An Energy Harvesting Solution for IoT Devices in 5G Networks

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) and IoT applications will experience significant growth as the fifth-generation (5G) of wireless technology matures and becomes more widely adopted. How to power on billions of low power wireless IoT devices has initiated a new interest in energy harvesting. The 5G technology will open new opportunities to design circuits to efficiently extract energy from millimeter waves to power on IoT devices. In this paper, an energy harvesting circuit is designed and simulated using Advanced Design System (ADS) which is compatible with 5G technology. A microstrip patch antenna with −17.35 dB return loss at 11.02 GHz is designed and implemented. A rectifier using a Schottky diode is also designed to operate at high frequencies. Simulation results indicate that the proposed solution can extract energy from incoming waves at 11.02 GHz and generate 1.18 V across an IoT sensor with an efficiency of 87%.