Wireless Power for IoT

Abstract

This doctoral thesis by compendium of publications addresses several fields of study around the main topic of wireless transference of energy for the Internet of Things devices, in particular, for nodes which are part of a wireless sensor network, and spotlighting the special case of radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH), i. e., with no dedicated energy source. During the doctoral period, and likewise condensed in the present document, we studied the current electromagnetic spectrum, we developed a tri-band antenna tailored to RFEH use-cases, we analyzed the state-of-the-art circuits and components for the autonomous rectification of high frequency low voltage signals, with the purpose of its energy extraction. We developed innovative circuits for the efficient power management previous to a dc/dc converter, that achieved a substantial improvement beyond the state-of-the-art. We studied the commercial dc/dc converters under ultra-low power conditions and novel components and methods for energy storage. We developed a novel wireless communication protocol intended for embedded and energy harvesting systems, that achieved up to 2 decades of lower power consumption than Bluetooth low energy, among other features. We examined applicationrelated new components and materials with exceptional characteristics, such as, exibility and lower power consumption and cost-effectiveness. And we investigated on new hardware and software concepts for increasing the security of the nodes, without increasing their power demands. The success of the results was reected in the published articles further on appended, which were accepted in journals of high academic impact within the first quartile in their classification and conferences of international relevance.