A Wideband Fractal Planar Monopole Antenna with a Thin Slot on Radiating Stub for Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting Applications

In this paper, for energy harvesting applications a design of a wideband planar monopole antenna is proposed using fractal geometry and inserting a thin slot on radiation patch. The proposed antenna is optimized at various stages during its design. Moreover, a parametric study is done for understanding sensitivity of important design parameters in the design process of the antenna. The designed antenna operates at 10-dB impedance bandwidth from 0.92 to 2.58 GHz (fractional bandwidth of 95%) with low profile structure and compact size of 65 × 65 × 0.8 mm3, acceptable return losses, stable radiation characterizes and reasonable gains. A potential application of the antenna as a receiving antenna for harvesting systems has been carried out inside the laboratory as the harvested power from ambient radiofrequency (RF) energy. This wideband antenna has a good potential to harvest RF energy of available signals in the GSM-900, GSM-1800, and Wi-Fi bands, and can be used as a part in DC power supply modules of low power sensor networks.