Small low energy devices are more and more present in our everyday lives. Smart objects have become indispensable to our society, in the field of health to home automation allowing the control of domestic energy, passing through the realms of the automobile connected windscreens and tires. But also the environment with smart garden hubs or agricultural sensors to follow the requirements of crops and reduce unnecessary treatments. Batteries used to power these devices have a limited life span, sometimes difficult to replace, and use expensive and rare metals. The impact of our consumer society on the environment is an important issue and we urgently need to work towards creating green, renewable and low energy technology limiting the greenhouse gas emissions. Engineers have steadily worked to reduce the energy requirements of devices, opening the way for innovative power sources using ambient electromagnetic waves. Rectennas have been used since the 70’s for wireless power transmission and research in this domain could create the leap forward in technology required to solve the energy crisis. In the short-term battery-less devices and in the long-term maybe energy transfer modules for wireless communicating systems and perhaps for energy transfer to satellites.
This subject proposes to use the co-design method of reconfigurable microwave components on a semiconductor substrate to think on a global design of solar energy harvesting to power communicating microwave systems. Overcoming the problems of additional components and impedance mismatches, a global design will permit to decrease footprint and increase the efficiency.
