Compact solar cell ultra-wideband dipole antenna

An autonomous wireless transceiver that harvests energy from its surroundings via a solar cell pair connected as a dipole is presented in this paper. The antenna subsystem functions as both an RF and DC source. Sharing the area consumed by the primary DC power source and the RF antenna reduces the size and overall cost of the transceiver by miniaturizing and reducing the number of components required to implement the wireless link. The ultra-wideband (UWB) 3.1-10.6 GHz frequency range of operation determines the antenna and solar cell area, thereby setting a limit on the power that can be delivered to the transceiver. The solar cell pair can be DC connected either in series or parallel to yield different supply voltages.