Conformal phased array with beam forming for airborne satellite communication

For enhanced communication on board of aircraft novel antenna systems with broadband satellite-based capabilities are required. The installation of such systems on board of aircraft requires the development of a very low-profile aircraft antenna, which can point to satellites anywhere in the upper hemisphere. To this end, phased array antennas which are conformal to the aircraft fuselage are attractive. In this paper two key aspects of conformal phased array antenna arrays are addressed: the development of a broadband Ku-band antenna and the beam synthesis for conformal array antennas. The antenna elements of the conformal array are stacked patch antennas with dual linear polarization which have sufficient bandwidth. For beam forming synthesis a method based on a truncated Singular Value Decomposition is proposed

Analysis and synthesis of leaky-wave devices in planar technology

[ESP] ] El trabajo llevado a cabo durante la realización de esta tesis doctoral, se ha centrado en el análisis y síntesis de dispositivos de microondas en tecnología planar. En concreto, se han estudiado diferentes tipos de dispositivos basados en radiación por ondas de fuga "leaky waves", en los cuales las propiedades de radiación están determinadas por la constante de fase del modo "leaky" que es el que determina el ángulo de apuntamiento y por la tasa de radiación que es la que determina la intensidad de los campos radiados. De esta manera, controlando en amplitud y fase el modo "leaky" se puede obtener un control efectivo sobre el diagrama de radiación del dispositivo. Además, con el objetivo de poder obtener de una manera más eficiente las características de propagación de los modos de fuga "leaky" en función de los principales parámetros geométricos de la estructura, se han desarrollado diversas herramientas de análisis modal basadas en la técnica de resonancia transversa de la estructura. La capacidad para obtener un control simultáneo de la constante de propagación compleja del modo "leaky", ha sido demostrada mediante el diseño y fabricación de varios tipos de antena "leaky wave" (LWA) y de otros dispositivos como multiplexores y sistemas de enfoque en campo cercano. Para ello, se ha utilizado la tecnología planar de guía de onda integrada en sustrato (susbstrate integrated waveguide, SIW). Esta recientemente desarrollada tecnología, permite diseñar dispositivos de microondas basados en tecnología clásica de guía de ondas con sistemas de fabricación estándar usados en tecnología de circuitos impresos (printed circuit board, PCB). De esta forma, se pueden integrar en un mismo sustrato muchas de las diferentes partes que forman un sistema de comunicaciones, mejorando así su robustez y compactibilidad, además de reducir el coste y de contar con menores pérdidas que otras tecnologías planares como la microstrip. [ENG] The work developed along this doctoral thesis has been focused on the analysis and synthesis of microwave devices in planar technology. In particular, several types of devices based on the radiation mechanism of leaky waves have been studied. Typically, the radiation properties in leaky-wave devices are determined by the complex propagation constant of the leaky mode, wherein the phase constant is responsible for the pointing angle and the leakage rate for the intensity of the radiated fields. In this manner, by controlling both amplitude and phase of the leaky mode, an effective control over the device's radiation diagram can be obtained. Moreover, with the purpose of efficiently obtaining the leaky mode's radiation properties as function of the main geometrical parameters of the structure, several modal tools based on the transverse resonance analysis of the structure have been performed. In order to demonstrate this simultaneous control over the complex propagation constant in planar technology, several types of leaky-wave devices, including antennas (LWAs), multiplexors and near-field focusing systems, have been designed and manufactured in the technology of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW). This recently proposed technology, allows the design of devices based on classical waveguide technology with standard manufacturing techniques used for printed circuit board (PCB) designs. In this way, most of the parts that form a communication system can be integrated into a single substrate, thus reducing its cost and providing a more robust and compact device, which has less losses compared to other planar technologies such as the microstrip.Universidad Politécnica de Cartagen

2008 Index IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Vol. 16

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author\u27s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors\u27 names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author\u27s name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index

Advanced Techniques for the synthesis of wideband array antennas

Antenna arrays are the most effective solution for radiating systems that need high directivity and low sidelobe level, such as radio astronomy, remote sensing, and radar applications. Typically, antenna arrays are only designed for narrowband applications, thus several radiating systems are to be employed, one per each operating bandwidth. Recently, with the aim of reducing the number of antenna system onboard a vehicle, such as aircrafts, satellites or terrestrial vehicles, a great interest has been focused on techniques for designing wideband antenna arrays. Therefore most of the dissertation deals with novel techniques for the synthesis of both narrowband and wideband planar antenna array, aiming to provide a pretty good wide-angle scanning while imposing several constraints to meet imposed by the designer. In addition, an advanced technique for the synthesis of a wideband miniaturized single-element antenna placed in realistic environments has been developed. Furthermore an hybrid technique for the analysis of conformal arrays of antennas as well several synthesis procedures have been developed. Mutual coupling has been also taken into account

