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 and multi-functional antennas

This thesis describes a research into multi-frequency and filtering antennas. Several novel antennas are presented, each of which addresses a specific issue for future communication systems, in terms of multi-frequency operation, and filtering capability. These antennas seem to be good candidates for implementation in future multiband radios, cognitive radio (CR), and software defined radio (SDR). The filtering antenna provides an additional filtering action which greatly improves the noise performance and reduces the need for filtering circuitry in the RF front end. Two types of frequency reconfigurable antennas are presented. One is tunable left-handed loop over ground plane and the second is slot-fed reconfigurable patch. The operating frequency of the left handed loop is reconfigured by loading varactor diodes whilst the frequency agility in the patch is achieved by inserting switches in the coupling slot. The length of the slot is altered by activating the switches. Compact microstrip antennas with filtering capabilities are presented in this thesis. Two filtering antennas are presented. Whilst the first one consists of three edge-coupled patches, the second filtering antenna consists of rectangular patch coupled to two hairpin resonators. The proposed antennas combine radiating and filtering functions by providing good out of band gain suppression

Antenna Designs for 5G/IoT and Space Applications

This book is intended to shed some light on recent advances in antenna design for these new emerging applications and identify further research areas in this exciting field of communications technologies. Considering the specificity of the operational environment, e.g., huge distance, moving support (satellite), huge temperature drift, small dimension with respect to the distance, etc, antennas, are the fundamental device allowing to maintain a constant interoperability between ground station and satellite, or different satellites. High gain, stable (in temperature, and time) performances, long lifecycle are some of the requirements that necessitates special attention with respect to standard designs. The chapters of this book discuss various aspects of the above-mentioned list presenting the view of the authors. Some of the contributors are working strictly in the field (space), so they have a very targeted view on the subjects, while others with a more academic background, proposes futuristic solutions. We hope that interested reader, will find a fertile source of information, that combined with their interest/background will allow efficiently exploiting the combination of these two perspectives

Antennas for wireless sensor network applications

The objective of this thesis is to present an analysis of antennas, which are applicable to wireless sensor networks and, in particular, to the requirements of the Speckled Computing Network Consortium. This was done through a review of the scientific literature on the subject, and the design, computer simulation, and experimental verification, of various suitable designs of antenna The first part of this thesis outlines what an antenna is and how it radiates. An insight is also given to the fundamental limitations of antennas. As antennas investigated in this thesis are planar-printed designs, an insight into the types of feed lines applicable, such as microstrip, CPW and slotline, is given. To help characterise the antennas investigated, the fundamental antenna analysis parameters, such as impedance bandwidth, S-parameters, radiation pattern, directivity, antenna efficiency, gain and polarisation are discussed. Also discussed is the 3D electromagnetic simulation software, HFSS, which was used to simulate the antennas in this thesis. To help illustrate the use of HFSS, a proximity-coupled patch antenna, operating at 5.8 GHz, was used as an example. A range of antennas were designed, manufactured and tested. These used conventional printed circuit boards (PCBs) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) substrates, operating at a range of frequencies from 2.4 GHz to 12 GHz. A review was conducted into relevant, suitable radio architectures such as, conventional narrowband systems, Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), and simplified radio architectures such as those based on the diode rectifier method, and Super Regenerative Receivers (SRR). There were several UWB antennas designed, which operate over a 3.1 – 10.16 GHz operational band with a VSWR ≤ 2. All the UWB antennas were required to transmit a UWB pulse with minimal distortion, which placed a requirement of linear phase and low values of group delay to minimise distortion on the pulse. UWB antennas investigated included a Vivaldi antenna, which was large, directional and gave excellent pulse transmission characteristics. A CPW-fed monopole was also investigated, which was small, omni-directional and had poor pulse transmission characteristics. A UWB dipole was designed for use in a UWB channel modelling experiment in collaboration with Strathclyde University. The initial UWB dipole investigated was a microstrip-fed structure that had unpredictable behaviour due to the feed, which excited leakage current down the feed cable and, as a result, distorted both the radiation pattern and the pulse. To minimise the leakage current, three other UWB dipoles were investigated. These were a CPW-fed UWB dipole with slots, a hybrid-feed UWB dipole, and a tapered-feed UWB dipole. Presented for these UWB dipoles are S-parameter results, obtained using a vector network analyser, and radiation pattern results obtained using an anechoic chamber. There were several antennas investigated in this thesis directly related to the Speckled Computing Consortiums objective of designing a 5mm3 ‘Speck’. These antennas were conventional narrowband antenna designs operating at either 2.45 GHz or 5.8 GHz. A Rectaxial antenna was designed at 2.45 GHz, which had excellent matching (S11 = -20dB) at the frequency of operation, and an omni-directional radiation pattern with a maximum gain of 2.69 dBi as measured in a far-field anechoic chamber. Attempts were made to increase the frequency of operation but this proved unsuccessful. Also investigated were antennas that were designed to be integrated with a 5.8 GHz MMIC transceiver. The first antenna investigated was a compact-folded dipole, which provided an insight into miniaturisation of antennas and the effect on antenna efficiency. The second antenna investigated was a ‘patch’ antenna. The ‘patch’ antenna utilised the entire geometry of the transceiver as a radiation mechanism and, as a result, had a much improved gain compared to the compact-folded dipole antenna. As the entire transceiver was an antenna, an investigation was carried into the amount of power flow through the transceiver with respect to the input power

