Title:  Applications of Additive Manufacturing for Ambient RF Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer Systems

Committee:

Dr. Manos Tentzeris, ECE, Chair , Advisor

Dr. Andrew Peterson, ECE

Dr. Gregory Durgin, ECE

Dr. Yoshihiro Kawahara, U of Tokyo

Dr. Yang Wang, CEE

Abstract:

Power cables are the last wires that prevent us from realizing truly “wireless” electronic devices, and wireless power transfer and ambient RF energy harvesting technologies are the key enablers to achieve the energy autonomous operation of these devices for wearable, mobile, and IoT applications. The objective of this proposed research is to overcome the fundamental challenges in RF energy harvesting and establish it as a reliable energy source for autonomous systems. Toward the research goal, this research proposed two solutions utilizing additive manufacturing: a wearable flexible RF energy harvester and a hybrid RF solar harvester. The presentation includes the demonstration of the energy autonomous on-body sensing network and the extremely high sensitivity hybrid RF energy harvester for long-range backscattering communication utilizing the RF energy harvesting and additive manufacturing technologies.