CAD Procedure for Predicting the Energy Received by Wireless Scavenging Systems in the Near- and Far-field Regions

The paper introduces a rigorous methodology for predicting RF-to-DC conversion in power harvesters. The results of a full-wave EM simulation of the harvesting antenna are rigorously handled by EM theory to produce a Norton equivalent circuit of the antenna in the presence of an incident field. In turn, this allows a full nonlinear analysis of the rectifier to be carried out, thus providing an accurate evaluation of the conversion efficiency. For validation purposes we consider a circularly polarized rectifying antenna (rectenna) designed to harvest energy from RF sources (such as mobile phones and/or base stations) at GSM 1800 standard frequencies. The computed and measured performance of a prototype rectenna compare very favorably in different real-world scenarios including near- and far-field situations.