| The objective of this research is to propose a novel circuit design that enables wireless energy harvesting, which is a new paradigm that scavenges energy from radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation. Compared to other commonly observed alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind, RF harvesting can provide continuous supply of energy, and is not completely impaired by bad weather conditions and indoor use. However, obtaining a usable yield from this energy source is challenging as the amplitude of the arriving signals is considerably low, and the requirements for operating a commercially available sensor mote are proportionally high. The existing state-of-the-art solutions are effective only over narrow frequency ranges, are limited in efficiency response, and require higher levels of input power for successful operation. Thus, this research aims to further the state of the art through the design and optimization of a novel RF harvesting board design and exploring the interfacing challenges of this board with a number of practical wireless sensors.;The contribution of this thesis goes beyond conceptual design alone, and has fabrication on a PCB to demonstrate how such a circuit can run a commercial Mica2 sensor mote, with accompanying simulations on both ideal and non-ideal conditions for identifying the upper bound on achievable efficiency. Results reveal approximately 100 % improvement over other existing commercialized designs in the power range of -20 to -7 dBm for the Mica2 mote, and a considerable increase in the wake-up range when a modification of our circuit is used together with a RFID powered WISP mote. |
