Reflectarray antenna based on grounded loop‐wire miniaturised‐element frequency selective surfaces

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163804/1/mia2bf00289.pd

Field of a short dipole above a dielectric half‐space with rough interface

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163837/1/mia2bf01553.pd

Microstrip Ring Resonator for Soil Moisture Measurements

Accurate determination of spatial soil moisture distribution and monitoring its temporal variation have a significant impact on the outcomes of hydrologic, ecologic, and climatic models. Development of a successful remote sensing instrument for soil moisture relies on the accurate knowledge of the soil dielectric constant (epsilon(sub soil)) to its moisture content. Two existing methods for measurement of dielectric constant of soil at low and high frequencies are, respectively, the time domain reflectometry and the reflection coefficient measurement using an open-ended coaxial probe. The major shortcoming of these methods is the lack of accurate determination of the imaginary part of epsilon(sub soil). In this paper a microstrip ring resonator is proposed for the accurate measurement of soil dielectric constant. In this technique the microstrip ring resonator is placed in contact with soil medium and the real and imaginary parts of epsilon(sub soil) are determined from the changes in the resonant frequency and the quality factor of the resonator respectively. The solution of the electromagnetic problem is obtained using a hybrid approach based on the method of moments solution of the quasi-static formulation in conjunction with experimental data obtained from reference dielectric samples. Also a simple inversion algorithm for epsilon(sub soil) = epsilon'(sub r) + j(epsilon"(sub r)) based on regression analysis is obtained. It is shown that the wide dynamic range of the measured quantities provides excellent accuracy in the dielectric constant measurement. A prototype microstrip ring resonator at L-band is designed and measurements of soil with different moisture contents are presented and compared with other approaches

A low-profile omnidirectional planar antenna with vertical polarization employing two in-phase elements

Abstract A novel technique for designing a low-profile miniaturized omnidirectional planar antenna with vertical polarization is presented. The proposed antenna is designed using two short in-phase vertical elements. To achieve inphase radiation the short vertical pins should be λ/2 away from each other. To minimize the λ/2 transmission line a Ttype 180 degree phase shifter with a capacitive impedance inverter can be used. However, the drawback of using this phase shifter is the generation of an out-of-phase conduction current going vertically down through the capacitor. The radiated fields from the conduction current cancel out radiated fields from in-phase currents on the two vertical elements, leading to the suppression of vertically polarized radiation. In this study, the conduction current is eliminated by substituting the capacitor connected to the shorting via with an open stub. The geometry of the open stub is optimized to obtain appropriate capacitance values giving the antenna lateral dimensions (λ/8X λ/8) and height (λ/40). An important advantage of the proposed antenna is omnidirectional radiation pattern and high gain

Loop antenna over a conducting cone with a spherical cap

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163889/1/mia2bf01314.pd

Extended ecosystem signatures with application to Eos synergism requirements

The primary objective is to define the advantages of synergistically combining optical and microwave remote sensing measurements for the determination of biophysical properties important in ecosystem modeling. This objective was approached in a stepwise fashion starting with ground-based observations of controlled agricultural and orchard canopies and progressing to airborne observations of more natural forest ecosystems. This observational program is complemented by a parallel effort to model the visible reflectance and microwave scattering properties of composite vegetation canopies. The goals of the modeling studies are to verify our basic understanding of the sensor-scene interaction physics and to provide the basis for development of inverse models optimized for retrieval of key biophysical properties. These retrieval algorithms can then be used to simulate the expected performance of various aspects of Eos including the need for simultaneous SAR and HIRIS observations or justification for other (non-synchronous) relative timing constraints and the frequency, polarization, and angle of incidence requirements for accurate biophysical parameter extractions. This program completed a very successful series of truck-mounted experiments, made remarkable progress in development and validation of optical reflectance and microwave scattering models for vegetation, extended the scattering models to accommodate discontinuous and periodic canopies, developed inversion approaches for surface and canopy properties, and disseminated these results widely through symposia and journal publications. In addition, the third generation of the computer code for the microwave scattering models was provided to a number of other US, Canadian, Australian, and European investigators who are currently presenting and publishing results using the MIMICS research code

Electromagnetic scattering from grassland Part I: A fully phase-coherent scattering model

©20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.A microwave scattering formulation is presented for grassland and other short vegetation canopies, The fact that the constituent elements of these targets can be as large as the vegetation layer make this formulation problematic. For example, a grass element may extend from the soil surface to the top of the canopy, and thus the upper portion of the element can be illuminated with far greater energy than the bottom. By modeling the long, thin elements of this type of vegetation as line dipole elements, this nonuniform illumination can be accounted for. Additionally, the stature and structure of grass plants can result in situations where the average inner-product or coherent terms are significant at lower frequencies. As a result, the backscattering coefficient cannot be modeled simply as the incoherent addition of the power from each element and scattering mechanism, To determine these coherent terms, a coherent model that considers scattered fields, and not power, is provided. This formulation is then used to provide a solution to the multiple coherent scattering terms, terms which include the correlation of the scattering between both dissimilar constituent elements and dissimilar scattering mechanisms, Finally, a major component of the grass family are cultural grasses, such as wheat and barley. This vegetation is often planted in row structures, a periodic organization that can likewise result in significant coherent scattering effects, depending on the frequency and illumination pattern. Therefore, a formulation is also provided that accounts for the unique scattering of these structures

Simulation of a periodic dielectric corrugation with an equivalent anisotropic layer

A periodic, corrugated, dielectric layer is simulated by an anisotropic dielectric layer of equal thickness. The tensor elements of the equivalent dielectric layer are given in terms of the permittivity of the dielectric material, the period of the surface corrugation, and the width of the corrugations. The validity of this technique is verified by comparing the reflection coefficient of the equivalent layer with that of the corresponding corrugated layer using the moment method. Employing a multiple layer approach, the technique is extended to handle periodic surfaces with arbitrary cross sections which can be used to design millimeter wave dielectric plate polarizers and absorbers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44544/1/10762_2005_Article_BF01015940.pd

Performance assessment of lower VHF band for short‐range communication and geolocation applications

The focus of this paper is to characterize near‐ground wave propagation in the lower very high frequency (VHF) band and to assess advantages that this frequency band offers for reliable short‐range low‐data rate communications and geolocation applications in highly cluttered environments as compared to conventional systems in the microwave range. With the advent of palm‐sized miniaturized VHF antennas, interest in low‐power and low‐frequency communication links is increasing because (1) channel complexity is far less in this frequency band compared to higher frequencies and (2) significant signal penetration through/over obstacles is possible at this frequency. In this paper, we quantify the excess path loss and small‐scale fading at the lower VHF and the 2.4 GHz bands based on short‐range measurements in various environments. We consider indoor‐to‐indoor, outdoor‐to‐indoor, and non‐line‐of‐sight outdoor measurements and compare the results with measurements at higher frequencies which are used in conventional systems (i.e., 2.4 GHz). Propagation measurements at the lower VHF band are carried out by using an electrically small antenna to assess the possibility of achieving a miniaturized, mobile system for near‐ground communication. For each measurement scenario considered, path loss and small‐scale fading are characterized after calibrating the differences in the systems used for measurements at different frequencies, including variations in antenna performance.Key PointsLow VHF has favorable short‐range characteristics and low signal distortionPenetration through many layers of building walls is possible at low VHFNovel miniaturized VHF antennas with reasonable performance have been designedPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111943/1/rds20240.pd

Derivation of Phase Statistics of Distributed Targets from the Averaged Mueller Matrix

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21432/2/rl2409.0001.001.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21432/1/rl2409.0001.001.tx