Wideband and UWB antennas for wireless applications. A comprehensive review

A comprehensive review concerning the geometry, the manufacturing technologies, the materials, and the numerical techniques, adopted for the analysis and design of wideband and ultrawideband (UWB) antennas for wireless applications, is presented. Planar, printed, dielectric, and wearable antennas, achievable on laminate (rigid and flexible), and textile dielectric substrates are taken into account. The performances of small, low-profile, and dielectric resonator antennas are illustrated paying particular attention to the application areas concerning portable devices (mobile phones, tablets, glasses, laptops, wearable computers, etc.) and radio base stations. This information provides a guidance to the selection of the different antenna geometries in terms of bandwidth, gain, field polarization, time-domain response, dimensions, and materials useful for their realization and integration in modern communication systems

Reconfigurable Antennas

In this new book, we present a collection of the advanced developments in reconfigurable antennas and metasurfaces. It begins with a review of reconfigurability technologies, and proceeds to the presentation of a series of reconfigurable antennas, UWB MIMO antennas and reconfigurable arrays. Then, reconfigurable metasurfaces are introduced and the latest advances are presented and discussed

Antennas and Propagation Aspects for Emerging Wireless Communication Technologies

The increasing demand for high data rate applications and the delivery of zero-latency multimedia content drives technological evolutions towards the design and implementation of next-generation broadband wireless networks. In this context, various novel technologies have been introduced, such as millimeter wave (mmWave) transmission, massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems, and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes in order to support the vision of fifth generation (5G) wireless cellular networks. The introduction of these technologies, however, is inextricably connected with a holistic redesign of the current transceiver structures, as well as the network architecture reconfiguration. To this end, ultra-dense network deployment along with distributed massive MIMO technologies and intermediate relay nodes have been proposed, among others, in order to ensure an improved quality of services to all mobile users. In the same framework, the design and evaluation of novel antenna configurations able to support wideband applications is of utmost importance for 5G context support. Furthermore, in order to design reliable 5G systems, the channel characterization in these frequencies and in the complex propagation environments cannot be ignored because it plays a significant role. In this Special Issue, fourteen papers are published, covering various aspects of novel antenna designs for broadband applications, propagation models at mmWave bands, the deployment of NOMA techniques, radio network planning for 5G networks, and multi-beam antenna technologies for 5G wireless communications

Screening the physicochemical properties of thermosonically treated pomelo juice

Pomelo (Citrus grandis L. Osbeck) tastes sweet, slightly acidic with a hint of bitterness. It has many beneficial health effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of thermosonication treatment on physicochemical properties of pomelo juice by subjecting the juice to different times and temperatures. Thermosonication is a treatment where ultrasound is conducted at moderate temperature ranging between 37 and 75°C. Pomelo juice was treated with thermosonication for 2, 46 and 90 minutes with initial temperature ranging from 20C, 35C and 50C. The treated juice were analysed for its physicochemical properties, such as colour values (L*, a* and b*), total soluble solids (TSS) content, pH, titratable acidity and electrical conductivity. Results showed that the lightness (L*), pH, titratable acidity and electrical conductivity of the pomelo juice does not changed during treatment. However, redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) and TSS showed highest reading at 50C at 90 minutes

Radar Sub-surface Sensing for Mapping the Extent of Hydraulic Fractures and for Monitoring Lake Ice and Design of Some Novel Antennas.

