A transparent meshed solar monopole antenna for UWB applications

This paper demonstrates the integration of a transparent meshed circular monopole antenna with a polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) solar cell operating as an RF ground plane in addition to its photovoltaic function. While the meshed circular monopole with the feed line printed on a clear acrylic substrate placed upon the poly-Si solar cell offers an optical transparency of 91%, it is demonstrated that the meshed transparent monopole proposes similar radiation characteristics in comparison with its conventional solid counterpart and operates across a measured frequency band of 2.33-10.8 GHz covering UWB applications with an average broadband gain of 4.1 dBi. The proposed meshed solar monopole antenna generates a DC power output of 65.5 mW and operates with a measured adequate solar efficiency of 13.1%.