power devices is the result of the desperate urge of
man to conserve energy while continuing to enjoy the benefits of modern technology.
Consistent and efficient sourcing of these devices is a test. Radio Frequency (RF)
energy transfer and harvesting techniques have recently become alternating methods to
power the next generation wireless networks. As this emerging technology enables
proactive energy replenishment of wireless devices, it is advantageous in supporting
applications with quality-of-service requirements. Even though RF harvesting circuits
have been demonstrated for more than 5 decades, but only a few of them have been
able to harvest energy from freely available ambient RF sources.
RF energy harvesting has provided a ray of hope for the limited use of battery and
preparing the future of healthy environment In comparison to other methods of energy
harvesting, RF has the smallest energy density and therefore possess big challenges.
Here, we represent a comprehensive literature review on the research progresses in
wireless networks with RF energy harvesting capability, which is refer to as RF energy
harvesting networks (RF-EHNs).
As there is abundant energy transmitted from nearby base stations, wireless local area
networks, FM/ AM radio and TV broadcasting towers, especially in urban areas. These
transmissions are prevalent throughout the seasons. Not all the energy transmitted by
these sources is used. Here, we present a system that feeds and stores on these unused
energy radiated in the environment.
First, we present an overview of the RF-EHNs including system architecture, RF

energy harvesting techniques, and existing applications. Then, we present the
background in circuit design as well as the state-of-the-art circuitry implementation and
review the communication protocols specially designed for RF-EHNs. We also explore
various key design issues in the development of RF-EHNs according to the network
types, i.e., single hop networks, multi antenna networks, relay networks, and cognitive
radio networks.
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Using sufficiently efficient system it is possible to energize selected low power devices
using RF energy. Finally, we envision some open research directions.
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Contents
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................ 1
Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 1
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. 1
List of Tables ............................................................................................................... 1
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 RF Waves.......................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Discovery .......................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Bands of Radio Waves ..................................................................................... 2
1.4 Short Wave Radio ............................................................................................ 2
2 Theoretical Background ........................................................................................ 1
2.1 A Modern Variation ......................................................................................... 5
2.2 Working of Cota Transmitter ............................................................................ 5
3 Energy Sources ...................................................................................................... 1
3.1 Renewable Energy .......................................................................................... 5
3.1.1 Solar Energy............................................................................................ 6
3.1.2 Wind Energy ........................................................................................... 6
3.1.3 Biomass and Biofuels .............................................................................. 6
3.1.4 Water and Geothermal ............................................................................. 6
3.2 Non Renewable Energy .................................................................................... 5
4 Wireless Power Transfer ....................................................................................... 1
5 Necessity of RF Energy .......................................................................................... 1
5.1 Limitless supplies of Energy ............................................................................. 5
5.2 Implementing a wireless energy harvesting system .......................................... 5
5.2.1 Interoperability among devices ................................................................ 6
5.2.2 Interoperability among communication protocols .................................... 6
6 Energy Harvester Model ...................................................................................... 1
6.1 Energy Harvester.............................................................................................. 5
6.2 Energy Storage ................................................................................................. 5
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6.3 Low Power RF Transceiver ............................................................................. 5
6.4 Power Management Module ............................................................................ 5
6.5 Low Power Microcontroller ............................................................................ 5
6.6 Antenna Design ................................................................................................ 5
6.6.1 Frequency of Antenna ............................................................................. 6
6.6.2 Polarization on Antenna .......................................................................... 6
6.6.3 Substrate Used......................................................................................... 6
6.7 Rectifier Design ............................................................................................... 5
7 Working of RF Energy Harvester ........................................................................ 1
7.1 Harvesting Energy............................................................................................ 5
7.2 Input ................................................................................................................ 5
7.3 Impedance Matching ........................................................................................ 5
7.4 Rectification And LPF ..................................................................................... 5
7.5 Storage Batteries ............................................................................................. 5
8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 1
9 References ............................................................................................................ 1
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LIST OF FIGURES
Fig.1.1 Electromagnetic Spectrum

Fig.2.1 Block Diagram
Fig.2.2 COTA Transmitter
Fig.2.3 Receiver chip inside cota Transmitter
Fig.2.4 Power delivered in multipaths
Fig.2.5 COTA ceiling tile
Fig.3.1 Sources of Global energy 23
Fig.4.1 Divisions of Wireless Energy Transfer 25
Fig.4.2 Wireless Power Transmission
Fig.5.1 Energy harvesting modules 35
Fig.5.2 Smart energy management decision 38
Fig.6.1 Block Diagram of Energy Harvester Model 40
Fig.6.2 RF Energy Harvester 40
Fig.6.3 RF Transceiver Block Diagram 43
Fig.6.4 Block Diagram of Low Power RF Transceiver 44
Fig.6.5 Block Diagram of Power Management Module 44
Fig.6.6 Low Power Microcontroller 47
Fig.6.7 Symbol of Schottky Diode 52
Fig.6.8 Basic rectification circuit 52
Fig.6.9 Voltage Doubler circuit 53
Fig.6.10 Greinacher circuit 54
Fig.7.1 RF Energy Harvesting Flow diagram 55
Fig.7.2 Antenna in RF energy harvesting 55
Fig.7.3 Impedance matching in RF energy harvesting 57
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LIST OF TABLES
Table.4.1 Wired VS Wireless Power Transmission 26

Table.7.1 Battery Storage Technologies 44
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INTRODUCTION CHAPTER-1
Advancements in electronics, information technology, computational devices and

material science have triggered the development of several useful microsystems with
low power requirement. Examples of such systems are wireless sensor networks,
biomedical implants, military monitoring devices, structure-embedded instrumentation,
remote weather station, calculators, watches, Bluetooth headsets, etc. Though the
power requirement is comparatively very low, a periodical battery charging/replacing
for stand-alone sensors is either costly or time consuming. In some systems, for
example, structure-embedded instrumentation for structural health monitoring and
military monitoring devices for border surveillance are very cumbersome and
sometimes very expensive to periodically charge and/or replace batteries. And also the
major issue concerning the scientist nowadays is the excessive use of natural gas and
petroleum. It has been predicted that these resources will be exhausted in the next two
or three decades. The overconsumption of petroleum and natural gas has also caused
adverse effect on the environment. The scientists are trying hard to find the alternate
sources of renewable energies and reduce the dependence on petroleum and natural gas.
One such alternative is “radio frequencies”. The radio frequencies are electric energies
that transmit through the air by ionizing the medium on its paths. The radio frequency
energy can be easily found in surroundings as it is used widely by many applications
like television broadcasting, telecommunication, microwave etc. It is ubiquitous and
free and highly efficient. Here we investigate the levels of power that can be harvested
from the surrounding and to achieve energy that is sufficient to charge low power
electronic circuit. Through a power generating circuit linked to a receiving antenna this
free flowing energy can be captured, harvested and converted into usable DC voltage to
power up small devices.
As a potential choice for autonomous, self-powering, or harvesting power from ambient

radio waves has been a dream for researchers for the last decade. It is without any
doubt a very useful technique for a wide variety of self-powered microsystems. It

should be noted that Ambient Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting (ARFEH) addressed
here is different from the so-called wireless-charging systems in the sense that the latter
has a dedicated electromagnetic energy transmitter as a source of power, while the
former system does not have any kind of dedicated power source, rather, it relies on the
energy of radio frequency electromagnetic signals transmitted by different
communication systems, e.g., TV, radio and cellular systems. He documentation of the
attempts made by several researchers to develop an ARFEH. The literature survey
reveals that the research in this direction is in laboratory phase, and a commercial
system has still to be witnessed. A major target to secure reliable ARFEH is the latter
should be able to harvest enough power to balance the amount of energy consumed
(and dissipated) by the constituent components of an ARFEH which must be
surmounted, for powering the device connected to ARFEH. A brief literature survey
will follow with major sources of power loss in an ARFEH, namely rectenna loss and
storage capacitor leakage current discussed. A spectrogram of ambient RF signal to
observe the magnitude of available power is discussed. A simple test to signify the fact
of leakage current of a storage capacitor is presented and discussed followed by a
conclusion along with future research directions.
For many years, wireless RF power transmission has been investigated as a viable
method of power delivery in a wide array of applications, from high-power space solar
power satellites to low-power wireless sensors. However, until recently, efficient
application at the low sub-milliwatt power levels has not been realized due to
limitations in available control circuitry.
Radio frequency (RF) energy transfer and harvesting techniques have recently become
alternative methods to power the next-generation wireless networks. As this emerging
technology enables proactive energy replenishment of wireless devices, it is
advantageous in supporting applications with quality-of-service requirements. In this
paper, we present a comprehensive literature review on the research progresses in
wireless networks with RF energy harvesting capability, which is referred to as RF
energy harvesting networks (RF-EHNs). First, we present an overview of the RF-EHNs
including system architecture, RF energy harvesting techniques, and existing
applications.

