Ultra-Robust Orientation-Insensitive Rectenna Architectures for Wearable and IoT Wireless Powering

The rapid expansion of body-centric wireless systems, smart textiles, and the Internet of Things (IoT) has generated an urgent need for energy-autonomous wearable devices. Embedding antennas and RF front-ends into garments, accessories, or on-body sensors presents significant challenges, as conventional battery-based solutions restrict device lifetime, increase maintenance demands, and inhibit large-scale deployment. Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting through rectenna architectures offers a promising pathway for powering low-power wearable and IoT nodes. However, wearable antennas and rectennas must remain reliable despite human-body loading, continuous motion, bending, stretching, washing, and exposure to variable incident angles and polarizations. These conditions can significantly degrade radiation performance, impedance matching, and RF–DC conversion efficiency. Overcoming these issues is essential for achieving robust, safe, and high-performance wearable antennas and rectennas capable of supporting next-generation wireless services, in alignment with SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.This Research Topic aims to advance the design, optimization, and integration of ultra-robust wearable antennas and rectennas for RF energy harvesting and wireless powering in real-world settings. Emphasis is placed on body-centric and textile-based platforms that must sustain stable performance under mechanical deformation, human-body proximity, and electromagnetic interference, while operating alongside modern wireless standards such as IoT, 5G/6G, and body area networks.We particularly encourage works that present innovative wearable antenna and rectenna architectures, such as compact, multiband, wideband, and MIMO designs dedicated to RF energy harvesting and wireless power transfer. Contributions focusing on orientation- and polarization-insensitive operation—enabled through antenna geometry, array configurations, or advanced rectifier and matching topologies—are especially welcome. We also seek studies that leverage flexible, textile, stretchable, or biocompatible materials and scalable fabrication techniques to enhance comfort, durability, and long-term reliability, as well as research addressing electromagnetic compatibility, safety, and system-level integration in practical wearable applications.This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, and case studies on, but not limited to:- Wearable rectenna and antenna design for RF energy harvesting and wireless power transfer, including compact, multiband, wideband, and MIMO configurations.- Materials and fabrication techniques for textile-based, flexible, stretchable, and conformal wearable antennas and rectifier circuits, including integration into garments and accessories.- Electromagnetic compatibility, safety, and reliability of wearable antennas and rectennas under bending, stretching, washing, perspiration, and prolonged on-body use.- Co-design of antennas and rectifiers for wide-angle, polarization-independent, and orientation-insensitive operation in IoT, 5G/6G, and body area network scenarios.- Experimental on-body measurements, characterization campaigns, and application-driven prototypes in healthcare, sports and fitness, smart clothing, industrial IoT, and pervasive sensing networks. Topic editors: Abdulrahman S. M. Alqadami, Muhammad Ikram Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76699/ultra-robust-orientation-insensitive-rectenna-architectures-for-wearable-and-iot-wireless-powering