On the Beneficial Roles of Fading and Transmit Diversity in Wireless Power Transfer With Nonlinear Energy Harvesting

We study the effect of channel fading in wireless power transfer (WPT) and show that fading enhances the RF-to-DC conversion efficiency of nonlinear RF energy harvesters. We then develop a new form of signal design for WPT, denoted as transmit diversity, that relies on multiple dumb antennas at the transmitter to induce fast fluctuations of the wireless channel. Those fluctuations boost the RF-to-DC conversion efficiency thanks to the energy harvester nonlinearity. In contrast with (energy) beamforming, transmit diversity does not rely on channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) and does not increase the average power at the energy harvester input, even though it still enhances the overall end-to-end power transfer efficiency. Transmit diversity is also combined with recently developed (energy) waveform and modulation to provide further enhancements. The efficacy of the scheme is analyzed using physics-based and curve fitting-based nonlinear models of the energy harvester and demonstrated using circuit simulations, prototyping and experimentation. Measurements with two transmit antennas reveal gains of 50% in harvested DC power over a single transmit antenna setup. The work (again) highlights the crucial role played by the harvester nonlinearity and demonstrates that multiple transmit antennas can be beneficial to WPT even in the absence of CSIT.