1.1 RF Waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation, as are microwaves, infrared

radiation, X-rays and gamma-rays. The best-known use of radio waves is for
communication; television, cellphones and radios all receive radio waves and convert
them to mechanical vibrations in the speaker to create sound waves that can be heard.
Radio frequencies are generated and processed within very many functional units such
as transmitters, receivers, computers, and televisions to name a few. Radio frequencies
are also applied in carrier currentsystems including telephony and control circuits.
Electromagnetic radiation is transmitted in waves or particles at different wavelengths
and frequencies. This broad range of wavelengths is known as the electromagnetic
(EM) spectrum. The spectrum is generally divided into seven regions in order of
decreasing wavelength and increasing energy and frequency. The common designations
are radio waves, microwaves, infrared (IR), visible light, ultraviolet (UV), X-
rays and gamma-rays.
Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the EM spectrum, according to NASA,
ranging from about 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) to more than 100 kilometers (62 miles).
They also have the lowest frequencies, from about 3,000 cycles per second or 3
kilohertz (kHz) up to about 300 billion hertz, or 300 gigahertz (GHz).
1.2 Discovery:
Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who developed a unified theory of
electromagnetism in the 1870s, predicted the existence of radio waves. A few years
later, Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist, applied Maxwell's theories to the production
and reception of radio waves. The unit of frequency of an EM wave — one cycle per
second — is named the hertz, in his honor.
Hertz used a spark gap attached to an induction coil and a separate spark gap on a
receiving antenna. When waves created by the sparks of the coil transmitter were
picked up by the receiving antenna, sparks would jump its gap as well. Hertz showed in
his experiments that these signals possessed all the properties of electromagnetic
waves. [1]

1.3 Bands Of Radio Waves:
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration generally divides
the radio spectrum into nine bands, as shown in the Table.1.1 below.
Table. 1.1 Division of radio spectrum into 9 bands.
According to the Stanford VLF Group, the most powerful natural source of ELF/VLF
waves on Earth is lightning. Waves produced by lightning strikes can bounce back and
forth between the Earth and the ionosphere, so they can travel around the world. Radio
waves are also produced by artificial sources, including electrical generators, power
lines, appliances and radio transmitters. ELF radio is useful because of its long range,
and its ability to penetrate water and rock for communication with submarines and
inside mines and caves. However, the carrier frequency is often lower the the frequency
range of audible sound, which is considered to be 20 to 20,000 Hz. For this reason ELF
radio cannot be modulated fast enough to reproduce sound, which is why it is only used
for digital data at a very slow rate
Fig. 1.1 Electromagnetic Spectrum
LF and MF radio bands include marine and aviation radio, as well as commercial AM
radio. Most radio in these bands uses amplitude modulation (AM) to impress an audible
signal onto the radio carrier wave. The power, or amplitude, of the signal is varied, or
modulated, at a rate corresponding to the frequencies of an audible signal such as voice
or music. AM radio has a long range, particularly at night, but it is subject to
interference that affects the sound quality. When a signal is partially blocked, the
volume of the sound is reduced accordingly.
HF, VHF and UHF bands shown in the Fig.1.1 include FM radio, broadcast television
sound, public service radio, cellphones and GPS. These bands typically use frequency
modulation to impress an audio or data signal onto the carrier wave. In this scheme, the

amplitude of the signal remains constant while the frequency is varied slightly higher or
lower at a rate and magnitude corresponding to the audio or data signal. This results in
better signal quality than AM because environmental factors do not affect the
frequency the way they affect amplitude, and the receiver ignores variations in
amplitude as long as the signal remains above a minimum threshold.
1.4 Shortwave Radio
Shortwave radio uses frequencies in the HF band, from about 1.7 MHz to 30 MHz,
according to the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB). Within that
range, the shortwave spectrum is divided into several segments, some of which are
dedicated to regular broadcasting stations, such as the Voice of America, the British
Broadcasting Corporation and the Voice of Russia. Throughout the world, there are
hundreds of shortwave stations, according to the NASB. About 25 privately owned
shortwave stations are licensed in the United States by the Federal Communications
Commission.
Shortwave stations can be heard for thousands of miles because the signals bounce off
the ionosphere and rebound back hundreds or thousands of miles from their point of
origin, according to the NASB.
FM stereo
As two-channel stereo music gained popularity, so did the demand for stereo radio
broadcasting. However, one-channel (monaural, or mono) radios were already in wide
use and were likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The problem, then, was to
create a system that could produce stereo music but still be compatible with existing
mono receivers.
The method adopted for FM stereo broadcasting was rather ingenious. Ryan Giedd, a
professor of physics at Missouri State University, explained that the broadcaster
combines the left and right channels as L + R and L − R and broadcasts them on slightly
different frequencies, A and B. A mono receiver can lock onto A and hear both
channels. A stereo receiver, however, locks onto both frequencies and
combines A and B as A + B and A – B. A little algebra shows that A + B = (L + R) +

(L − R) = 2L, and A – B = (L+ R) − (L − R) = 2R, thus effectively separating the left and
right channels.
Higher frequencies
SHF and EHF represent the highest frequencies in the radio band and are sometimes
considered to be part of the microwave band. Molecules in the air tend to absorb these
frequencies, which limits their range and applications. However, their short
wavelengths allow signals to be directed in narrow beams by parabolic dish antennas,
so they can be effective for short-range high-bandwidth communications between fixed
locations. SHF, which is affected less by the air than EHF, is used for short-range
applications such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and wireless USB. Also, SHF waves tend to
bounce off of objects like cars, boats and aircraft, so this band is often used for radar.
Astronomical sources
Outer space is teeming with radio sources. These include planets, stars, gas and dust
clouds, galaxies, pulsars, and even black holes. These sources allow astronomers to
learn about the motion and chemical composition of these sources as well as the
processes that cause these emissions.
According to Robert Patterson, a professor of astronomy at Missouri State University,

astronomers use large radio telescopes to map cold neutral hydrogen clouds in galaxies.
These clouds are of particular interest because they line up along the spiral arms of
galaxies such as the Milky Way, allowing scientists to map the clouds' structure.
Specific radio frequencies corresponding to the resonant frequencies of common atoms

and molecules have been reserved by the FCC for exclusive use by radio astronomers
to prevent radio transmitters from interfering with observations by extremely sensitive
radio telescopes. A list of these frequencies is available from the National Astronomy
and Ionosphere Center Website.
According to NASA, radio astronomers often combine several smaller telescopes, or

receiving dishes, into an array in order to make a clearer, or higher-resolution, radio
image. For example, the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico
consists of 27 antennas arranged in a huge "Y" pattern up to 22 miles (36 km) across.

A radio telescope "sees" the sky very differently than it appears in visible light,
according to NASA. Instead of seeing point-like stars, such a telescope picks up distant
pulsars, star-forming regions and supernova remnants.
Radio telescopes can also detect quasars, which is short for quasi-stellar radio source. A
quasar is an incredibly bright galactic core powered by a supermassive black hole.
Quasars radiate energy broadly across the EM spectrum, but the name comes from the
fact that the first quasars to be identified emit mostly radio energy. Quasars are very
energetic; some emit 1,000 times as much energy as the entire Milky Way. However,
most quasars are blocked from view in visible light by dust in their surrounding
galaxies.
1.4 Shortwave Radio
Nowadays there is an almost unlimited number of monitoring applications, such as

structural health, logistic, security, healthcare and agriculture, which are planning to be
based on a large deployment of co-operative wireless microsystems, with sensing
capabilities, moving closer to the effective realization of the paradigm of the Internet of
Things. RF/microwave energy sources are foreseen as one of the best candidates to
comply with energy autonomy, either because they are widely distributed in humanized
environments or because they can be efficiently provided on demand. These two
different ways of providing RF energy can be referred to as RF energy harvesting (EH)
and wireless power transmission (WPT), respectively. I will discuss different solutions
to optimize (minimize) intentional WPT at UHF, by adopting smart beaming
techniques with the twofold goal of locating the tag and then of providing on demand
the needed RF energy in that precise direction. Theoretical justification and
experimental verification are presented and discussed.
The main results obtained in two industry-driven projects in the field of WPT
exploiting the reactive region of the EM fields is also provided. Design solutions for
simultaneous wirelessly powering and communication to moving objects and tools will
be presented. RF harvesting circuits have been demonstrated for more than 50 years,
but only a few have been able to harvest energy from freely available ambient (i.e.,
non-dedicated) RF sources.

