Microwave and Millimeter-wave Rectifying Circuit Arrays and Ultra-wideband Antennas for Wireless Power Transmission and Communications

Microwave and Millimeter-wave Rectifying Circuit Arrays and Ultra-wideband Antennas for Wireless Power Transmission and Communications. (May 2007) Yu-Jiun Ren, B.S., National Chung-Hsing University; M.S., National Chiao-Tung University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Kai Chang 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.