Novel 2-D Beamsteerable Rectenna with Improved Power Receptivity for mm-Wave RF-WPT Applications

This paper introduces a novel 2-D beam-steerable rectenna designed for mm-wave RF wireless power transfer (RF-WPT) applications. The 2-D beamsteering capability of the proposed rectenna is achieved by integrating an on-chip <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$4 \times 4$</tex> Butler matrix, which is co-integrated with a rectifier array in a 22 nm FD-SOI CMOS, and a leaky wave antenna array. The proposed solution incorporates dual rectifier units simultaneously to enhance the receiver's power receptivity. In this manner, the rectenna is capable of receiving power from the same direction while taking advantage of frequency diversity. This is accomplished using the novel integration scheme of the single leaky wave array antenna with two rectifier units. The proposed solution maintains the system's compactness and reduces the overall cost while offering a fully passive 2-D beam scanning for the receiver unit. These merits make the proposed solution promising for RF- WPT applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.