Review of Switched Beamforming Networks for Scannable Antenna Application towards Fifth Generation (5G) Technology

The next generation wireless network (5G) addresses the evolution beyond mobile internet to massive Internet-of-Things (IoT) which will take off from 2019/2020 onwards. The essential design features in 5G wireless network system are massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) and steerable antenna array. The higher capacity, lower power transmission and larger system coverage offered by upcoming 5G technology can be realized using switched-beam antenna such as Butler matrix, Rotman lens, Blass matrix and Nolen matrix. Review of their design features and performance results will be compared in this article. Butler matrix can be the best approach owing to low complexity, orthogonal beams and less components utilization

Millimeter-Wave Band Pass Distributed Amplifier for Low-Cost Active Multi-Beam Antennas

Recently, there have been a great interest in the millimeter-wave (mmW) and terahertz (THz) bands due to the unique features they provide for various applications. For example, the mmW is not significantly affected by the atmospheric constraints and it can penetrate through clothing and other dielectric materials. Therefore, it is suitable for a vast range of imaging applications such as vision, safety, health, environmental studies, security and non-destructive testing. Millimeter-wave imaging systems have been conventionally used for high end applications implementing sophisticated and expensive technologies. Recent advancements in the silicon integrated and low loss material passive technologies have created a great opportunity to study the feasibility of low cost mmW imaging systems. However, there are several challenges to be addressed first. Examples are modeling of active and passive devices and their low performance, highly attenuated channel and poor signal to noise ratio in the mmW. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and develop new technologies enabling cost-effective implementation of mmW and sub-mmW imaging systems. To achieve this goal, an integrated active Rotman lens architecture is proposed as an ultimate solution to combine the unique properties of a Rotman lens with the superiority of CMOS technology for fabrication of cost effective integrated mmW systems. However, due to the limited sensitivity of on-chip detectors in the mmW, a large number of high gain, wide-band and miniaturized mmW Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA) are required to implement the proposed integrated Rotman lens architecture. A unique solution presented in this thesis is the novel Band Pass Distributed Amplifier (BPDA) topology. In this new topology, by short circuiting the line terminations in a Conventional Distributed Amplifier (CDA), standing waves are created in its artificial transmission lines. Conventionally, standing waves are strongly avoided by carefully matching these lines to 50 Ω in order to prevent instability of the amplifier. This causes that a large portion of the signal be absorbed in these resistive terminations. In this thesis, it is shown that due to presence of highly lossy parasitics of CMOS transistor at the mmW the amplifier stability is inherently achieved. Moreover, by eliminating these lossy and noise terminations in the CDA, the amplifier gain is boosted and its noise figure is reduced. In addition, a considerable decrease in the number of elements enables low power realization of many amplifiers in a small chip area. Using the lumped element model of the transistor, the transfer function of a single stage BPDAs is derived and compared to its conventional counter part. A methodology to design a single stage BPDA to achieve all the design goals is presented. Using the presented design guidelines, amplifiers for different mmW frequencies have been designed, fabricated and tested. Using only 4 transistors, a 60 GHz amplifier is fabricated on a very small chip area of 0.105 mm2 by a low-cost 130 nm CMOS technology. A peak gain of 14.7 dB and a noise figure of 6 dB are measured for this fabricated amplifier. oreover, it is shown that by further circuit optimization, high gain amplification can be realized at frequencies above the cut-off frequency of the transistor. Simulations show 32 and 28 dB gain can be obtained by implementing only 6 transistors using this CMOS technology at 60 and 77 GHz. A 4-stage 85 GHz amplifier is also designed and fabricated and a measured gain of 10 dB at 82 GHz is achieved with a 3 dB bandwidth of 11 GHz from 80 to 91 GHz. A good agreement between the simulated and measured results verifies the accuracy of the design procedure. In addition, a multi-stage wide-band BPDA has been designed to show the ability of the proposed topology for design of wide band mmW amplifiers using the CMOS technology. Simulated gain of 20.5 dB with a considerable 3 dB bandwidth of 38 GHz from 30 to 68 GHz is achieved while the noise figure is less than 6 dB in the whole bandwidth. An amplifier figure of merit is defined in terms of gain, noise figure, chip area, band width and power consumption. The results are compared to those of the state of the art to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed circuit topology and presented design techniques. Finally, a Rotman lens is designed and optimized by choosing a very small Focal Lens Ratio (FL), and a high measured efficiency of greater than 30% is achieved while the lens dimensions are less than 6 mm. The lens is designed and implemented using a low cost Alumina substrate and conventional microstrip lines to ease its integration with the active parts of the system.1 yea

