A Broadband Active Solar Cell Differential Antenna

In this letter, a broadband solar cell differential printed antenna and its integrated design with active circuits are proposed. This antenna has a differential mode (DM) Sd11 less than -10 dB in 1.4-6.1 GHz. Furthermore, a 1×2 active solar cell antenna array designed based on the above differential antenna achieves a maximum gain of 6.84 dBi, a cross-polarized level lower than -20 dB, and a single-ended output power of not less than 4.5 dBm. This antenna has a solar cell coverage ratio of 87.98% with 100% insolation. This integrated broadband active solar cell antenna can be used for green wireless sensor network applications.