Design and Analysis of a Dual-Port Multiband RF-to-DC Converter for IoT Energy Harvesting Applications

Abstract

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has led to an increasing demand for efficient and sustainable energy sources to power these autonomous systems. Radio Frequency (RF) energy harvesting has emerged as a promising solution, capitalizing on the omnipresent RF signals in our environment. This article presents the design and analysis of a Dual-Port Multiband RF-to-DC Converter using a multi-stage Cockcroft Walton Voltage Multiplier (CWVM) topology, which is tailored to meet the specific needs of IoT energy harvesting applications. Impedance matching is achieved by the implementation of L-network and π-network using distributed elements. The proposed design enables simultaneous energy harvesting across six bands from 0.87 to 2.5 GHz. It exhibits peak efficiency of 66% and 62% at 10kΩ and 18kΩ, respectively. The multiband feature enhances the energy acquisition versatility. The key parameters, including impedance matching, output voltage, and conversion efficiency, are simultaneously analyzed and optimized for all the frequency bands to achieve the desired performance. The proposed design performance is compared with the recent converter designs in literature, which shows that this research contributes to the ongoing development of energy-efficient solutions for IoT devices, addressing the critical need for prolonged autonomy of IoT devices and reduced reliance on traditional power sources.