RF energy harvesting holds a promise able future for generating a small amount of
electrical power to drive partial circuits in wirelessly communicating electronics
devices. This paper presents the overview and progress achieved in RF energy
harvesting field. A modified form of existing CMOS based voltage doubler circuit is
presented to achieve 160% increase in output power over traditional circuits at 0 dBm
input power. A schottky diode based RF energy harvesting circuit performance is also
studied with practical and simulations results.
1.5 Organisation Of Report
In this chapter we have seen the basic introduction to the Radio Waves. In the
upcoming chapters we will discuss the history and the energy sources and their types.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND CHAPTER-2
Nikola tesla dreamed of a day when all equipment requiring electrical energy would
pull that energy from the air, either from directed wireless power or ambient energy
harvesting.
Some called him a visionary, while others called him a charlatan, but many do attest
that his early visions of alternating current (ac) transmissions systems and wireless
power were the precursors of today's energy-harvesting technology. There is a concept
drawing of the Warden Clyffe Tower that Tesla built (1901–1917)in Shoreham, New
York, as a wireless power generation and communication tower. He believed that by
transmitting waves of alternating radio-frequency (RF) energy, devices such as electric
vehicles and even flying dirigibles, could reuse this energy for consistent operation. He
felt that fossil fuels were not sustainable and that only wireless power held the key to
near inexhaustible power transmission, unlike petroleum, which required costly
storage, handling, and disbursement systems.
The field of wireless power has been growing over the past 60 years, from conceptual
ideas such as collecting solar power in space and “beaming” it back to Earth-based
collectors, like a Dysonsphere, to the reality of charging my Philips Sonicare electric
toothbrush with an inductive charger. (A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical mega structure
originally described by Freeman Dyson in 1959; such a “sphere” would be a system of
orbiting solar-powered satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture
most or all of its energy output, which would be directed back to the destination planet,
presumably Earth.) This directive, or inductive, wireless power is based on a precise
frequency of RF power, with the receiver designed to work only with the exact
frequency of the transmitted power source.
The most common question for the use of this type of power transmission method is
regarding whether the cost of power used to generate the power transmission is

effective versus the amount of power that is transferred. In the case of solar power
being beamed to Earth from space, the effective power source, the sun, is free; thus, the
amount of loss is negligible for the equation of power conservation over power
transmission. In the case of the Philips Sonicare electric toothbrush, although the base
is plugged into a wall socket of ac power, any energy use is not perceived; the true goal
is ease of use, and the fact that I do not need to change the battery of the device creates
a false sense of cost savings. However, with the movement toward mobile devices or
wireless sensor networks (WSNs), directed, or wireless, power starts to fail.
However, the Duracell Powermat, an inductive charging device, is limited to fixed

“charging stations” and the availability of said stations. Thus, the age-old ecosystem
question arises: should I, as a business owner, invest in the infrastructure of a
Powermat or a Qi charging station? Will these types of phones even take off? Thus,
there is a need for a system of energy charging that does not rely on a fixed
infrastructure like inductive charging but instead uses the excess availability of RF
energy already in the local environment. The implementation of energy harvesting is
simple in concept, but more complex in implementation, as are most technical marvels
In the figure, the load could be a standard mobile battery or microenergy cell (MEC),
which exists today; one example is Infinite Power Solutions' THINERGY MEC201
solid-state, flexible, rechargeable thin-film micro-energy cell, with storage capacities
up to 1 mAh. The next stage working backwards is the power conditioning block. This
stage regulates the power to the MEC and cleans up any potential spikes of current that
could damage the load. David Squires, vice president of business development for
Infinite Power Solutions, stated in a phone interview “In energy-harvesting
applications, a key enabler is the quiescent current drawn by the power management
IC.” Squires added, “The MAX17710 has an unprecedented 1-nA battery current draw
when a harvesting source is not present.” The Max17710 is one of many solutions that
could be chosen. [7]

Fig.2.1 Block diagram [7]
Finally, the antenna block as shown in the above Fig.2.1 gives the outline of RF energy
harvester model designing an antenna for a specific frequency, e.g., 2.4 GHz for Wi-Fi
or Bluetooth, or for a global system for mobile communications (GSM) or long-term
evolution (LTE), is not very difficult, and there are many companies that have these.
However, designing a low-cost antenna that can “pull” or receive an adequate amount
of energy (think low VSWR 1:1) from a frequency range of 2.4–80 GHz, is quite a
challenge.
Why would we need such a large range? This goes back to the concept of usable
spectrum. Currently, 2.4 GHz is being broadcast everywhere, from microwave ovens,
access points, cell phones, tablets, remote controls, portable headsets, earbuds, and so
on.
However, there will be a shift in the near future to move out of this band to 5 GHz and
beyond. Already IEEE 802.11ac at 5 GHz is moving into the mainstream with IEEE
802.11ad close behind, operating at 60 GHz. Also, at 5.9 GHz is IEEE 802.11p
wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE) for intelligent transportation
systems (ITSs) and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), allowing vehicles
to intelligently receive warnings from smart infrastructure on the national highway and
interurban traffic systems. Another new technology that is quickly emerging is
automotive radar.
2.1 A Modern Variation

Two years ago, Ossia introduced the world to its wireless power technology. Unlike
Tesla's inductive coupling, which sends power in all directions equally, Ossia's Cota
(Charging Over The Air) technology pinpoints the receiving device that is shown in the

Fig.2.2 below and transmits power directly to it through a combination of line-of-sight
and reflective paths.
It does this through a two-way communication system, where the receiving device lets
the transmitter know its location.
The transmitter can then send power only to the device, ensuring that power isn't
wasted by bouncing around the room and eventually being absorbed by the walls and
furniture. Ossia has made several improvements since introducing the design, but first,
let's look at the base technology. [6]
Fig.2.2 Cota Transmitter(Charging over The Air)[6]
2.2 Working of Cota Transmitter

A product that charges with Cota has a tiny receiver chip inside.

Fig.2.3 Receiver chip inside cota transmitter
Using a 2.4 GHz channel - the same frequency used for WiFi and Bluetooth - a device
that's low on power sends out an omnidirectional beacon. The power transmitter has
hundreds of tiny, directional antennas, which triangulate the exact position of the
product. It then sends power to the device through the same exact paths. The two-way
handshake occurs one hundred times every second, so even as the product moves
around the room, it continuously receives power from the transmitter as shown in the
Fig.2.3 below.
Fig.2.4 Power delivered in multi paths

The Cota system includes cloud-based software that allows users to customize various
parameters, such as prioritizing certain devices. Receivers only send a request for
power when they need it, while the Cota transmitter stays in an ultra-low-power
standby mode until awakened by a beacon.
Safety
Wireless networking frequencies and power levels have been deemed safe for people,
plants, and animals. Cota is, in theory, even safer than WiFi or Bluetooth, since

wireless networking signals are omnidirectional, where Cota won't attempt to transmit
power through a person since it can't "see" the device if the person is in the path. A
third-party testing agency has confirmed that Cota technology complies with FCC
regulations for WiFi and Bluetooth. (Currently, there are no regulations for wireless
power transmission).
Power Levels
Cota's power reception is limited to one Watt of power at any given time, due to FCC
limits. That's less than one-tenth of the power provided by a typical cell phone charger,
which may not be such a big deal since it's constantly trickle-charging the device while
it's in range. (I suppose that depends on the threshold at which the product asks for
power.) But that single Watt is distributed among all the devices that a transmitter
serves - up to thirty of them. To increase range and charging capacity, up to four Cota
Tiles - transmitters mounted in ceiling tiles as shown in the Fig.2.5 below - can be
combined into arrays, effectively quadrupling the available power for a given device.
Fig.2.5 Cota Ceiling Tile [6]
Improvements
Ossia has made a number of upgrades to the original Cota design. Transmitter weight
has been reduced by 40%, and cost by 25%. Earlier designs provided a range of about
two meters (six feet), while the new version reaches nine meters (thirty feet). The first
Cota transmitters required 450 Watts of AC power; that's been reduced to 140 Watts.

Ossia says that the transmitter is dormant most of the time, only waking up and using
power when it's requested. Still, 140 Watts of input compared to one Watt delivered
shows just how inefficient it is to send power wirelessly. Convenience can be very
costly.
Here, A detailed history of RF Energy harvesting and wireless power transfer concept
of Nikola Tesla and the latest developments in this technology are discussed.

