Structural behaviour of beam with HDPE plastic balls subjected to flexure load

This paper presents the structural behavior of reinforced concrete beam embedded with high density polyethylene balls (HDPE) subjected to flexural load. The HDPE balls with 180 mm diameter were embedded to create the spherical voids in the beam which lead to reduction in its self-weight. Two beam specimens with HDPE balls (RC-HDPE) and one solid beam (RC-S) with dimension 250 mm x 300 mm x 1100 mm were cast and tested until failure. The results are analysed in the context of its ultimate load, load-deflection profile, and crack pattern and failure mode. It was found that the ultimate load of RC-HDPE was reduced by 32% compared to RC-S beam while the maximum deflection at its mid span was increased by 4%. However, RC-HDPE is noticed to be more ductile compared to RC-S beam. Both types of beams experienced flexure cracks and diagonal tension cracks before failur

Fast design optimization of UWB antenna with WLAN Band-Notch

In this paper, a methodology for rapid design optimization of an ultra-wideband ( UWB) monopole antenna with a lower WLAN band-notch is presented. The band-notch is realized using an open loop resonator implemented in the radiation patch of the antenna. Design optimization is a two stage process, with the first stage focused on the design of the antenna itself, and the second stage aiming at identification of the appropriate dimensions of the resonator with the purpose of allocating the band-notch in the desired frequency range. Both optimization stages are realized using surrogate-based optimization involving variable-fidelity electromagnetic ( EM) simulation models as well as an additive response correction ( first stage), and sequential approximate optimization ( second stage). The final antenna design is obtained at the CPU cost corresponding to only 23 high-fidelity EM antenna simulations

Low-profile dual-band pixelated defected ground antenna for multistandard IoT devices.

A low-profile dual-band pixelated defected ground antenna has been proposed at 3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands. This work presents a flexible design guide for achieving single-band and dual-band antenna using pixelated defected ground (PDG). The unique pixelated defected ground has been designed using the binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) algorithm. Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio incorporated with Matlab has been utilized in the antenna design process. The PDG configuration provides freedom of exploration to achieve the desired antenna performance. Compact antenna design can be achieved by making the best use of designated design space on the defected ground (DG) plane. Further, a V-shaped transfer function based on BPSO with fast convergence allows us to efficiently implement the PDG technique. In the design procedure, pixelization is applied to a small rectangular region of the ground plane. The square pixels on the designated defected ground area of the antenna have been formed using a binary bit string, consisting of 512 bits taken during each iteration of the algorithm. The PDG method is concerned with the shape of the DG and does not rely on the geometrical dimension analysis used in traditional defected ground antennas. Initially, three single band antennas have been designed at 3.5 GHz, 5.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz using PDG technique. Finally, same PDG area has been used to design a dual-band antenna at 3.5 GHz and 5.8 GHz. The proposed antenna exhibits almost omnidirectional radiation performance with nearly 90% efficiency. It also shows dual radiation pattern property with similar patterns having different polarizations at each operational band. The antenna is fabricated on a ROGERS RO4003 substrate with 1.52 mm thickness. Reflection coefficient and radiation patterns are measured to validate its performance. The simulated and measured results of the antenna are closely correlated. The proposed antenna is suitable for different applications in Internet of Things

Bandwidth Optimization of Microstrip Patch Antenna- A Basic Overview

An antenna is a very important device in wireless applications. It converts the electrical energy into RF signal at the transmitter and RF signal into electrical energy at the receiver side. A micro strip antenna consists of a rectangular patch on a ground plane separated by dielectric substrate. The patch in the antenna is made of a conducting material Cu (Copper) or Au (Gold) and this can be in any shape of rectangular, circular, triangular, elliptical or some other common shape. Researches of past few year shows that, various work on Microstrip Patch Antenna is attentive on designing compact sized Microstrip Antenna with efficiency and bandwidth optimized. But inherently Microstrip Patch Antenna have narrow bandwidth so to enhance bandwidth various techniques are engaged. Today’s Communication devices need several applications which require higher bandwidth; such as mobile phones these days are getting thinner and smarter but many applications supported by them require higher bandwidth, so microstrip antenna used for performing this operation should provide wider bandwidth as well as their shape should be more efficient and size should be compact so that it should occupy less space while keeping the size of device as small as possible. In this review paper, a review of different techniques used for bandwidth optimization & various shapes of compact and broadband microstrip patch antenna is given

Antenna Design for 5G and Beyond

With the rapid evolution of the wireless communications, fifth-generation (5G) communication has received much attention from both academia and industry, with many reported efforts and research outputs and significant improvements in different aspects, such as data rate speed and resolution, mobility, latency, etc. In some countries, the commercialization of 5G communication has already started as well as initial research of beyond technologies such as 6G.MIMO technology with multiple antennas is a promising technology to obtain the requirements of 5G/6G communications. It can significantly enhance the system capacity and resist multipath fading, and has become a hot spot in the field of wireless communications. This technology is a key component and probably the most established to truly reach the promised transfer data rates of future communication systems. In MIMO systems, multiple antennas are deployed at both the transmitter and receiver sides. The greater number of antennas can make the system more resistant to intentional jamming and interference. Massive MIMO with an especially high number of antennas can reduce energy consumption by targeting signals to individual users utilizing beamforming.Apart from sub-6 GHz frequency bands, 5G/6G devices are also expected to cover millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) spectra. However, moving to higher bands will bring new challenges and will certainly require careful consideration of the antenna design for smart devices. Compact antennas arranged as conformal, planar, and linear arrays can be employed at different portions of base stations and user equipment to form phased arrays with high gain and directional radiation beams. The objective of this Special Issue is to cover all aspects of antenna designs used in existing or future wireless communication systems. The aim is to highlight recent advances, current trends, and possible future developments of 5G/6G antennas

