Theoretical Analysis and Design of RF Power Harvesters for 50-IoT Applications

In this paper, a theoretical model was proposed for analyzing RF rectifiers. It can calculate the diode power conversion efficiency (PCE), input impedance, rectifier matching efficiency, and total output dc power (or total PCE). This model can achieve a high accuracy (< 5% error) over a wide frequency and power range. For demonstration, a dual-band RF rectifier is proposed to cover two 5G frequency bands in China. Besides, a miniaturized wideband dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) was developed to provide omnidirectional radiation patterns. The DRA and rectifier can be integrated forming a RF power harvester for powering wireless sensor network nodes in the 5G enabled IoT applications.