Design and Optimization of a 2.4 GHz Antenna Array for Energy Harvesting

Abstract

In this paper, a 2.4GHz antenna array for wireless power transfer (WPT) was designed and optimized for energy harvesting using MATLAB Software. Antennas are essential communication tools in energy harvesting systems as such; they are used to transmit and receive signals. The designed antenna is a 2 x 4 microstrip array. The choice of the microstrip antenna stems from the fact that, it is a class of patch antenna which satisfies all low-level conditions for Radio frequency (RF) transmission. Array antennas are deployed to maximize the overall gain, improve signal reception and achieve excellent performance. The antenna specifications were used in the analysis of the antenna formulations. The simulation result obtained shows satisfactory parameters for energy harvesting. The maximum gain was improved from 17.0 dbi to 17.5 dbi after optimization. The reflection co-efficient was also maintained above a magnitude of -26.2db. The antenna also recorded low correlation co-efficient. With the growth of self-sustaining devices, antenna arrays for energy harvesting provides an innovative solution for ecofriendly technologies.