A novel single-feed hybrid reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna for 5G mobile communication and radio frequency energy harvesting applications at 28/38GHz

Abstract

Reconfigurable antennas have received much attention in RF energy harvesting models owing to their selectivity for operating frequency and polarization. The characteristic of having frequency selectivity and polarization selectivity can be termed as frequency diversity and polarization diversity, respectively. This paper investigates a rectenna device with a new proposed topology in order to eliminate coupling between input and output lines and increase the rectification efficiency with the use of single feed hybrid reconfigurable antenna, switch between 28GHz and 38GHz frequency. Moreover, it is designed to charge a rechargeable battery of 1watt(W). The Reconfiguration mechanism is realized by electronically controlling different states of Switches. PIN Diode (as RLC Equivalent circuit) is used as a switch for ON/OFF states. This antenna mainly comprises rectangular shaped patches (28GHz and 38GHz) with Triango-Truncated edge at the corners. Eighteen PIN Diodes are placed symmetrically throughout the antenna presenting as, S1 & S2 for frequency reconfiguration, S3 to S6 & S7 to S10 connects Triango Truncated edge at the corners for polarization reconfiguration, and for radiation pattern reconfiguration at S11 to S14 & S15 to S18 has been used. The proposed antenna model is capable of simultaneously changing, the radiation patterns as clock and anti-clockwise directions at ±90-degree shift in E and H planes, circularly polarized (CP) states among, Linear Polarization (LP), Right Hand Circularly Polarization (RHCP), and Left Hand Circularly Polarization (LHCP). The current design describes using single antenna for energy harvesting and 5G mobile communication application. This would lead to higher output currents, leading to the ability to efficiently charge a wide variety of batteries. A fully functional prototype has been designed, fabricated and its compound reconfiguration characteristics have been validated for simulated and measured results. For validation of results, the experimental results and the simulation results from the proposed mathematical model were made into comparison, and excellent correlation between the measured and simulated results was obtained.