Hydraulic fracturing, which is a fast-developing well-stimulation technique, has greatly expanded oil and natural gas production in the United States. As the use of hydraulic fracturing has grown, concerns about its environmental impacts have also increased. A sub-surface imaging radar that can detect the extent of hydraulic fractures is highly demanded, but existing radar designs cannot meet the requirement of penetration range on the order of kilometers due to the exorbitant propagation loss in the ground. In the thesis, a medium frequency (MF) band sub-surface radar sensing system is proposed to extend the detectable range to kilometers in rock layers. Algorithms for cross-hole and single-hole configurations are developed based on simulations using point targets and realistic fractured rock models. A super-miniaturized borehole antenna and its feeding network are also designed for this radar system. Also application of imaging radars for sub-surface sensing frozen lakes at Arctic regions is investigated. The scattering mechanism is the key point to understand the radar data and to extract useful information. To explore this topic, a full-wave simulation model to analyze lake ice scattering phenomenology that includes columnar air bubbles is presented. Based on this model, the scattering mechanism from the rough ice/water interface and columnar air bubbles in the ice at C band is addressed and concludes that the roughness at the interface between ice and water is the dominate contributor to backscatter and once the lake is completely frozen the backscatter diminishes significantly. Radar remote sensing systems often require high-performance antennas with special specifications. Besides the borehole antenna for MF band subsurface imaging system, several other antennas are also designed for potential radar systems. Surface-to-borehole setup is an alternative configuration for subsurface imaging system, which requires a miniaturized planar antenna placed on the surface. Such antenna is developed with using artificial electromagnetic materials for size reduction. Furthermore, circularly polarized (CP) waveform can be used for imaging system and omnidirectional CP antenna is needed. Thus, a low-profile planar azimuthal omnidirectional CP antenna with gain of 1dB and bandwidth of 40MHz is designed at 2.4GHz by combining a novel slot antenna and a PIFA antenna.PhDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120674/1/wujf_1.pd

Miniaturization Trends in Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) Filters: A Review

This review provides an overview of the technological advancements and miniaturization trends in Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) filters. SIW is an emerging planar waveguide structure for the transmission of electromagnetic (EM) waves. SIW structure consists of two parallel copper plates which are connected by a series of vias or continuous perfect electric conductor (PEC) channels. SIW is a suitable choice for designing and developing the microwave and millimetre-wave (mm-Wave) radio frequency (RF) components: because it has compact dimensions, low insertion loss, high-quality factor (QF), and can easily integrate with planar RF components. SIW technology enjoys the advantages of the classical bulky waveguides in a planar structure; thus is a promising choice for microwave and mm-Wave RF components

Antennas and Propagation

This Special Issue gathers topics of utmost interest in the field of antennas and propagation, such as: new directions and challenges in antenna design and propagation; innovative antenna technologies for space applications; metamaterial, metasurface and other periodic structures; antennas for 5G; electromagnetic field measurements and remote sensing applications

Design of high-efficiency antennas for mobile communications devices

This thesis deals with the design of high-efficiency antennas for small mobile communications devices. Owing to the continuously stricter requirements set for multisystem mobile terminals, the ongoing need for efficient antennas in personal mobile communications is evident. In this work, the entire system consisting of the antenna; the mobile terminal working actually as part of the antenna; and the user of the terminal is considered. The ratio between the power radiated into the free space and the antenna input power, i.e. the total efficiency of this system, forms a general concept for the studies. The total efficiency is partly affected by the losses in the antenna element. As the antenna efficiency, bandwidth, and volume are strongly interrelated exchangeable quantities, it is essential to find other approaches for enhancing the antenna efficiency than simply sacrificing other performance. Further, the metal chassis of a mobile terminal has to be part of the antenna element design because of its considerable effect on antenna performance. In addition, the total efficiency of the entire system is partly affected by the losses owing to the user. Thus, the evaluation of antenna performance is equally important when the mobile terminal is located near a user or when it is in free space. The main goal of this work is to provide novel and useful information for the design of mobile terminal antennas with special emphasis placed on the maximization of the total efficiency. To obtain necessary background understanding for the design of antennas with minimized user interaction, the general energy-absorption mechanism in the human tissue is studied in this thesis. It is shown that the peak SAR (specific absorption rate) is not actually related to the antenna current, as has been commonly believed. Instead, the SAR maximums can be explained by inspecting the antenna's quasi-static electric near field components perpendicular and parallel to the surface of the tissue at the air-tissue interface and utilizing the boundary conditions of quasi-static fields at the interface. As SAR is directly proportional to the total electric field in the tissue, the SAR distributions caused by a certain antenna differ considerably in tissues with different permittivity values, e.g. brain and fat. The bandwidth, efficiency in talk position, and SAR performance of a typical monoblock handset antenna-chassis combination is comprehensively investigated in this work for clarifying the roles of different parts of the radiating system. The system is treated as a combination of the separate wavemodes of the antenna element and the chassis. Based on the results, guidelines are given to control or analyze the combined performance both in the sense of radiation properties (bandwidth, efficiency) and user interaction (SAR). It is also demonstrated that there is a connection between the studied three performance parameters: a local maximum in SAR values and a local minimum in radiation efficiency occur when the bandwidth reaches its maximum and the resonant frequency of the chassis equals that of the antenna. The suitability of dielectric resonator antennas (DRA) for mobile terminals is studied theoretically and experimentally with the main attention paid to the loss characteristics. It is observed that DRAs are appropriate for this purpose especially when very small antenna elements are needed. As an application example, a novel means to realize a high-performance dual-resonant antenna design for mobile terminals is presented. In addition, losses in the frequency-tuning circuits of small resonant antennas are systematically investigated. Design guidelines for tuning circuits with minimized losses with respect to the achievable tuning range are given. Based on the proposed theory, a low-loss tuning circuit with suitable characteristics for mobile terminal antennas is introduced.reviewe

