A circuit for simultaneous optical data reception and energy harvesting

A circuit for simultaneous optical data reception and energy harvesting using a photovoltaic cell is presented. This circuit is based on a DC-Dc boost converter modified to also work as an optical communications receiver. The circuit is able to boost the low voltage of a typical silicon photovoltaic cell to a level that can be used to drive an electronic circuit. The data receiver portion of the circuit comprises a current-sense resistor, two amplification stages and a comparator. Measurements results using a laser diode as the light source show that a bit error rate of 1.25 × 10^-3 at 160 kbps is achieved for binary PAM with logic 0 represented by a 5 mW laser beam and a logic 1 with no light. The power delivered by the circuit to a 50 kΩ load is 359.6 μW when the laser beam is modulated at 160 kbps. The conversion efficiency of the converter is 73.4 % and efficiency of the employed solar cell is 15.6 %.