A triple band rectenna for RF energy harvesting in smart city applications

Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting is found to be the best alternative to conventional batteries for providing endless power to the sensor networks connected to perform various applications in the smart city. The electromagnetic energy density in the ambient environment is very low and not uniform, which demands a high gain multi-band rectenna system operating at mostly available energy bands and a suitable rectifier circuit that offers large PCE performance. This paper introduces a triple-band monopole rectenna with enhanced performance for smart city applications. A defective ground structure (DGS) has been investigated for a significant increase in gain with an increasing number of resonant frequencies. The proposed antenna operates over a band of frequencies that lies within 1.25–3 GHz, which covers 1.8/2.1/2.45 GHz frequencies. The antenna offers the gain values of 4.16/6.54/10.2 dB at 1.8/2.1/2.45 GHz frequencies, respectively. A single diode series-connected rectifier has been opted to efficiently operate over a wide range of input power levels from −10 dBm to 5 dBm and offers a minimum conversion efficiency of 60% within the operating bands at 0 dBm input power. The rectenna system is experimentally measured and the measured output voltage at 2.45 GHz frequency is 1.123 V.