Industry’s first energy harvesting optimised antenna

Intending to offer a complete set of all the necessary components needed for RF energy harvesting, e-peas has now added an antenna solution to its growing product portfolio. The antenna will complement its established energy harvesting dedicated power management ICs.

The energy harvesting antenna is ten times smaller than a standard off-the-shelf component, offering more space for customers’ designs. It has been created together with technology experts at Ignion - and is ideal for a wide assortment of industrial applications, including building automation, asset tracking, smart metering and other logistics applications.

The same antenna can be employed for any band and device form factor with a proper matching network design. Using this antenna, it will be possible to harvest energy at all frequencies within the 0.4GHz to 10.6GHz range. Integrated with the AEM30940, AEM30330 or AEM30300 radio frequency AEMs, it can capture energy from a distance of up to 17m when utilising a 1W source and performs an energy capturing range of 31m when utilising a 3W source. Energy can be captured from any direction, as the antenna is orientation independent.

As e-peas CMO Christian Ferrier explains: “This antenna is another vital piece of hardware that we can now present to our customer base. This sees us continue our evolution from being a component supplier towards becoming a full-scale solutions provider.”

“At Ignion we are excited to contribute to the future of zero maintenance IoT solutions together with e-peas, powered by Virtual Antenna™ technology. By enabling predictable high RF performance in an easy to implement off-the-shelf component, Ignion and e-peas are lowering the entry barriers towards a more sustainable IoT industry,” adds Johan Pedersen, senior director business development at Ignion.