A RF power harvester with integrated antenna capable of operating near ground planes

An RF power-harvester with an onboard microcontroller operating at 430 MHz and an optimized, multi-slotted planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) integrated within the system volume is presented. Use of the PIFA in the tag design reduces problems when the tag operates near ground and metal structures which often occur in a variety of applications. Vector network analyzer measurements as well as indoor measurements have been performed to demonstrate that harvester performance near metal structures is not degraded in contrast to systems equipped with dipole antennas. It has been found that the microcontroller could be powered up to a 3 m range for time intervals up to 20 ms while standing as near as 1 cm above a metal plane.