Application of Metamaterials in Planar Rectennas
The large number of different devices and standards operating in 2.4 GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) band can make that them interfere, significantly, among themselves and that the quality of the transmission to be impaired. However, due to the widespread of the electromagnetic energy in this frequency spectrum, it ends up being quite attractive for RFEH (Radiofrequency Energy Harvesting) applications. In this context, this work presents the design, fabrication, and analysis of low-cost planar antennas added to metamaterials structures, to enable the supply of energy through the RFEH technique to devices which operate in 2.4GHz band. Low-cost planar antennas have compact dimensions and are easy to fabricate and integrate, however, they have some limiting characteristics, such as, low or moderate gain and high losses at determinate frequencies. Thus, the use of planar antennas jointly with metamaterials structures, makes it possible to bypass the limitations presented, in order to improve the radiation pattern and gain of the antennas and, consequently, the RF harvesting. In this work, two topologies of planar antennas will be analyzed: the PIFA (Planar Inverted-F Antenna), which is a resonant antenna and the quasi-Yagi, which combines the good characteristics of a resonant antenna, but with a similar broadband behavior to a travelling-wave antenna. In these elements, metamaterial cells will be added to optimize the performance for application in RFEH.