ENERGY SOURCES CHAPTER-3
Here, Different types of energies are listed below. They are Renewable Energy, Non
Renewable Energy and Non Renewable Energy. Among Renewable Energy sources we
have Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Biomass and Biofuels, Water and Geothermal.
1. Renewable Energy
A. Solar Energy
B. Wind Energy
C. Biomass and Biofuels
D. Water and geothermal
2. Non Renewable energy
3.1 Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly
such as solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels
and hydrogen.
3.1.1 Solar Energy
Sun is the primary source of energy. Sunlight is a clean, renewable source of energy. It
is a sustainable resource, meaning it doesn't run out, but can be maintained because the
sun shines almost every day. Coal or gas are not sustainable or renewable: once they
are gone, there is none left. More and more people are wanting to use clean, renewable
energy such as solar, wind, geothermal steam and others. It is called 'Green Power'. It
lights our houses by day, dries our clothes and agricultural produce, keeps us warm and
lots more. Its potential is however much larger.
Advantages:
 It is a perennial, natural source and free

 It is available in plenty
 It is non-polluting
 It does not emit any green house gases.

 Solar energy offers decentralization in most (sunny) locations, meaning self-
reliant societies.
 One of the biggest advantages of solar energy is the ability to avoid the politics
and price volatility that is increasingly characterizing fossil fuel markets.
 It doesn’t result in the destruction of forests and eco-systems that occurs with
most fossil fuel operations.
Disadvantages
 Dependent on change in seasons / weather – hence they may not be used

always.
 Requires high initial investments for productive use.
 Solar systems doesn’t work at night directly but the battery bank, which stores
energy during day-time can be used during night.
 Solar electricity storage technology has not reached its potential yet.
 Solar panels are bulky. This is particularly true of the higher-efficiency,
traditional silicon crystalline wafer solar modules.
Technologies for productive use of solar energy
Solar energy can be used to generate electricity. Through Solar Photovoltaic (SPV)
cells, solar radiation gets converted into DC electricity directly. The generated
electricity can either be used as it is or can be stored in the battery. The stored electrical
energy can be used when solar energy is not available. SPV is nowadays successfully
used for home and street lighting and water pumping in villages. In hilly areas, solar
water heating is also being used.
3.1.2 Wind Energy
Wind is the natural movement of air across the land or sea. The wind when used to turn
the blades of a wind mill turns the shaft to which they are attached. This movement of
shaft through a pump or generator produces electricity. The Potential for wind power
generation for grid interaction has been estimated at about 1,02,788 MW taking sites
having wind power density greater than 200 W/sq. m at 80 m hub-height with 2% land
availability in potential areas for setting up wind farms @ 9 MW/sq. km. India now has
the 5th largest wind power installed capacity in the world which has reached 32715.37

MW (as on Oct, 2017). The total wind power capacity added to the country in 2017-18
(as on Oct, 2017) has come up to 435.61 MW. Private agencies own 95 % of the wind
farms in India.
Advantages
 It is environment friendly
 Its freely and abundantly available
Disadvantages
 High investment requirement

 Wind speed is not uniform all the time which affects power generated
3.1.3 Biomass and Biofuels
What is biomass?
The plants fix solar energy through the process of photosynthesis to produce biomass.
This biomass passes through various cycles producing different forms of energy
sources. For example, fodder for animals that in turn produce dung, agricultural waste
for cooking, etc. The current availability of biomass in India is estimated at about 500
million MT per annum, with an estimated surplus biomass availability of about 120 –
150 million metric tones per annum covering agricultural and forestry residues. This
corresponds to a potential of about 18,000 MW. An additional 7000 MW power could
be generated through bagasse based cogeneration in the country’s Sugar mills.
Usage:Biomass is an important source of energy accounting for about one third of the
total fuel used in our country and in about 90% of the rural households. The widespread
use of biomass is for household cooking and heating. The types of biomass used are
agricultural waste, wood, charcoal or dried dung.
Advantages
 Available locally and to some extent abundantly

 It is a relatively clean fuel when compared to fossil fuels. In a way biomass also
cleans our environment by trapping carbon- di-oxide

Disadvantages
 Drudgery involved in collection of fuel

 During indoor cooking and in the absence of sufficient ventilation fuels such as
dung cause air pollution which is a serious health hazard
 Unsustainable and inefficient use of biomass often leads to destruction of
vegetation and hence environmental degradation.
Technologies for productive use of biomass

Technologies that enable efficient use of biomass are becoming prevalent in rural areas.
Biofuels: Biofuels are predominantly produced from biomass feed stocks or as a by-
product from the industrial processing of agricultural or food products, or from the
recovery and reprocessing of products such as cooking and vegetable oil. Biofuel
contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum fuel to create a
biofuel blend. It can be used in conventional healing equipment or diesel engine with
no major modification. Biofuel is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic and
essentially free of Sulphur and aroma.
3.1.4 Water and geothermal
Water: The flowing water and the tides in the sea are sources of energy. Heavy
investments are made on large projects. In recent years, hydel energy (through mini and
small hydel power plants) is also used to reach power to remote villages which are
unelectrified. The estimated potential of Small Hydro Power is about 15,000 MW in the
country. As on October 2017, the installed capacity of Small hydro projects (upto
3MW) amounts to 4399.35 MW.
Advantages of Small Hydro Power as an energy source
 Reliable, eco-friendly, mature and proven technology.
 More suited for the sensitive mountain ecology.
 Can be exploited wherever sufficient water flows -along small streams, medium
to small rivers and also harness abundant sun-shine, wind-energy and other bio-
energy sources.
 Does not involve setting up of large dams or problems of deforestation,
submergence or rehabilitation.
 Non-polluting, entails no waste or production of toxic gases, environment
friendly.

 Small capital investment and short gestation period.
 Minimal transmission losses.
 With careful planning and adoption of simplified and standardized designs, SHP
installations are becoming increasingly competitive with thermal, diesel or gas
based power generation.
Geothermal Energy: Geothermal Energy is heat stored in earth crust and being used for
electric generation and also for direct heat application. Geothermal literally means heat
generated by earth. Various resource assessment carried out by agencies established the
potential 10600 MWth /1000MWe spread over 340 hot springs across seven
Geothermal provinces/11 states.
The availability of geothermal power is most environment-friendly power, round the

year 24x7 basis, not affected by the severity of climate during 6 to 7 winter months like
hydro and like dependence on sun in solar PV. [2]
3.2 Non Renewable energy
Coal, Oil and Natural gas are the non-renewable sources of energy. They are also called
fossil fuels as they are products of plants that lived thousands of years ago. Fossil fuels
are the predominantly used energy sources today. India is the third largest producer of
coal in the world, with estimated reserves of around 315,148.81 million tonnes of
Geological Resources of Coal (as of 1.4.2017). Coal supplies more than 58% of the
country's total primary energy requirements. India consumes about 210 MT of crude oil
annually, and more than 70% of it is imported. Burning fossil fuels cause great amount
of environmental pollution.
Fig. 3.1 Sources of Global Energy

From the Fig.3.1 we can observe the ratios of different sources of energy used globally.
In this chapter we have discussed about the various types of energy sources, and in the
next chapter we will discuss about the wireless power transfer.

WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER CHAPTER-4
Wireless Power Transfer (WPT), Wireless Power Transmission, Wireless Energy

Transmission (WET), or Electromagnetic Power Transfer is the transmission
of electrical energy without wires as a physical link. In a wireless power transmission
system, a transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, generates a
time-varying electromagnetic field, which transmits power across space to a receiver
device, which extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load.
Wireless power transfer is useful to power electrical devices where interconnecting
wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or are not possible.
Fig.4.1 Divisons of Wireless Energy transfer

Wireless power techniques mainly fall into two categories, non-radiative and radiative.
In near field or non-radiative techniques, power is transferred over short distances
by magnetic fields using inductive coupling between coils of wire, or by electric
fields using capacitive coupling between metal electrodes. Inductive coupling is the
most widely used wireless technology; its applications include charging handheld
devices like phones and electric toothbrushes, RFID tags, and wirelessly charging or
continuous wireless power transfer in implantable medical devices like artificial cardiac
pacemakers, or electric vehicles.
In far-field or radiative techniques, also called power beaming, power is transferred by

beams of electromagnetic radiation, like microwaves or laser beams. These techniques
can transport energy longer distances but must be aimed at the receiver. Proposed
applications for this type are solar power satellites, and wireless powered drone aircraft.
An important issue associated with all wireless power systems is limiting the exposure
of people and other living things to potentially injurious electromagnetic fields. [4]
Fig.4.2 Wireless power transmission[4]

