An UHF RFID Energy-Harvesting System Enhanced by a DC-DC Charge Pump in Silicon-on-Insulator Technology

TL;DR

This paper presents a silicon-on-insulator based RF-DC converter with a DC-DC booster for UHF RFID energy harvesting, capable of powering devices and performing temperature data logging at 5 meters from a reader.

Contribution

It introduces a cost-effective RF energy harvesting system with a DC-DC charge pump in SOI technology, enabling autonomous device operation at practical distances.

Findings

System produces 2.4 V DC at -14 dBm RF power

Operates effectively up to 5 meters from RFID reader

Successfully powers temperature data logging device

Abstract

An RF-DC converter enhanced by a DC-DC voltage booster in silicon-on-insulator technology for UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) energy harvesting is presented in this letter. When the received RF power level is -14 dBm or higher, the system, fabricated on an FR4 substrate using off-the-shelf low-cost discrete components and connected to a flexible dipole antenna, is able to produce 2.4-V DC voltage to power general-purpose electronic devices. As a simple proof of concept,a device comprising microcontroller, temperature sensor, and EEPROM is considered in this work. The experimental results demonstrate the capability of the system to autonomously perform temperature data logging up to a distance of 5 m from a conventional UHF RFID reader used as an RF energy source.