Miniaturised and reconfigurable planar filters for ultra-wideband applications

An increasing demand for electromagnetic spectrum has resulted from the emergence of feature-rich and faster throughputs wireless applications. This necessitates the developments of dynamic reconfigurable or multifunctional systems to better exploit the existing spectrum. Future wireless devices will be expected to communicate over several bands with various other devices in order to fine tune the services they provide to the user. Each band may require a separate RF transceiver and such modern wireless multi-band multi-mode communication systems call for high performance, highly integrated compact modules. Since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the unlicensed frequency band 3.1-10.6 GHz for ultra-wideband (UWB) commercial communications, the development race for commercialising UWB technology has seen a dramatic increase around the world. The aim of this research is to develop reconfigurable planar microwave filters for ultrawideband applications. The project investigates some key design issues of reconfigurable filters, which are being observed constantly in the latest development and realisation of microwave filters. Both analytical and numerical methods are performed to construct a realistic and functional design. Two different types of frequency reconfigurability are investigated in this thesis: discrete (e.g. PIN diode, Optical switch) and continuous (e.g. varactor diode). Using the equivalent circuits and considering the direct coupled filter structure in most cases, several topologies with attractive features are developed for future communication systems. The proposed works may be broadly categorised into three sections as follows. The first section explores a square ring shape close loop resonator along with an opencircuited stub in the symmetry plane. To realise a reconfigurable frequency states within the same spectrum, an innovative approach is developed for this case. An optical or photoconductive switch, comprised of a silicon die activated using near infrared light is investigated as a substitute of PIN diode and performances are evaluated to compare the feasibilities. In addition, a in-band interference rejection technique via externally coupled Tshape resonator is shown. However, it is observed that both structures achieve significant size reductions by utilising the inner part of the resonators. To improve the filter selectivity, a convenient design approach generating a pair of transmission zeros between both passband edges and a single zero in the stop band for harmonic suppression is discussed in the second section. Moreover, the development of notched rejection bands are studied and several novel methods to create a single and multiple notched bands employing the square ring shape structure are proposed. On inspection, it is found that the notch structure can be implemented without deteriorating the filter performances. The discussions are supplemented with detailed design examples which are accompanied by theoretical, simulated and experimental results in order to illustrate the filter development process and showcase practical filter performance. The third section reveals a novel highly compact planar dual-mode resonator with sharp rejections characteristics for UWB applications. A bandwidth reconfiguring technique is demonstrated by splitting its even-mode resonance. Filter structure with the dual-mode resonator is shown to have a relatively wide tuning range, significantly low insertion loss and a constant selectivity along with frequency variations in comparison to similar published works. Finally, the earlier dual-mode structure are modified to realise a dual wideband behaviour. A detail analysis with comprehensive design procedures is outlined and a solution for controlling the frequency bandwidths independently according to the application interest is provided. In line with the previous section, experimental verification is presented to support and supplement the discussions

High performance photonic microwave filters based on a 50GHz optical soliton crystal Kerr micro-comb

We demonstrate a photonic radio frequency (RF) transversal filter based on an integrated optical micro-comb source featuring a record low free spectral range of 49 GHz yielding 80 micro-comb lines across the C-band. This record-high number of taps, or wavelengths for the transversal filter results in significantly increased performance including a QRF factor more than four times higher than previous results. Further, by employing both positive and negative taps, an improved out-of-band rejection of up to 48.9 dB is demonstrated using Gaussian apodization, together with a tunable centre frequency covering the RF spectra range, with a widely tunable 3-dB bandwidth and versatile dynamically adjustable filter shapes. Our experimental results match well with theory, showing that our transversal filter is a competitive solution to implement advanced adaptive RF filters with broad operational bandwidths, high frequency selectivity, high reconfigurability, and potentially reduced cost and footprint. This approach is promising for applications in modern radar and communications systems.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 107 reference

A Review on Reconfigurable Low Pass Bandstop Filter Based on Technology, Method and Design

Abstract-Reconfigurable filter technology is in robustness development. Due on the tunable and reconfigurable capability will contribute a various advantages in wireless applications. This tuning selectivity consist a numerous method, for example using varactor, micromachines, and PINdiodes.This review paper discussed PIN diodes as a switching element. The design and development of different types of switching element were then described. This paper presents of reconfigurable low pass bandstop filter WLAN, UWB bands applications for the past few years that operatedbetween1 to 5.6GHz. Most of the studies were focus on Chebyshev filter because of the excellent selectivity and the response is easy to be analyzed. Different types of method have been introduced in reconfigurable low pass bandstop filter, design and performance of the filter will then be compared

A Review on Reconfigurable Low Pass Bandstop Filter Based on Technology, Method and Design

Abstract-Reconfigurable filter technology is in robustness development. Due on the tunable and reconfigurable capability will contribute a various advantages in wireless applications. This tuning selectivity consist a numerous method, for example using varactor, micromachines, and PINdiodes.This review paper discussed PIN diodes as a switching element. The design and development of different types of switching element were then described. This paper presents of reconfigurable low pass bandstop filter WLAN, UWB bands applications for the past few years that operatedbetween1 to 5.6GHz. Most of the studies were focus on Chebyshev filter because of the excellent selectivity and the response is easy to be analyzed. Different types of method have been introduced in reconfigurable low pass bandstop filter, design and performance of the filter will then be compared

VHF lumped-element reconfigurable filters design and applications in field-programmable filter array

The increasing demand for limited space in crowded frequency spectrum is creating new challenges to RF frontend communication systems. High gain tunable antennas, tunable filter with high selectivity and isolation, large signal-to-noise ratio tunable low noise amplifiers are demanded. This thesis demonstrates novel tunable filter synthesis that may help in developing solutions for future RF frontend filter applications. The proposed coupling scheme enable the tuning of center frequency, order, response shape, bandwidth, and transmission zero spectral location. Also, this coupling scheme can be used to implement a field-programmable filter arrays (FPFAs) design

UWB Technology

Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology has attracted increasing interest and there is a growing demand for UWB for several applications and scenarios. The unlicensed use of the UWB spectrum has been regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) since the early 2000s. The main concern in designing UWB circuits is to consider the assigned bandwidth and the low power permitted for transmission. This makes UWB circuit design a challenging mission in today's community. Various circuit designs and system implementations are published in this book to give the reader a glimpse of the state-of-the-art examples in this field. The book starts at the circuit level design of major UWB elements such as filters, antennas, and amplifiers; and ends with the complete system implementation using such modules

Passive Components for Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) Applications

UWB technology brings the convenience and mobility of wireless communications to very high-speed interconnects in the home and office due to the precision capabilities combined with the low power. This makes it ideal for certain radio frequency sensitive environments such as hospitals and healthcare as well as radars. UWB intrusion-detection radar is used for detecting through the wall and also used for security with fuse avoidance radar, precision locating and tracking (using distance measurements between radios), and precision time-of-arrival-based localization approaches. The FCC issued a ruling in 2002 that allowed intentional UWB emissions in the frequency range between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz, subject to certain restrictions for the emission power spectrum. Other definitions for ultra-wideband range of frequency are also used such as any device that has 500 MHz bandwidth or fractional bandwidth greater than 25% is considered an UWB enable high data rate to be transferred with a very low power that does not exceed −41.3 dBm