2009 Index IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters Vol. 8

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author\u27s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors\u27 names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author\u27s name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index

Experimental demonstration of conformal phased array antenna via transformation optics

J.L. acknowledges the support from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (61501362 and 61601351). The work was partially conducted during J.L.’s visit to Queen Mary University of London. Y.H. would like to thank the Royal Society for the Wolfson Research Merit Award, the IET for AF Harvey Research Prize and the EPSRC for the QUEST Program Grant (EP/I034548/1)

Radiation pattern synthesis in conformal antenna arrays using modified convex optimization technique

In this paper, a modified convex optimization technique is used for radiationpattern correction in a cylindrical-shaped conformal microstrip array antenna.The technique uses numerical simulations to optimize the amplitude andphase excitations, with the goal to decrease the Euclidean distance betweenthe desired field pattern and the obtained (simulated/measured) field patternwhile maintaining the main beam direction, null's location, and side lobelevels under control. Two prototypes of 1 4 and 2 4 conformal microstripantenna array deformed from linear/planar structure to the prescribed cylin-drical shape, with different radii of curvature, are studied to demonstrate theperformance of the proposed technique. The proposed convex optimizationmodel when applied to conformal antenna array possesses fast computingspeed and high convergence accuracy for radiation pattern synthesis, whichcan be a valuable tool for engineering applications.Dr. Mohammad Alibakhshikenari acknowledges supportfrom the CONEX-Plus programme funded by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under theMarie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801538

Advanced Design Methodologies and Novel Applications of Reflectarray Antennas

Reflectarray antennas combine the numerous advantages of printed antenna arrays and reflector antennas and create a hybrid high-gain antenna with a low-profile, low-mass, and diversified radiation performance. Reflectarrays are now emerging as the new generation of high-gain antennas for long-distance communications. In this dissertation, some advanced concepts demonstrating novel features of reflectarray antennas are presented. • First, various approaches for radiation analysis of reflectarray antennas are described and implemented. Numerical results are then presented for a variety of systems and the advantages, limitations, and accuracy of these approaches are discussed and compared with each other. • A broadband technique by using sub-wavelength elements is proposed and prototypes are fabricated and tested. This technique enables the reflectarray to achieve a significant bandwidth improvement with no additional cost. • Infrared reflectarrays antennas are studied for possible applications in concentrating solar power systems. Material losses, an important design issue at infrared frequencies, are investigated and reflectarrays consisted of dielectric resonant elements are proposed with low-loss features at infrared. • Multi-beam reflectarray antennas are studied and it is demonstrated that by optimizing the phase of the elements, a desirable multi-beam performance can be achieved using a single-feed. Local and global phase-only optimization techniques have been implemented. Two Ka-band quad-beam prototypes with symmetric and asymmetric beams have been fabricated and tested. • Different approaches for beam-scanning with reflectarray antennas are also revieand it is shown that for moderately wide angle beam-scanning, utilizing a feed displacement technique is more suitable than an aperture phase tuning approach. A feed displacement beam-scanning design with novel aperture phase distribution is proposed for the reflectarray antenna, and is further optimized to improve the performance. A high-gain Ka-band prototype achieving 60 degrees scan range with side-lobe levels below 15 dB is demonstrated. • The feasibility of designing reflectarray antennas on conformal surfaces is also studied numerically. A generalized analysis approach is presented and the radiation performance of reflectarray antennas on singly-curved conformal cylindrical platforms are studied and compared with their planar counterpart. It is revealed that conformal reflectarray antennas are a suitable choice for a high-gain antenna where curved platforms are required. In summary, different challenges in reflectarray analysis and design are addressed in this dissertation. On the element design challenges, bandwidth improvement and infrared operation of reflectarray antennas have been studied. On the system level challenges, multi-beam designs, beam-scanning performance, and conformal platforms have been investigated. Several prototypes have been fabricated and tested, demonstrating the novel features and potential applications of reflectarray antennas

3D Multi-Beam and Null Synthesis by Phase-Only Control for 5G Antenna Arrays

This paper presents an iterative algorithm for the synthesis of the three-dimensional (3D) radiation pattern generated by an antenna array of arbitrary geometry. The algorithm is conceived to operate in fifth-generation (5G) millimeter-wave scenarios, thus enabling the support of multi-user mobile streaming and massive peer-to-peer communications, which require the possibility to synthesize 3D patterns with wide null regions and multiple main beams. Moreover, the proposed solution adopts a phase-only control approach to reduce the complexity of the feeding network and is characterized by a low computational cost, thanks to the closed-form expressions derived to estimate the phase of each element at the generic iteration. These expressions are obtained from the minimization of a weighted cost function that includes all the necessary constraints. To finally check its versatility in a 5G environment, the developed method is validated by numerical examples involving planar and conformal arrays, considering desired patterns with different numbers of main beams and nulls