Table.4.1 Wired Vs Wireless Power transmission[5]
Wired
Specifications network Wireless network
lower compare to wired networks, But advanced

wireless technologies such as LTE, LTE-A and
Speed of WLAN-11ad will make it possible to achieve
operation Higher speed par equivalent to wired network
System Low, as Frequency Spectrum is very scarse

Bandwidth High resource
Wired network
installation is
cumbersome
and it requires Wireless network installation is easy and it
Installation more time requires less time
Limited, as it
operates in the
area covered
by connected
systems with
the wired Not limited, as it operates in the entire wireless
Mobility network network coverage
copper wires,
optical fiber
Transmission cables,
medium ethernet EM waves or radiowaves or infrared
requires hubs
and switches
Network for network
coverage coverage limit More area is covered by wireless base stations
extension extension which are connected to one another.
LAN
(Ethernet), WLAN, WPAN(Zigbee, bluetooth), Infrared,
Applications MAN Cellular(GSM,CDMA, LTE)

Interference is
Channel less as one
Interference wired network Interference is higher due to obstacles between
and signal will not affect wireless transmitter and receiver e.g. weather
power loss the other conditions, reflection from walls, etc.
QoS (Quality Poor due to high value of jitter and delay in

of Service) Better connection setup
High compare
to wireless
counterpart, as
manufactured
cables have
higher Reasonably high, This is due to failure of router
Reliability performance will affect the entire network.
In this chapter we have discussed about the wired and wireless power transmission, and
In the upcoming chapter we will discuss about the necessity of RF Energy harvesting.

NECESSITY OF RF ENERGY CHAPTER-5
A device may operate using power generated by an energy harvesting system that
generates power from, wireless signals. The energy harvesting system may collect
wireless signals and convert the signals to energy. In one form factor, a device
utilizingan energy harvesting system may operate without a battery and without a
connection to a wired power source. In some cases, super capacitors may be used to
store small harvested amounts of power for use by the device.
No batteries or line power, no problem Energy harvesting technology empowers

innovative wireless designs
Using batteries or line power to run energy management systems in buildings entails
several disadvantages regarding difficult and costly installation. Energy harvesting
systems based on the EnOcean wireless standard offer the “install and forget”
reliability of wired technology with the flexibility of wireless technology. Devices can
now power themselves without batteries or line power, therefore providing more
flexibility than wires and less maintenance cost than batteries.
Building control systems have traditionally employed miles of wires connecting the
sensors and switches needed to monitor the environment within buildings. Battery-
powered devices were sometimes added for hard-to-wire locations, especially in retrofit
situations. However, the costs associated with battery replacement and disposal
prohibited widespread market acceptance.
The EnOcean wireless standard overcomes many of the installation barriers that have
stood in the way of making buildings more energy efficient. Building automation
products such as sensors, switches, and controllers based on the EnOcean wireless
protocol are not only interoperable with each other regardless of the manufacturer, they
are also interoperable with other communication protocols such as TCP/IP. The
maturation and convergence of the EnOcean and TCP/IP communication protocols
have led to a dramatic increase in the number of energy management options available
to integrators.

5.1 Limitless Supplies of Energy
Self-powered wireless sensors and switches implement energy harvesting technologies.
The concept of harvesting energy from the environment is not new; wind and water
have been sources of energy for hundreds of years. However, the concept of making a
wireless and battery-less system has only recently been achievable.
The EnOcean energy harvesting model stems from a simple observation: Where
building sensor data resides, sufficient ambient energy exists to power sensors and
radio communications. Harvestable energy sources include motion, indoor light, and
temperature differentials. These rudimentary sources provide enough energy to transmit
and receive radio signals between controls and sustain vital communications within an
energy management system. Instead of batteries, EnOcean-based controls use
miniaturized energy converters to supply power to building energy management
devices.
Harvesting motion, indoor light, and temperature differences

Three types of energy harvesting techniques are optimized for use in today’s buildings
(see Figure 1):
 Kinetic: Harvesting energy from motion
 Solar: Harvesting energy from indoor light
 Thermoelectric: Harvesting energy from differences in temperature
Fig.5.1 Energy harvesting modules draw energy from sources including motion,
indoor light, and temperature differentials to transmit and receive radio signals
between controls.
5.2 Implementing a wireless energy harvesting system

Building Automation Systems (BAS) reduce energy consumption in buildings on
average 40 percent when smart sensors and controls are in place. However, most

buildings still do not contain the controls necessary for managing energy, nor do they
contain the cabling infrastructure needed to connect the essential sensors and controls.
While widespread BAS integration has been hindered by several factors, self-powered
wireless controls have overcome major hurdles, including:
 Expenses required for retrofitting existing buildings (installation costs, slow
payback, complicated installations)
 Limited interoperability among devices
 Limited interoperability among communication protocols
These classic barriers have been overcome by wireless controls that power themselves
using energy infinitely available in office building spaces.
Faster installations = faster paybacks
Wired devices are generally less expensive to purchase than wireless devices. However,
installing wired systems, particularly in retrofit scenarios, entails considerably more
labor and materials than it does for installing wireless systems. In a conventional wired
installation, the process involves pulling miles of wire for sensors, switches, and
controllers. Obstacles such as asbestos and impassable materials are frequently
encountered when fishing wires through walls and ceilings. Additionally, wired retrofit
installations can disrupt business operations and force building closures. Wired
installations often require patching and repainting, which increase the amount of time
and labor costs required for the installation.
5.2.1 Interoperability among devices

The EnOcean Alliance has created an ecosystem around energy harvesting wireless
technology to develop an industry standard, continue product interoperability, and
promote the technology among members. Interoperability of different end products
based on EnOcean technology is an important success factor for establishing the
technology in the market. For this reason, the EnOcean Alliance standardizes
communication profiles, ensuring that sensors from one manufacturer can communicate
with receiver gateways of another, for example.
Integrators and end users thus have the entire product portfolio at their disposal to meet
their unique needs. Product manufacturers can focus on their own special field while
contributing their particular niche to the market. Profiles of existing and upcoming
types of equipment are defined in EnOcean Equipment Profiles. Visit the EnOcean

Alliance website at www.enocean-alliance.com for more information on application-
specific profiles.
EnOcean wireless technology is already established in building systems through

standardized sensor profiles. A portfolio of more than 800 products creates
interoperability among the different operating facets of a building. Worldwide
implementation of EnOcean technology in hundreds of thousands of buildings has
made it an industry standard.
5.2.2 Interoperability among communication protocols
Internet Protocol (IP) has now become a worldwide standard for over-the-Internet data
communication among devices. One idea currently being discussed involves assigning
every outlet and every filament lamp its own IP address and then connecting them over
the Internet. What many do not know is that all electric loads today already can be
addressed over an IP network enabled by battery-less wireless technology and matching
access points.
Leveraging the strengths of both technologies will create long-term value by allowing
the existing wired or wireless TCP/IP infrastructures to seamlessly add wireless devices
for additional functionality and greater energy savings. As a practical, wireless
extension of TCP/IP systems, EnOcean technology can lower cost of ownership in
retrofits and new buildings. Many facilities have successfully deployed wireless
systems in which EnOcean and TCP/IP technologies are interoperating to reduce
installation and maintenance costs, along with providing energy savings beyond 30
percent.
EnOcean technology in action: Hotels are notoriously difficult to wire, and thus
provide an ideal habitat for implementing energy harvesting wireless controls. For
example, in lieu of ceiling lights, floor and table lamps are most commonly used for
lighting since ceiling access is extremely limited. However, most hotel rooms are now
fitted with TCP/IP and Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections.
This is an example where energy harvesting wireless controls truly shine. The self-
powered controls can be installed without access to line power. The sensors can feed
sensor data such as occupancy status into a TCP/IP backbone and allow the hotel’s
lighting and HVAC control system to make smart decisions regarding energy usage and

management. Furthermore, the energy management controls can be installed in hotel
rooms in between guest stays, which is unheard of when strictly using wired
controls.Because hotel rooms are so often left unoccupied, they represent great
potential for conserving energy. As illustrated in Figure 2, a hotel room energy system
can use occupancy status data provided by the wireless controls to turn off lights and
TVs, as well as change temperature set points to stop heating or cooling unoccupied
rooms.
Fig.5.2 Energy harvesting wireless controls can enable a hotel’s lighting and
HVAC control system to make smart energy management decisions.
These simple forms of lighting and HVAC control are low-hanging fruit in terms of
energy conservation. As technology has made BAS easy to install, hotel owners can
begin recouping dollars lost to energy mismanagement. An access point can receive
data from wireless controls, then feed the system the information it needs to make
smart decisions regarding energy management. When a guest enters a hotel room and

