| In the future, space solar power transmission and wireless power transmission will play an important role in gathering clean and infinite energy from space. The rectenna, i.e., a rectifying circuit combined with an antenna, is one of the most important components in the wireless power transmission system. To obtain high power and high output voltage, the use of a large rectenna array is necessary.; Many novel rectennas and rectenna arrays for microwave and millimeter-wave wireless power transmission have been developed. Unlike the traditional rectifying circuit using a single diode, dual diodes are used to double the DC output voltage with the same circuit layout dimensions. The rectenna components are then combined to form rectenna arrays using different interconnections. The rectennas and the arrays are analyzed by using a linear circuit model. Furthermore, to precisely align the mainbeams of the transmitter and the receiver, a retrodirective array is developed to maintain high efficiency. The retrodirective array is able to track the incident wave and resend the signal to where it came from without any prior known information of the source location.; The ultra-wideband radio has become one of the most important communication systems because of demand for high data-rate transmission. Hence, ultra-wideband antennas have received much attention in mobile wireless communications. Planar monopole ultra-wideband antennas for UHF, microwave, and millimeter-wave bands are developed, with many advantages such as simple structure, low cost, light weight, and ease of fabrication. Due to the planar structures, the ultra-wideband antennas can be easily integrated with other circuits. On the other hand, with an ultra-wide bandwidth, source power can be transmitted at different frequencies dependent on power availability. Furthermore, the ultra-wideband antenna can potentially handle wireless power transmission and data communications simultaneously. The technologies developed can also be applied to dual-frequency or the multi-frequency antennas.; In this dissertation, many new rectenna arrays, retrodirective rectenna arrays, and ultra-wideband antennas are presented for microwave and millimeter-wave applications. The technologies are not only very useful for wireless power transmission and communication systems, but also they could have many applications in future radar, surveillance, and remote sensing systems. |
