Simultaneous Wireless Power Transfer and Communications by Recycling Third Harmonics for WPAN Applications

Conventional signal splitting techniques applied in SWIPT, such as time-splitting and power-splitting, suffer from information loss or wasted energy. In this paper, a compact coupler-rectifier-receiver (CRR) system is proposed to address the problems inherent in these conventional techniques. Due to the intrinsic non-linearity of diodes, high-order harmonics are generated as part of the rectification process. Instead of eliminating these harmonics, the proposed structure couples the 3
^rd
harmonic to its isolation port and used it for data recovery. The proposed method is validated by both simulation and measurement. The measured RF-to-DC conversion efficiency (PCE) is over 40% for input powers from - 11 dBm to - 1 dBm and reaches a maximum value of 57.3% at - 4 dBm. Simulation results on 3
^rd
harmonic detection verify its potential for data recovery. Thus, this CRR system is feasible for SWIPT.