Rectennas for microwave power transmission

Abstract

Microwave power transmission (MPT) has had a long history before the more recent movement toward wireless power transmission (WPT). MPT can be applied not only to beam-type point-to-point WPT but also to an energy harvesting system fed from distributed or broadcasting radio waves. The key technology is the use of a rectenna, or rectifying antenna, to convert a microwave signal to a DC signal with high efficiency. In this paper, various rectennas suitable for MPT are discussed, including various rectifying circuits, frequency rectennas, and power rectennas. © IEICE 2013.