Study and Design of Reconfigurable Wireless and Radio- Frequency Components Based on RF MEMS for Low-Power Applications

This chapter intends to deal with the challenging field of communication systems known as reconfigurable radio-frequency systems. Mainly, it will present and analyze the design of different reconfigurable components based on radio-frequency microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS) for different applications. This chapter will start with the description of the attractive properties that RF MEMS structures offer, giving flexibility in the RF systems design, and how these properties may be used for the design of reconfigurable RF MEMS-based devices. Then, the chapter will discuss the design, modeling, and simulation of reconfigurable components based on both theoretical modeling and well-known electromagnetic computing tools such as ADS, CST-MWS, and HFSS to evaluate the performance of such devices. Finally, the chapter will deal with the design and performance assessment of RF MEMS-based devices. Non-radiating devices, such as phase shifter and resonators, which are very important components in the hardware RF boards, will be addressed. Also, three types of frequency reconfigurable antennas, for the three different applications (radar, satellite, and wireless communication), will be proposed and evaluated. From this study, based on theoretical design and electromagnetic computing evaluation, it has been shown that RF MEMS-based devices can be an enabling solution in the design of the multiband reconfigurable radio-frequency devices

Modelling, design and fabrication of a novel reconfigurable ultra-wide-band impedance matching based on RF MEMS technology

This study proposes an adaptive impedance-matching network with tremendously reduced dimensions and presents its fabrication process. The proposed radio-frequency micro-electromechanical system (RF MEMS) device is based on a coplanar waveguide design and relies on suspended bridges for impedance tuning. The tuning is controlled by a variable applied DC voltage to the bridges. Preliminary tests validate the device's operation mechanism, and simulations were performed on both the mechanical aspects of the device (bridge gap manipulation) and tuning capabilities. This device presents the possibility of operating in a wide band of frequencies, namely [1-6] GHz, and for load impedances in the interval of [30-90] omega for the real part and [-10-30] for the imaginary part. The device's resonant frequency and its bandwidth can be modified easily by changing the bridge gap in the RF MEMS.This work was supported by the Laboratory of Circuit and Electronic System in High Frequency of University of Tunis El Manar and Research Center for Microelectromechanical Systems (CMEMS) of the University of Minho Braga, Portugal. Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) project PTDC/EEI-TEL/5250/2014, by FEDER funds through POCI-01-145-FEDER-16695 and Projecto 3599-Promover a Produção Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico e a Constituição de RedesTemáticas, and by grant SFRH/BD/116554/2016