A Tri-band Staircase Antenna for RF Energy Harvesting

Abstract

A staircase-shaped antenna is presented in this paper for the purpose of RF energy harvesting. The antenna is designed and simulated, and the results are inquisited with reference to return loss, VSWR, gain, and polar plot. The proposed antenna is fabricated on a low-cost FR4 substrate, and measurements are taken using VNA. This antenna has a length of 28.30 mm (L) and width of 38.03 mm (W) and is excited with a microstrip line feed technique. The antenna is a tri-band antenna, operating at the resonant frequencies of 2.53, 4.46, and 5.5 GHz. These frequencies are used for Bluetooth, WLAN, and WiMAX wireless communication. The simulated results and measured results are in satisfactory concordance with each other. This antenna, if used with DC rectifier circuit, could be a good candidate for the use of RF energy harvesting.