A Review: Substrate Integrated Waveguide Antennas and Arrays

This study aims to provide an overview and deployment of Substrate-Integrated Waveguide (SIW) based antenna and arrays, with different configurations, feeding mechanisms, and performances. Their performance improvement methods, including bandwidth enhancement, size reduction, and gain improvement are also discussed based on available literature. SIW technology, which acts as a bridge between planar and non-planar technology, is a very favorable candidate for the development of components operating at microwave and millimeter wave band. Due to this, SIW antennas and array take the advantages of both classical metallic waveguide, which includes high gain, high power capacity, low cross polarization, and high selectivity, and that of planar antennas which comprises low profile, light weight, low fabrication cost, conformability to planar or bent surfaces, and easy integration with planar circuits

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

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

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

Millimeter-Wave Components and Antennas for Spatial and Polarization Diversity using PRGW Technology

The evolution of the wireless communication systems to the future generation is accompanied by a huge improvement in the system performance through providing a high data rate with low latency. These systems require access to millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, which offer several advantages such as physically smaller components and much wider bandwidthcomparedtomicrowavefrequencies. However, mmWavecomponentsstillneed a significant improvement to follow the rapid variations in future technologies. Although mmWave frequencies can carry more data, they are limited in terms of their penetration capabilities and their coverage range. Moreover, these frequencies avoid deploying traditional guiding technologies such as microstrip lines due to high radiation and material losses. Hence, utilizing new guiding structure techniques such as Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide (PRGW) is essential in future mmWave systems implementation. ThemainpurposeofthisthesisistodesignmmWavecomponents,antennasubsystems and utilize both in beam switching systems. The major mmWave components addressed in this thesis are hybrid coupler, crossover, and differential power divider where the host guidingstructureisthePRGW.Inaddition,variousdesignsfordifferentialfeedingPRGW antennas and antenna arrays are presented featuring wide bandwidth and high gain in mmWave band. Moreover, the integration of both the proposed components and the featured antennas is introduced. This can be considered as a significant step toward the requirements fulfillment of today's advanced communication systems enabling both space and polarization diversity. The proposed components are designed to meet the future ever-increasing consumer experience and technical requirements such as low loss, compact size, and low-cost fabrication. This directed the presented research to have a contribution into three major parts. The first part highlights the feeding structures, where mmWave PRGW directional couplers and differential feeding power divider are designed and validated. These components are among the most important passive elements of microwave circuits used in antennabeam-switchingnetworks. Different3-dBquadraturehybridcouplersandcrossover prototypes are proposed, featured with a compact size and a wide bandwidth beyond 10 % at 30 GHz. In the second part, a beam switching network implemented using hybrid couplers is presented. The proposed beam switching network is a 4 × 4 PRGW Butler matrix that used to feed a Magneto-electric (ME) dipole antenna array. As a result, a 2-D scanning antenna array with a compact size, wide bandwidth, and high radiation efficiency larger than84%isachieved. Furthergainenhancementof5dBiisachievedthroughdeployinga hybridgainenhancementtechniqueincludingAMCmushroomshapesaroundtheantenna array with a dielectric superstrate located in the broadside direction. The proposed scanning antenna array can be considered as a step toward the desired improvement in the data rate and coverage through enabling the space diversity for the communication link. The final activity is related to the development of high-gain wide-band mmWave antenna arrays for potential use in future mmWave applications. The first proposed configuration is a differential feeding circular polarized aperture antenna array implemented with PRGW technology. Differential feeding antenna designs offer more advantages than single- ended antennas for mmWave communications as they are easy to be integrated with differential mmWave monolithic ICs that have high common-mode rejection ratio providing an immunity of the environmental noise. The proposed differential feeding antenna array is designed and fabricated, which featured with a stable high gain and a high radiation efficiency over a wide bandwidth. Another proposed configuration is a dualpolarized ME-dipole PRGW antenna array for mmWave wireless communication. Dual polarizationisconsideredoneofthemostimportantantennasolutionsthatcansavecosts and space for modern communication systems. In addition, it is an effective strategy for multiple-input and multiple-output systems that can reduce the size of multiple antennas systems by utilizing extra orthogonal polarization. The proposed dual- polarized antenna array is designed to achieve a stable gain of 15 ± 1 dBi with low cross- polarization less than -30 dB over a wide frequency range of 20 % at 30 GHz

