Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting Technologies: A Comprehensive Review on Designing, Methodologies, and Potential Applications

Abstract

Radio frequency energy harvesting (RF-EH) is a potential technology via the generation of electromagnetic waves. This advanced technology offers the supply of wireless power that is applicable for battery-free devices, which makes it a prospective alternative energy source for future applications. In addition to the dynamic energy recharging of wireless devices and a wide range of environmentally friendly energy source options, the emergence of the RF-EH technology is advantageous in facilitating various applications that require quality of service. This review highlights the abundant source of RF-EH from the surroundings sources, including nearby mobile phones, Wi-Fi, wireless local area network, broadcast television signal or DTS, and FM/AM radio signals. In contrast, the energy is captured by a receiving antenna and rectified into a working direct current voltage. This review also summarizes the power of RF-EH technology, which would provide a guideline for developing RF-EH units. The energy harvesting circuits depend on cutting-edge electrical technology to achieve significant efficiency, given that they are built to perform with considerably small current and voltage. Hence, the review includes a thorough analysis and discussion of various RF designs and their pros and cons. Finally, the latest applications of RF-EH are presented.

SMLMAC-HEAP: Slotted Multi-Layer MAC Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks Powered by Ambient Energy Harvesting

“…For this reason, experts are developing fresh methods to improve the MAC Protocol in order to boost the MAC layer's performance.Recent improvements in MAC protocols allow wireless sensor network powered by ambient energy harvesting (WSN-HEAP) to be a great choice in comparison to battery-powered networks (4)(5)(6)(7) . Presently research shows (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) that use of ambient energy like solar, wind, water, Radio Frequency (RF) etc. concept adopted by WSN outperforms than battery-powered.…”

Radiofrequency Energy Harvesting Systems for Internet of Things Applications: A Comprehensive Overview of Design Issues

“…These four fields of research are represented in Figure 1 , which shows the conceptual map of this study. The block that deals with RF-EH-WS is known as the power management module (PMM) [ 9 ]. In a real IoT network, events can occur at any time.…”

“…In most literature overviews proposed in recent years, authors are only interested in one or two parts of the diagram shown in Figure 1 . In [ 9 ], for example, Ibrahim et al proposed a comprehensive review of the design and methodologies of the RF-EH system. While offering a set of potential IoT applications, the authors are not interested in MEB-WS solutions that are known to help optimize the performance of an RF-EH-WS.…”

Statistical Characterization of Wireless Power Transfer via Unmodulated Emission

“…Research in RF-EH has already produced significant results, as indicated in recent survey papers. Examples are [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Moreover, relatively new books like [ 7 ] or [ 8 ] contain good compilations of the main contributions and results.…”

“…First, the propagation models used in RF-EH are outlined in some of the above survey papers. This is the case of [ 1 , 6 ], which includes a brief description of wireless propagation through manageable models such as free-space, two-ray, or Rayleigh fading [ 4 ], which recalls the free-space and two-ray models and [ 5 ], which only makes reference to the Friis path-loss formula. As for regular papers, most also adopt simplified propagation models.…”