Case Study: ESEO extends IoT device battery life with Keysight ADS energy‑harvesting co‑simulation

Extending the Life of IoT Devices with Energy–Harvesting Solutions

ESEO, working with STMicroelectronics, needed to extend IoT device battery life by harvesting ambient RF energy and faced a difficult impedance‑matching challenge: converting low‑impedance antenna signals into the high‑impedance DC needed by rectifier diodes while accounting for nonlinear diode behavior. To tackle this, the team used Keysight’s Advanced Design System (ADS) and its co‑simulation capabilities to model both linear and nonlinear components during design.

Using Keysight ADS (including the Momentum 3D planar field solver and Harmonic Balance), the vendor helped optimize the antenna/rectifier matching network, minimize parasitics with diode package models, and tune the layout to reduce return loss. The solution produced usable DC power at a −20 dBm threshold with an estimated 13% efficiency and reached a maximum measured efficiency of 68% at +20 dBm, demonstrating good simulation‑measurement correlation and meeting the project’s voltage and efficiency goals.

ESEO