Decoupling of multiple antennas in terminals with chassis excitation using polarization diversity, angle diversity and current control

Excitation of the chassis enables single-antenna terminals to achieve good bandwidth and radiation performance, due to the entire chassis being utilized as the main radiator. In contrast, the same chassis excitation phenomenon complicates the design of multiple antennas for MIMO applications, since the same characteristic mode of the chassis may be effectively excited by more than one antenna, leading to strong mutual coupling and severe MIMO performance degradation. In this paper, we introduce a design concept for MIMO antennas to mitigate the chassis-induced mutual coupling, which is especially relevant for frequency bands below 1 GHz. We illustrate the design concept on a dual-antenna terminal at 0.93 GHz, where a folded monopole at one chassis edge excites the chassis’ fundamental electric dipole mode and a coupled loop at the other chassis edge excites its own fundamental magnetic dipole mode. Since the two radiation modes are nearly orthogonal to each other, an isolation of over 30 dB is achieved. Moreover, we show that the antenna system can be conveniently modified for multiband operation, such as in the 900/1800/2600 MHz bands. Furthermore, by controlling the phase of the feed current on the folded monopole, the two antennas can be co-located on the same chassis edge with an isolation of over 20 dB. The co-located dual antenna prototype was fabricated and verified in the measurements

Novel Pseudo Magneto-electric Dipole Antennas

One of the major requirements for modern wireless communications is very high data transmission, so antennas with simple geometry, wide operation bandwidth and stable high gain features are in increasing demand. In this thesis, three novel pseudo magneto-electric (ME) dipole antennas operating in 5G Frequency Range 1 (FR1) sub-6GHz and Frequency Range 2 (FR2) millimeter-wave (mmW) band are introduced and analyzed. Comparing with conventional ME dipole antennas, which always require a vertical quarter-wave cavity to generate the magnetic dipole resonance, the pseudo-ME dipole designs proposed in this thesis do not rely on the cavity to provide the complementary magnetic dipole mode, therefore, they have extremely simple geometry. Meanwhile, it achieved wide bandwidth (50.30%) and high gain (average 8.74 dBi) the in-band gain variation is only ± 1dB. Based on the novel cavity-less Pseudo-ME dipole antenna geometry, a wide axial ratio bandwidth (54.1%) circularly polarized pseudo-ME dipole antenna is also designed to overcome the polarization misalignment problem in multipath-rich wireless environments, this antenna has two pairs of orthogonal electric dipoles and magnetic dipoles to achieve the wide axial ratio bandwidth performance. Finally, an aperture-coupled printed pseudo-ME dipole antenna is designed for operating in millimeter-wave band, it has 32.3% of impedance bandwidth and stable high gain 7.4 ± 0.8 dBi. Especially, there is none typical via-hole formed cavity in the geometry, so the fabrication of the mmW band antenna becomes simpler

Male antene: postupci smanjivanja izmjera i primjene

The paper presents research results in the field of small antennas obtained at the Department of Wireless Communications, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb. A study comparing the application of several miniaturization techniques on a shorted patch antenna is presented. Single and dual band shorted patch antennas with notches and/or slot are introduced. A PIFA designed for application in mobile GSM terminals is described. The application of stacked shorted patches as array elements for a mobile communication base station as well as for electromagnetic field sensor is presented. The design of single and dual band folded monopoles is described. Prototypes of the presented antennas have been manufactured and their characteristics were verified by measurements.U radu su prikazani rezultati istraživanja u području malih antena ostvareni na Zavodu za Radiokomunikacije, Sveučilišta u Zagrebu Fakulteta elektrotehnike i računarstva. Prikazana je primjena više postupaka za smanjivanje izmjera skraćene mikrotrakaste antene. Opisane su izvedbe skraćenih mikrotrakastih antena s urezima i prorezom za rad u jednom i u dva frekvencijska područja. Prikazana je izvedba planarne invertirane F-antene (PIFA) za primjenu u ručnim terminalima sustava pokretnih komunikacija GSM. Višeslojne skraćene mikrotrakaste antene uporabljene su za izvedbu antenskog niza za baznu postaju sustava pokretnih komunikacija te kao elementi osjetila za mjerenje jakosti elektromagnetskog polja. Prikazana je izvedba savijenih monopolnih antena za rad u jednom te u dva frekvencijska pojasa. Izrađeni su prototipovi opisanih antena i mjerenjima su ispitane njihove osobine

Balanced antennas for mobile handset applications. Simulation and Measurement of Balanced Antennas for Mobile Handsets, investigating Specific Absorption Rate when operated near the human body, and a Coplanar Waveguide alternative to the Balanced Feed.

