In this paper, the far-field energy harvesting system for self-sustainable wireless autonomous sensor application is presented. The proposed autonomous sensor system consists of a wireless power supplier (active antenna) and far-field energy harvesting technology-enabled autonomous battery-less sensors. The wireless power supplier converts solar power to electromagnetic power in order to transfer power to multiple autonomous sensors wirelessly. The autonomous sensors have far-field energy harvesters which convert transmitted RF power to voltage regulated DC power to power-on the sensor system. The hybrid printing technology was chosen to build the autonomous sensors and the wireless power suppliers. Two popular hybrid electronics technologies (direct nano-particle printing and indirect copper thin film printing techniques) are discussed in detail.
Keywords: energy harvesting; hybrid printed electronics; inkjet printing; self-sustainable wireless sensor.