inserts the key card into its dock, a radio signal is sent alerting the system that the room
is occupied. When the guest leaves the room unoccupied, the removed key card
automatically shuts off controlled lights and/or electronics and sets the in-room HVAC
system back to its unoccupied/energy conservation mode. Hotels can cut energy
consumption by 40 percent overnight by integrating wireless building automation
controls.
Greater flexibility, lower costs: Together, the EnOcean and TCP/IP communication
protocols provide buildings with unparalleled performance and flexibility. Wireless
system providers such as Magnum Energy Solutions help bridge the communication
protocols for the benefit of integrators and building owners.
EnOcean-enabled devices do not require line power or batteries and are therefore
highly flexible in their positioning. Each wireless device has a unique ID address, so it
can be integrated seamlessly in an IP network through an access point or gateway. This
eliminates any elaborate or extra Web server systems for each sensor and actuator. A
legacy network can be easily merged with energy harvesting technology to benefit from
all its native advantages. The user is rewarded with more flexibility, comfort, and
convenience, accompanied by low installation costs and reduced power needs.
More than 800 EnOcean-enabled energy harvesting products are now available
worldwide. Building automation sensors and controls enabled by EnOcean include
wireless switches, sensors, actuators, controllers, gateways, and building management
systems. These products are available in both 315 MHz (for North America) and
868 MHz (for Europe).
In this chapter we have discussed about the necessity of RF energy harvesting. Now we
will discuss about the RF Energy Harvester Model.

ENERGY HARVESTER MODEL CHAPTER-6
Here, a detailed description of the harvester model is provided. And the block diagram
of the Harvester model is shown below in the Fig.6.1.
Fig.6.1 Block diagram of Energy Harvester Model [11]
6.1 Energy Harvester

That potential difference causes charge carriers to move along the length of the antenna
in an attempt to equalize the field, and the RF-to-DC integrated circuit is able to
capture energy from the movement of those charge carriers.
Fig.6.2 RF Energy Harvester [11]

The energy is stored temporarily in a capacitor as shown in the above Fig.6.2 and then
used to create a desired potential difference at the load. It's possible to create a circuit
that performs RF-to-DC conversion for a subsystem from readily available
components. Utilizing various combinations of antennas, wireless charging coils,
PMICs (power management ICs), power receiver chips, exciter transmitters, etc. can
yield systems capable of harvesting energy from RF. Specialized integrated circuits
(ICs) designed specifically for RF-to-DC conversion are currently somewhat rare, with
Powercast and E-Peas providing the only current commercial solutions.
One of the only RF-to-DC converters widely available for use is from Powercast. This
company has created a line of wireless RF-energy harvesting modules that operate in
the far field to provide mW of continuous power to charge devices or power sensors.
According to Powercast, their RF-to-DC technology is especially appropriate for

devices that can run for weeks or months off of a 3V battery (e.g., game controllers,
television remotes, environmental sensors, headphones, wireless security cameras)
Transmission intervals are governed by the amount of energy stored in onboard

capacitors or by statements in the source code.So much board space dedicated to
capacitors.These energy-harvesting modules are designed to function as battery-
replacement devices. It’s up to each engineer to calculate the power budget and decide
how much storage capacity to build into the circuit.
Too much capacitance results in excessive circuit size, excessive expense, and long
turn-on times. Too little capacitance and the supply voltage might drop below
necessary operating levels before the circuit has completed its designed task. [11]
6.2 Energy Storage:

The energy reservoir accumulates ultra-low levels of input power, supplied in bursts,
over long periods of time (minutes to hours) so that sensor readings can be taken on a
low duty cycle. We considered various capacitor technologies and concluded that none
of the commonly available solutions are suitable for our application because their self-
discharge rates exceed the energy charging profile we expect to see in practice. This
conclusion is based on our study of five alternative storage technologies.

We charged three capacitors (100 µF ceramic, polymer, and film) to 1.5V and
measured the amount of time it takes them to self-discharge, without a load, to 1.25V.
We compared these results from the table.6.1 to the estimated time it takes a Lithium
Polymer (LiPo) rechargeable battery and NiMH rechargeable battery to self-discharge a
similar amount.
The results in table show that the capacitors self-discharge in less than two days. Also,
the volume of some options, such as the film capacitor, (greater than 100,000 mm3),
would rule it out for most sensor node applications. The batteries hold their charge for
at least a month. We should note that the capacity of the LiPo battery in this test is
50mAh and the NiMH battery is 1.8 mAh. The self-discharge rate of the NiMH battery
is estimated from a vendor data sheet under a 1 uA drain current with a cutoff voltage
of 1.0V (it's not completely self-discharged).
LiPo batteries do not function between 1.5V and 1.25V so we estimated the self-
discharge rate of a LiPo battery between 4.1V and 3.85V (a 0.25V drop) from standard
rule-of-thumb self-discharge rates of Lithium-ion batteries that are typically 5% in the
first 24 hours and 2% per month thereafter.
Rechargeable lithium batteries are commonly used in IOT applications because of their
high energy densities. However, they need 4.2V charge pulses and their discharge
voltage is between 3.6V and 4.0V. In our application, additional energy-consuming
circuitry would be needed to increase the output of the boost converter to this high
charging voltage, and again down-regulate to the nominal 1.8V of the loads we
anticipate. NiMH batteries, on the other hand, discharge at 1.5V and can be charged at
about 2.3 V. In addition, NiMH batteries can be trickle charged indefinitely at voltages
lower than 2.3V, but the battery will not reach its full capacity.
Because of these characteristics, we chose the NiMH battery and designed a charger
that takes advantage of the energy-limited nature of our application. Since we will
never charge the battery at a rate greater than its C/10 limit (10% of its charge capacity
or 180 µA in our case), over-charge protection circuitry is not required. We use an
array of transistors that allows the boost converter to increase the input voltage before
gating it into the battery. [8]

Table.6.1 Battery Storage Technologies[8]
6.3 Low Power RF Transceiver:

A transceiver is a blend of a transmitter and a receiver in a single package. The name
applies to wireless communication devices like cellular telephones, handheld two-way
radios, cordless telephone sets, and mobile two-way radios. Sometimes the term is used
in reference to the transmitter or receiver devices in optical fiber systems or cables.

Fig.6.3 RF Transceiver Block diagram[9]
In a radio transceiver, the receiver is silenced while transmitting. An electronic switch

permits the transmitter and receiver to be allied to the same antenna and stops the o/p of
the transmitter from injuring the receiver. With this kind of a transceiver, it is difficult
to get signals while transmitting and this mode is named as half duplex. RF transceiver
module is used in wireless communication. The main application of this transceiver is
shown in the Fig.6.4 below is to make information in the form of data/ voice / video apt
to be transmitted over the wireless medium. [9]
Fig.6.4 Block diagram of low power RF transceiver

6.4 Power Management Module
Fig.6.5 Block diagram of power management module

The Power Management Module (PMM) is shown in the Fig.6.5 is a smart load
protection device designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an
overload condition or short circuit. Basically, it detects a fault condition and interrupts
current flow. Unlike a one-time fuse, the PMM can be manually, automatically or
remotely reset. It uses a solid-state highside switch that is protected from extreme
overload, output shorts to ground, thermal conditions, and reverse connection currents.
The PMM can be configured to trip at several breaker currents from 1 to 30 amps, and
for “fast” or “slow-acting” trip response times.
The PMM can also be used as a solid-state relay (SSR). It contains a solid-state high-
side power switch that can be controlled by grounding or ungrounding a load control
signal input. The high-side switch can switch currents up to 30 amps at voltages
between 10 and 32 volts DC. Unlike a mechanical relay, the PMM has no moving parts
to wear out and is not required to be hermetically sealed to be used in Div. 2 locations.
When used as an SSR it can be configured to trip with no delay time or as a time delay
relay. The PMM is limited to SPST switching.
The PMM can act as a battery saver to prevent the discharge of cranking batteries by
automatically disconnecting the load at a preconfigured value. Its circuitry measures
the source input voltage to the module. Load disconnect can occur upon recognition of
a low voltage condition caused by the loss of the charging current, either from an
alternator or a line powered charger. When it senses the loss of the charging current it

disconnects the load, preventing further battery drain. The PMM can be configured for
an immediate notification of the loss of charging current, with or without a time delay,
for load disconnect. The user can be notified either by a remote output switch or
Modbus communication. The PMM can be configured to auto-reclose when the voltage
returns to an acceptable value or reclose through a manual or remote reset. This will
allow for servicing of the condition without the load being immediately disconnected.
The PMM can be configured to react to under- or over-voltage conditions as well.
The PMM contains diagnostic LED’s, remote indication output switches, local and
remote test and reset functions, as well as Modbus RTU serial communications for
supervisory computer monitoring and control.
6.5 Low Power Micro Controller