Sub-GHz Wrist-Worn Antennas for Wireless Sensing Applications: A Review

With recent advances in wearable wrist-worn wireless sensing applications, the demand for smartwatches and wristbands is rapidly increasing due to their widespread adoption in applications such as smart health monitoring, security, and fitness tracking. Currently, these devices primarily operate in the 2.45 GHz band, leveraging the availability of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless technologies. However, the use of Sub-GHz frequencies (e.g., 433 MHz, 868 MHz, 915 MHz, 923 MHz) for wearable systems has also gained interest due to the emergence of wireless technologies like long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN), narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) and Sigfox, which offer the potential for long-range wireless communications and sensing applications. In recent times, there has been a notable surge in the commercial production of a variety of Sub-GHz wrist-worn wireless sensing devices for health monitoring and tracking applications. Nevertheless, communications at Sub-GHz frequencies present significant challenges in antenna design, primarily due to the practical size constraints of wrist-worn devices and the necessity for using electrically small antennas. This paper meticulously reviews wrist-worn Sub-GHz antennas reported in the literature, analyzing key antenna parameters such as antenna topology, size, impedance bandwidth, peak realized gain, radiation efficiency, and specific absorption rate (SAR). Additionally, it underlines antenna design challenges, limitations, current trends, and presents potential future perspectives. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is currently no existing literature comprehensively reviewing Sub-GHz wrist-worn antennas. Therefore, this paper represents the inaugural effort to provide a comprehensive review in this specific domain

Additive Manufacturing for Antenna Applications

This thesis presents methods to make use of additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing (3DP) technology for the fabrication of antenna and electromagnetic (EM) structures. A variety of 3DP techniques based on filament, resin, powder and nano-particle inks are applied for the development and fabrication of antennas. Fully and partially metallised 3D printed EM structures are investigated for operation at mainly microwave frequency bands. First, 3D Sierpinski fractal antennas are fabricated using binder jetting printing technique, which is an AM metal powder bed process. It follows with the introduction of a new concept of sensing liquids using and non-planer electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure is investigated. Such structure can be fabricated with inexpensive fuse filament fabrication (FFF) in combination with conductive paint. As a third method, inkjet printing technology is used for the fabrication of antennas for origami paper applications. The work investigates the feasibility of fabricating foldable antennas for disposable paper drones using low-cost inkjet printing equipment. It then explores the applicability of inkjet printing on a 3D printing substrate through the fabrication of a circularly polarised patch antenna which combines stereolithography (SLA) and inkjet printing technology, both of which use inexpensive machines. Finally, a variety of AM techniques are applied and compared for the production of a diversity WLAN antenna system for customized wrist-worn application