The main objectives of this research are to investigate and design low profile antennas for mobile handsets applications using the balanced concept. These antennas are considered to cover a wide range of wireless standards such as: DCS (1710¿1880 MHz), PCS (1850¿1990 MHz), UMTS (1920¿2170 MHz), WLAN (2400¿2500 MHz and 5000 ¿ 5800 MHz) and UWB frequency bands. Various antennas are implemented based on built-in planar dipole with a folded arm structure. The performance of several designed antennas in terms of input return loss, radiation patterns, radiation efficiency and power gain are presented and several remarkable results are obtained. The measurements confirm the theoretical design concept and show reasonable agreement with computations. The stability performance of the proposed antenna is also evaluated by analysing the current distribution on the mobile phone ground plane. The specific absorption rate (SAR) performance of the antenna is also studied experimentally by measuring antenna near field exposure. The measurement results are correlated with the calculated ones. A new dual-band balanced antenna using coplanar waveguide structure is also proposed, discussed and tested; this is intended to eliminate the balanced feed network. The predicted and measured results show good agreement, confirming good impedance bandwidth characteristics and excellent dual-band performance. In addition, a hybrid method to model the human body interaction with a dual band balanced antenna structure covering the 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz bands is presented. Results for several test cases of antenna locations on the body are presented and discussed. The near and far fields were incorporated to provide a full understanding of the impact on human tissue. The cumulative distribution function of the radiation efficiency and absorbed power are also evaluated.UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Antenna System Design for 5G and Beyond – A Modal Approach

Antennas are one of the key components that empower a new generation of wireless technologies, such as 5G and new radar systems. It has been shown that antenna design strategies based on modal theories represent a powerful systematic approach to design practical antenna systems with high performance. In this thesis, several innovative multi-antenna systems are proposed for wireless applications in different frequency bands: from sub-6 GHz to millimeter-wave (mm-wave) bands. The thesis consists of an overview (Part I) and six scientific papers published in peer-reviewed international journals (Part II). Part I provides the overall framework of the thesis work: It presents the background and motivation for the problems at hand, the fundamental modal theories utilized to address these problems, as well as subject-specific research challenges. Brief conclusions and future outlook are also provided. The included papers of Part II can be divided into two tracks with different 5G and beyond wireless applications, both aiming for higher data rates.In the first track, Papers [I] to [IV] investigate different aspects of antenna system design for smart-phone application. Since Long Term Evolution (LTE) (so-called 3.5G) was deployed in 2009, mobile communication systems have utilized multiple-input multiple-output antenna technology (MIMO) technology to increase the spectral efficiency of the transmission channel and provide higher data rates in existing and new sub-6 GHz bands. However, MIMO requires multi-antennas at both the base stations and the user equipment (mainly smartphones) and it is very challenging to implement sub-6 GHz multi-antennas within the limited space of smartphones. This points to the need for innovative design strategies. The theory of characteristic modes (TCM) is one type of modal theory in the antenna community, which has been shown to be a versatile tool to analyze the inherent resonance properties of an arbitrarily shaped radiating structure. Characteristic modes (CMs) have the useful property of their fields being orthogonal over both the source region and the sphere at infinity. This property makes TCM uniquely suited for electrically compact MIMO antenna design.In the second track, Papers [V]-[VI] investigate new integrated antenna arrays and subarrays for the two wireless applications, which are both implemented in a higher part of the mm-wave frequency range (i.e. E-band). Furthermore, a newly developed high resolution multi-layer “Any-Layer” PCB technology is investigated to realize antenna-in-package solutions for these mmwave antenna system designs. High gain and high efficiency antennas are essential for high-speed wireless point-to-point communication systems. To meet these requirements, Paper [V] proposes directive multilayer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed slot antenna array and subarray. As a background, the microwave community has already shown the benefits of modal theory in the design and analysis of closed structures like waveguides and cavities. Higher-order cavity modes are used in the antenna array design process to facilitate lower loss, simpler feeding network, and lower sensitivity to fabrication errors, which are favorable for E-band communication systems. However, waveguide/cavity modes are confined to fields within the guided media and can only help to design special types of antennas that contain those structures. As an example of the versatility of TCM, Paper [VI] shows that apart from smartphone antenna designs proposed in Papers [I]-[IV], TCM can alsobe used to find the desirable modes of the linear antenna arrays. Furthermore, apart from E-band communications, the proposed series-fed patch array topology in Paper [VI] is a good candidate for application in 79 GHz MIMO automotive radar due to its low cost, compact size, ability to suppress surface waves, as well as relatively wide impedance and flat-gain bandwidths