Dual frequency bi-othogonally polarized antennas for GPS applications

Dual frequency bi-orthogonally polarized antenna to be used in Global Positioning System applications operating in Li (1575.42 ± 10.23 MHz) and L2 (1227.60 ± 10.23 MHz) Bands has been studied. To ensure compatibility with existing applications, the antenna size is limited in dimensions to 4.120 x 4.680 x 1.250 including the radome. Orthogonally placed two dual frequency probe excited patches were designed using a high dielectric constant substrate (ε r = 9.8 and thickness of 250 mils, Rogers TMM10i material) to obtain vertical and horizontal polarization for each band. The measured performance of this antenna showed good agreement with the specifications required to meet the application needs. As an attractive alternative a stacked dual patch antenna configuration has been suggested and a prototype antenna has also been developed. Using low and high dielectric constants of 2.20 and 9.8 and relative thicknesses of 125 and 250 mils for each layer an orthogonally placed dual patch configuration has been designed, fabricated and tested on a 2 square feet ground plane. Effects of radomes using materials with different permittivities have been studied through numerical simulations and radomes have been fabricated using plastic materials including UMHW, HDPE and Delrin. Numerical simulations have been carried out using IIE3D software package developed by Zeland Software Inc. Antennas that were fabricated based on optimized parameters have further required tuning due to inaccuracies in simulation and material properties. The measurement setup has been enhanced to accommodate axial ratio measurements in polarization pattern characterization by adding a rotary joint to rotate a linearly polarized antenna operating in the receiving mode. The performance characteristics showed that adequate bandwidths and beam widths were obtained and gain of these antennas were measured to be in the order of 3.5 dBi along the main lobe. Further work is continuing to obtain antennas with wider bandwidths using thicker substrates

Mutual Coupling Reduction between Closely Spaced U-slot Patch Antennas by Optimizing Array Configuration and its Applications in MIMO

Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems have received considerable attention over the last decade. There are some limitations when obtaining the most from MIMO,such as mutual coupling between antenna elements in an array. Mutual coupling and therefore inter-element spacing have important effects on the channel capacity of a MIMO communication system, its error rate, and ambiguity ofMIMO radar system. There is a huge amount of research that focuses on reducing the mutual coupling in an antenna array to improve MIMO performance. In this research, we focus on the antenna section of the system.Antenna design affects the performance of Multiple-Input-Multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Two aspects of an antenna‟s role in MIMO performance have been investigated in this thesis. Employing suitable an antenna or antenna array can have a significant impact on the performance of a MIMO system. In addition to antenna design, another antenna related issue that helps to optimize the system performance is to reduce mutual coupling between antenna elements in an array. Much research has focused on the reduction of mutual coupling. In this research, the effect of the antenna configuration in array on mutual coupling has been studied and the main purpose is to find the array configuration that providesthe minimum mutual coupling between elements. The U-slot patch antenna is versatile antennas that because of its features like wide bandwidth,multi-band resonance and the ease of achieving different polarizations. This research first investigated the u-slot patch antenna, its features and capabilities. Seconda CAD optimization to design a low profile, dual band U-slot patch antenna is provided. Designed antenna is a dual band antenna that is intended to work at 3.5 and 5 GHz and have sufficient gain of at least 3dB. The effect of mutual coupling on MIMO systems is studied and then different array configurations were considered for two closely spaced U-slot patch antennas. Different configurations show different mutual coupling behavior. After modeling and simulation, the array was designed, implemented and finally tested in an anechoic chamber. These results are compared to both simulation and theoretical results and the configuration with minimum amount of mutual coupling was found. Some radar experiments also have been done to prove the effect of mutual coupling on radar performanc

A Multi-Bandwidth Reconfigurable Patch Antenna for Devices in WLAN and UWB Technology Applications

This article introduces a process to design, simulate, and measure a novel multi-band patch antenna with different operation modes, i.e., band centers and bandwidths. Switching between operation modes is possible using a pair of PIN diodes to connect different parts of the antenna with the main antenna patch. Such a reconfigurable design allows for individual control of each frequency range. The main operation mode of the resulting antenna has an impedance bandwidth with two bands, one from 2.4 GHz to 2.73 GHz and another from 3.4 GHz to 5.73 GHz, with a maximum gain of 4.85 dBi and stable radiation patterns. The resulting antenna is suitable for applications using both ultra-wideband technologies and wireless local-area network (WLAN) technologiesProject eSAFE-UAV PID2019-106120RB-C32 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 955816SCHLUMBERGER FOUNDATION awar