A novel embroidered textile RFID adapted rectenna for current rectification and energy transfer

In recent years, the rise of smart textiles has enabled the development of numerous electronic textile devices for various applications, as physiological parameters monitoring in the medical field. However, powering these devices in a way that supports increased wearability and mobility remains a complex challenge. To avoid the use of batteries, technologies based on textile magnetic induction have emerged. However, the rectification circuits required to convert the alternating current received by antennas into direct current are still mostly made with traditional, rigid electronic components. This paper presents a new prototyping method to develop a textile rectifier and its associated antenna (rectenna) circuit, limiting rigid components only to the diode. The study includes a theoretical analysis that guides the design of a circuit operating in the near-field communication frequency range. An experimental investigation of the electrical performance was also conducted to evaluate the circuit’s rectification efficiency. The resulting textile rectenna prototype demonstrates a rectification efficiency of 45% for an alternating signal at its optimal operating frequency of 20 MHz.