The energy constraint in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) advocates the design and
use of low power components in sensor nodes. Commercial general purpose
microcontrollers are not suitable for such applications and have motivated us towards
the design of a low-power microcontroller tailored for the WSN application domain. In
this paper, we study the characteristics of typical WSN applications and present the
design of a poweraware microcontroller using conventional design techniques. The
block diagram of Low Power micro controller is shown in the Fig.6.6. Our simulation
results show signiﬁcant power savings compared to other off-the-shelf
microcontrollers.
Fig.6.6 Low Power Microcontroller

Table.6.2 Performance of different microcontrollers
6.6 Antenna Design

Though antenna is the first element for the RF energy harvesting system, plays crucial
role & have all the responsibility on it. The antenna having some characteristics which
suits for this system:-
1. Sensitive to the frequency band available in the environment.
2. Omnidirectional pattern.
3. Wide bandwidth.
4. Circularly polarized.
6.6.1 Frequency of Antenna

One design parameter of the rectenna is the frequency of antenna, the antenna types is
categories as the single band, multiband & broadband antenna design proposed in
recent years used in harvesting system are described below:-

Single band Antenna: By modifying the patch, feed or ground we can achieve the
desired frequency of operation. A modified patch of E shape is operating at GSM 900
MHz band which covers both uplink & downlink band and observed that it has the
capability of harvesting energy. A two element dipole antenna array at 2.4GHz
frequency provides the efficiency of 83% . But it is not beneficial for us because it
works only in the single band or narrow band, so it cannot receives the energy from
other band.
Multiband Antenna & Broadband Antenna: In the past 2- 3 years researchers try to
design multiband or broadband antenna so that it can receive energy from many
frequency bands. Also to achieve maximum efficiency they try to design array of
antenna. A broadband 1× 4 quasi Yagi antenna array is designed to cover the GSM
1800 & UMTS 2100 band which help the harvester to achieve the power conversion
efficiency of 40% .A cross dipole antenna featuring dual polarization & broad beam
width suitable for broadband rectenna at 1.8 GHz to 2.5GHz giving conversion
efficiency 56% .
High Frequency Antenna: Now days the wireless system are working in the high
frequency range i.e millimeter wave frequency, because at high frequency the size of
the antenna is small. An antenna is designed in this range for harvester system is CP
patch antenna array at 24 GHz, the efficiency achieved is 24%. At 34 GHz millimeter
wave frequency, an array of 4× 4 patch antenna(16 elements) yields the efficiency 67%.
Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna: Due to size limitation in broadband antennas,

compactness of antenna is more in demand, so antenna is designed on the concept of
frequency reconfigurable operation in which antenna will work on multiple frequencies
or separate input power level by changing electrical lengths of the radiating elements
using various RF switches such as PIN diode, MEMS, and Varactors.
A receiving patch antenna is proposed which switches between 5.2 WLAN band, 5.8
ISM bands.
6.6.2 Polarization of Antenna

It describes the relationship between the time function & magnitude of electric field. A
new antenna is designed which has all the polarization receiving capability collects the
energies with the help of two ports at 2.4GHz earning the efficiency of 78%.
We consider different shapes of the monopole antenna whether it is square, rectangle,

circle or ellipse. A triangular shape monopole antenna is bent & has the capability of
receiving vertical & horizontal polarized waves getting the average efficiency of 60 %
with the different loads for the GSM 900 & 1800 MHz band.
More improved one is the dual circular polarization working with 6 frequency bands
(DTV, GSM −900, 1800, LTE, 3G,WiFi) taking the bow-tie cross dipole antenna &
finally modified to log periodic cross dipole antenna achieving the maximum
conversion efficiency 67%
6.6.3 Substrate Used

Commonly we uses FR4, RT Duroid, Rogers substrate for the fabrication of antenna,
now the cardboard as a substrate having the permittivity 1.78 features the low cost &
ecofriendly behavior attract the researchers towards it. A wideband monopole antenna
designed on the cardboard substrate, ranging the frequency band between 600 to 1500
MHz achieving the 72 % radiation efficiency suitable for RF energy harvesting
system .
More advancement is done in the antenna design, is the Differential antenna. Its
concept is old but to maximizing the efficiency it is applying in the antenna design of
harvesting system. Some interesting features found in differential antenna i.e reducing
the cross polarization & suppressing the higher order modes leads to higher gain, thus a
differential microstrip antenna is used for harvesting energy at GSM 900 MHz with the
efficiency of 80%. At 2.4 GHz differentially fed patch antenna having efficiency
73.9% designs give the new advancement in the area of the Rectenna design.
Antennas are metallic structures designed for radiating and receiving electromagnetic
energy. The system is harvesting electromagnetic energy from radio frequencies.
Therefore, antenna design is extremely important. Several versions of antennas were
used in this project, this includes monopole antenna, microstrip patch antenna, and loop
antenna.

Design with Monopole Antenna: The monopole antenna was found to be not efficient.
The circuit was tuned to 101.1 MHz signal with transmitted power of 5.7 kW 22.4
miles away from the circuit. The outcome of the system with monopole antenna created
a charge of storage capacitor by 10mV in 4 days. [10]
6.7 Rectifier Design

Rectifier circuit converts the received RF waves into DC form. Rectifier circuit having
the attributes like low power consumption, good power handling capability. Diode is
the main component of the rectifier circuit, we can use normal PN junction diode or
Schottky diode. Both differ in terms of speed, switching action, recombinations of
electrons and holes, forward voltage drop.
Basically the Schottky diode is the two terminal metal - semiconductor junction.
Because of the unique features of the Schottky diode, it is commonly used in the
Rectenna design. It performs well at high frequency due to fast switching action &
features are low junction capacitance, low forward turn on voltage, high heat
dissipating ability etc.
The symbol representing the schottky diode is shown in Fig.6.7:-
Fig.6.7 Symbol of schottky diode

There are many types of the rectifier circuit:
1. Basic Rectifier: A half wave & full wave rectifier are coming in this part. Half wave
converts only the positive half cycle of RF/AC waves into DC form. Half wave rectifier
circuit is designed in the ADS software with the antenna is reported in . Low efficiency
and high ripple factor are some of the disadvantages of the basic rectification circuit
The symbol representing the rectification circuit is shown in Fig.6.8:-

Fig.6.8 Basic rectification circuit[10]
2. Voltage Doubler: It doubles the output voltage as given of input voltage. Villard
circuit, Greinacher circuit, Bridge circuit helps in doing so. The efficiency is higher
than basic rectifier and also the low ripple factor than it, leads to advantages of the
voltage doubler circuit. The symbol representing the rectification circuit is shown in
Fig.6.9.
Fig.6.9 Voltage doubler circuit[10]

3. Voltage Multiplier: According to our requirement at the output side we can use
Villard cascade voltage multiplier, Dickson multiplier, it is cascade of the respected
named circuit.
The advance version of Villard circuit is the Greinacher circuit which minimizes the
ripple produced in Villard circuit. Rectifier is the nonlinear circuit, so it produces
harmonics. Therefore the filter is attached at the output side, rejects the harmonic
generated by diode. If the filter is attached to the antenna circuit then it is beneficial in
terms of compactness.
Impedance matching is must in antenna design between source and load. It maximizes
the power transfer to the load. The rectifier & matching circuit is modeled in the ADS
software. There are various methods through which we can match the two terminal e.g
lumped components, transmission lines, single / double stubs, quarter wave
transformer. Our main aim is to minimize the reflection and maximize the transmission.
A voltage booster is used at the last stage for boosting the voltage level, i.e DC to DC
converter which steps up the voltage. [10]
Fig.6.10 Greinacher circuit[10]
In this chapter we have discussed about the Energy Harvester, Antenna design and
Rectifier Design. In the upcoming chapter we will discuss the working of RF Energy
Harvester.

