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Article has an altmetric score of 1

Grant support

This research was funded in part by the project TIN2016-75097-P of the Spanish Research and Development National Program, and in part by the project TEC2017-85529-C3-1-R of the Ministerio de Economia y Empresa.

Analysis of institutional authors

Fernandez-Gonzalez, Jose M.AuthorMarcos, DavidAuthorSierra-Castaner, ManuelAuthorEsteban, JaimeAuthor

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June 9, 2019
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RF Energy Harvesting System Based on an Archimedean Spiral Antenna for Low-Power Sensor Applications

Publicated to:Sensors. 19 (6): E1318- - 2019-03-16 19(6), DOI: 10.3390/s19061318

Authors: Alex-Amor, A; Palomares-Caballero, A; Fernández-González, JM; Padilla, P; Marcos, D; Sierra-Castañer, M; Esteban, J

Affiliations

Univ Granada, Dept Teoria Senal Telemat & Comunicac, E-18071 Granada, Spain - Author
Univ Malaga, Dept Lenguajes & Ciencias Informac, E-29071 Malaga, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Informat Proc & Telecommun Ctr, E-28040 Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

This paper presents a radiofrequency (RF) energy harvesting system based on an ultrawideband Archimedean spiral antenna and a half-wave Cockcroft-Walton multiplier circuit. The antenna was proved to operate from 350 MHz to 16 GHz with an outstanding performance. With its use, radio spectrum measurements were carried out at the Telecommunication Engineering School (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid) to determine the power level of the ambient signals in two different scenarios: indoors and outdoors. Based on these measurements, a Cockcroft-Walton multiplier and a lumped element matching network are designed to operate at 800 MHz and 900 MHz frequency bands. To correct the frequency displacement in the circuit, a circuit model is presented that takes into account the different parasitic elements of the components and the PCB. With an input power of 0 dBm, the manufactured circuit shows a rectifying efficiency of 30%. Finally, a test is carried out with the full RF energy harvesting system to check its correct operation. Thus, the RF system is placed in front of a transmitting Vivaldi antenna at a distance of 50 cm. The storage capacitor has a charge of over 1.25 V, which is enough to run a temperature sensor placed as the load to be supplied. This demonstrates the validity of the RF energy harvesting system for low-power practical applications.

Keywords

archimedean spiral antennacockcroft-walton multiplierenergy harvestingenergy storageArchimedean spiral antennaCockcroft-walton multiplierEnergy harvestingEnergy storageMiniaturizationParasitic elements modeling

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Sensors due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position 15/64, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Instruments & Instrumentation.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 6.16, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-09, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 19
  • Scopus: 26
  • Europe PMC: 1
  • Google Scholar: 31

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-09:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 44.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 44 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.25.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Granada; Sudan.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Alex-Amor, Antonio) and Last Author (ESTEBAN MARZO, JAIME).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Alex-Amor, Antonio.