A dual-band antenna for extending cellular coverage by using energy-harvesting strategy

Abstract

The widespread use of sensor nodes forces a straightforward, low‐cost, and easy‐to‐implement design of these nodes. Instead of using separate batteries and antennas, this letter proposes a dual‐band microstrip antenna for both communication and energy‐harvesting applications. The energy required for the sensor node is harvested from the broadcast television band and then used in the cellular phone communication band. A previous design of a circular polarized broadband patch antenna is adapted and optimized for the defined requirements with the electromagnetic simulation software CST Studio Suite. The simulations helped in an antenna design with a reflection coefficient below −10 dB in the 600 MHz ‐ 700 MHz television frequency band for the energy harvesting. Furthermore, the antenna is also able to operate in the 850 MHz cellular mobile phone communication band, in order to provide coverage in shadowed remote areas or even to be of use for the transmission of the sensor data. The final design is prototyped and then characterized through the measurement of the reflection coefficient.