WORKING OF RF ENERGY HARVESTOR
CHAPTER-7
7.1 Harvesting Energy

The basic concept for harvesting energy from an RF source typically involves an extra
antenna to receive the desired wireless signals via a wireless product’s primary
receiver. The flow diagram of RF Energy Harvesting model is shown in the Fig.7.1.
Fig.7.1 RF Energy Harvesting Flow diagram
7.2 Input
With a conversion ratio of four and the antenna used which is a wide band VHF
antenna in order to cover frequency range from 80 to 110 MHz with a gain of

2.14dBi.The Antenna used to receive RF signals receives signals with frequencies in
MHz.The antenna portion of a rectenna can be almost any form of antenna suitable for
the frequency band of interest. Options include a monopole, dipole, or micro strip patch
fabricated on printed-circuit board (PCB), along with rectifying circuitry based on
nonlinear rectifying devices (such as Schottky or IMPATT diodes). The antenna will be
joined to the rectifying circuitry by means of impedance-matching circuitry and filters,
such as lowpass filters, to block any harmonics generated by the diodes.
Fig.7.2 Antenna in RF energy harvesting

Conversion efficiency is critical to any energy-harvesting solution. The antenna and
receiver will determine the amount of RF signal power available for rectification, while
the diodes and diode rectifying circuitry will determine the RF-to-dc conversion
efficiency.
7.3 Impedance Matching

A matching network is needed to minimize the signal reflexions at the input port and to
maximize the power transmission from the antenna to the load. In general, any
arrangement of blind elements or stub lines can lead to a match between the antenna
and the remaining harvester circuit.
There are different topologies of matching circuits. The most common topologies are
T-, Pi- or L-matching circuits but also shunt inductors or capacitors or LC resonators
can be used for impedance matching. The arrangement of the blind elements depends
on the specific application.
A very important parameter of the matching circuit is the quality factor (Q factor)
which describes how under-damped a resonator or oscillator is and as well
characterizes a resonator's bandwidth relative to the center frequency. A high Q factor

indicates a lower rate of energy loss relative to the stored energy of the resonator. A
high quality factor also means that the resonator swings with a higher amplitude at the
resonance frequency but has a smaller bandwidth compared to low Q circuits. There is
a distinction between different kinds of quality factors in a circuit.
The modelling of the input impedance of an RF rectifier differs from an LNA because.
1.For a fixed input power, the small-signal input impedance of an RF rectifier varies
within the same cycle depending on the biasing point where the linearized input
impedance is obtained.
2.The input impedance of an RF rectifier changes dramatically for different input

powers as the input signal amplitude changes.
7.4 Rectification and LPF
The antenna will be joined to the rectifying circuitry by means of impedance-matching

circuitry and filters, such as lowpass filters, to block any harmonics generated by the
diodes.
Fig.7.3 Impedance matching in RF energy harvesting

Conversion efficiency is critical to any energy-harvesting solution. The antenna and
receiver will determine the amount of RF signal power available for rectification, while
the diodes and diode rectifying circuitry will determine the RF-to-dc conversion
efficiency
Rectification is necessary because the energy generated is needed to be stored, it is

possible only if signals are DC, hence the signals are rectified and converted to D.C.

7.5 Storage Batteries
Energy harvesting is considered very much a “companion” technology to wireless
communications, since it can enable extended battery lifetime for mobile devices and
possibly battery-free operation for some electronic devices
We chose the NiMH battery and designed a charger that takes advantage of the energy-
limited nature of our application.
Here, the working of RF Energy Harvester is explained in detail.

CONCLUSION CHAPTER-8
From this seminar we can conclude the following :
With the increasing complexity in establishing the wired transmission lines from
power generation stations to users there is a necessity in developing the wireless power
transmission. As RF energy is in abundant, RF energy harvesting has emerged as the
one of the major technology to transfer power without using wires. And also using this
technology a lot of space that is used for placing batteries to supply power to small
sensors is reduced. As there is a abundant RF energy is our environment due to vast
usage of RF waves based communication, we can use this to generate energy and
supply power continuously to wireless sensors.
The input antenna takes signals in the frequency range of few MHz This input signal is
passed through impedance matching and then through rectifiers. The rectifiers convert
these signals into DC voltages. The low pass filters are used to eliminate the unwanted
harmonics. The voltage regulators are used to shift these voltage obtained from the
rectifiers to required level. The DC voltage obtained is stored by using capacitance. In
this way the electrical energy is harvested from RF waves.
By using this technology we can harvest energy from RF waves, which are abundant in
our surroundings. By using this technology we can also charge many number of sensors
and also electronic equipment at a time without using wires. And also we can charge
mobiles and small electronic equipments without using cables. We can supply energy
to wireless sensors continuously and also without using batteries.
Right now the RF energy technology is not developed up to high power application
level, presently it is used for low power applications ranging from µWatts to milli-
Watts. In future the technology may be improved such that the RF energy harvesting is
used for high power applications.

REFERENCES CHAPTER-9
[1] Bands of radio waves, https://www.livescience.com/50399-radio-waves.html
[2] Renewable Energy, http://vikaspedia.in/energy/energy-basics/sources-of-

energy?b_start:int=5#viewlet-below-content#viewlet-below-content
[3] Non Renewable Energy, https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth104/node/1345
[4] Wireless Power Transmission, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons
/8/8f/Wireless_power_system.svg
[5] Wired Vs Wireless Power Transmission, http://www.rfwireless-world.com/
Terminology/wired-network-vs-wireless-network.html
[6] History of RF Energy Harvesting ,https://www.engineering.com/Electronics
Design/ElectronicsDesign
Articles/ArticleID/16404/Wireless-Power-But-Not-What-Tesla-Had-in-Mind.aspx
[7] Nikola Tesla’s Dream on energy harvesting, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/
abstract/document/6685904
[8] Energy Storage, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7113071
[9] Low Power RF Transceiver, https://www.edgefxkits.com/blog/rf-transceiver-

module-with-block-diagram-explanation/
[10] Antenna and rectifier Design, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8245021/
[11] RF Energy Harvestor, https://www.slideshare.net/ijerd_editor/f1143952
[12] https://rfid4u.com/rfid-basics-resources/the-rf-in-rfid/
[13] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6951347

[14] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6495701

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SEMINAR REPORT

“RF ENERGY HARVESTING”

Submitted to the Department of Electronics Engineering

: Presented & Submitted By:

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

RF Energy Harvesting Page 1

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

This is to certify that the SEMINAR REPORT entitled “RF Energy

He has successfully and satisfactorily completed his Seminar Exam in all

1.Prof. Golak Santra __________________

Dr. J. N. Sarvaiya DEPARTMENT SEAL

RF Energy Harvesting Page 2

It gives me a great pleasure to present my seminar report on “RF Energy Harvesting". I

RF Energy Harvesting Page i

First, we present an overview of the RF-EHNs including system architecture, RF

RF Energy Harvesting Page ii

RF Energy Harvesting Page iii

RF Energy Harvesting Page iv

RF Energy Harvesting Page v

Fig.1.1 Electromagnetic Spectrum

RF Energy Harvesting Page vi

Table.4.1 Wired VS Wireless Power Transmission 26

RF Energy Harvesting Page vii

Advancements in electronics, information technology, computational devices and

As a potential choice for autonomous, self-powering, or harvesting power from ambient

RF Energy Harvesting Page 1

RF Energy Harvesting Page 2

Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation, as are microwaves, infrared

RF Energy Harvesting Page 3

Table. 1.1 Division of radio spectrum into 9 bands.

Fig. 1.1 Electromagnetic Spectrum

RF Energy Harvesting Page 5

1.4 Shortwave Radio

RF Energy Harvesting Page 6

According to Robert Patterson, a professor of astronomy at Missouri State University,

Specific radio frequencies corresponding to the resonant frequencies of common atoms

According to NASA, radio astronomers often combine several smaller telescopes, or

RF Energy Harvesting Page 7

1.4 Shortwave Radio

Nowadays there is an almost unlimited number of monitoring applications, such as

RF Energy Harvesting Page 8

1.5 Organisation Of Report

RF Energy Harvesting Page 9

RF Energy Harvesting Page 10

However, the Duracell Powermat, an inductive charging device, is limited to fixed

RF Energy Harvesting Page 11

2.1 A Modern Variation

RF Energy Harvesting Page 12

Fig.2.2 Cota Transmitter(Charging over The Air)[6]

2.2 Working of Cota Transmitter

RF Energy Harvesting Page 13

Fig.2.4 Power delivered in multi paths

RF Energy Harvesting Page 14

Fig.2.5 Cota Ceiling Tile [6]

RF Energy Harvesting Page 15

RF Energy Harvesting Page 16

3.1 Renewable Energy

3.1.1 Solar Energy

 It is a perennial, natural source and free

RF Energy Harvesting Page 17

 Dependent on change in seasons / weather – hence they may not be used

Technologies for productive use of solar energy

3.1.2 Wind Energy