Publication

Abstract : This paper presents a novel ultra-wideband rectenna which consists of a transparent Vivaldi antenna and a wideband rectifying circuit for radio frequency energy harvesting. The antenna is realized on a 2.2-mm-thick soda-lime glass substrate coated with fluorine-doped tin oxide of thickness 650 nm. It provides an optical transmittance greater than 80% in the visible region. The rectifying circuit with a cascaded matching network and the Greinacher doubler circuit are fabricated on an FR4 substrate with a thickness of 0.8 mm. The antenna provides the best matching characteristics and the realized peak gain is 3.2 dBi. The designed matching network enables maximum power transfer from the antenna to the rectifier. The rectenna provides a peak power conversion efficiency of 69% for −10 dBm input power. The proposed antenna can be realized on the windscreen of automobiles and glass windows without causing any obstruction to normal view.