Bandwidth Analysis of RF-DC Converters Under Multisine Excitation

The use of multisine signals to improve the efficiency of wireless power transfer (WPT) for low average received power was proposed recently. Several measurement-based studies illustrated the gain that can be achieved for different circuit or waveform instances, focusing on the impact of a time-varying amplitude on the rectifying efficiency. This paper first establishes a model enabling a thorough analysis of the multisine-based WPT system focusing on the bandwidth of the signal and the rectifier. This model enables a codesign of signal and rectifier for optimal WPT. The proposed model provides insight into the output voltage and power, as a function of the input waveform for different circuit models. By including the input matching and the clamper, our model is generic and can include a wide range of rectifiers with different voltage multiplication approaches. The key insight gained from our analysis is that there is a tradeoff between the frequency spacing of the tones of the multisine signal and the cut-off frequency of the low-pass RC filter, as a main property of the rectifier circuit. Our model predicts the measured power conversion efficiency and voltage with an error below 0.1 and 0.2 V, respectively.