Modeling of Nonresonant Longitudinal and Inclined Slots for Resonance Tuning in ENZ Waveguide Structures

Novel methods are presented for the independent resonance tuning in rectangular waveguide epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) structures. This kind of tuning is achieved using short longitudinal and inclined slots placed in the middle of the ENZ channel. It is demonstrated that the tunneling frequency and Fabry-Pérot resonance (FPR) can be shifted by as much as 8% and 9.7%, respectively. Equivalent circuits for the tuning slots are given, and their equivalent parameters are extracted and validated. Analytical expressions for the equivalent slot reactances are also provided, and they show very good agreement with the extracted parameters. Experimental verification of both presented tuning methods is provided, and the agreement between simulated and experimental results is excellent (error less than 1%).Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development TR- 32024Bilateral Cooperation between the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Serbia PRI-AIBSE-2011-1119Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-41913-PJunta de Andalucía P12-TIC-143

Study, design and fabrication of a two-dimension beam scanning antenna in package

Various emerging high data-rate applications such as ultra-high definition video streaming and wireless personal area networks have made the transition to the next generation communication systems at mmWave frequencies inevitable. Moreover, the antenna in package has been proved to be a suitable solution for a compact and efficient antenna system platform at this frequency range. Due to smaller wavelengths and aperture illumination at this frequency range, these antennas tend to have a limited radiation gain which consequently results into a limited connection range. To compensate, a high gain array antenna structure with beam steering capability is inevitable. Moreover, current developed mmWave frequency scanning antennas suffer from some shortcomings such as using active phase shifters, narrow impedance bandwidth, limited scanning range, lack of circular polarization, one dimensional beam steering, neglected electromagnetic interference, and non-efficient inter-layer interconnects. In view of these issues, the initial objective of this thesis is to study different antenna packaging methods as well as the recent developments in mmWave frequency and scanning antenna structures in order to design and produce a performant system. Consequently, a new design for a wideband circularly polarized frequency scanning periodic leaky-wave antenna has been proposed and tested which features a wide seamless scanning range of about 95° including the broadside and a fractional -10 dB impedance bandwidth of about 47%. Moreover, an accurate empirical model is developed for this antenna, as well as optimization methods to minimize the side lobe level and the axial ratio. In order to integrate band-pass filtering capability, a modified version of this antenna is also developed and tested in the scope of this research. With the goal of integrating band-pass filtering capability into the inter-layer transitions, new types of broadside coupled multi-layer filters have been designed and tested. With a fractional bandwidth of about 40% at the center frequency of 25 GHz, these filters are compact, tunable, and have a simple structure that makes them suitable candidates for replacing via interconnects in multi-layer antenna in package configurations. Finally, the antenna is combined as a linear phased array structure with a Rotman lens beamformer in a multi-layer structure to perform beam scanning in two dimensions. This system is designed and fabricated at 25 GHz and can steer the radiation beam in both E (90º) and H (60º) planes without any active phase shifter. The beamforming performance is preserved in a wideband frequency range from 20 to 30 GH and the undesired signals out of this band are attenuated using the integrated band pass filters