Wideband Dual-Polarized Cross-Shaped Vivaldi Antenna

This communication presents a wideband, dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna or tapered slot antenna with over a decade (10.7:1) of bandwidth. The dual-polarized antenna structure is achieved by inserting two orthogonal Vivaldi antennas in a cross-shaped form without a galvanic contact. The measured - 10,\hbox {dB} impedance bandwidth ( {S_{11}} ) is approximately from 0.7 up to 7.30 GHz, corresponding to a 166% relative frequency bandwidth. The isolation ( {S_{21}} ) between the antenna ports is better than 30 dB, and the measured maximum gain is 3.8 11.2 dB at the aforementioned frequency bandwidth. Orthogonal polarizations have the same maximum gain within the 0.7 3.6 GHz band, and a slight variation up from 3.6 GHz. The cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) is better than 19 dB across the measured 0.7 6.0 GHz frequency bandwidth, and better than 25 dB up to 4.5 GHz. The measured results are compared with the numerical ones in terms of S -parameters, maximum gain, and XPD.The authors would like to thank Dr. T. Brown from University of Surrey for proofreading the manuscript, and the anonymous reviewers for the dedicated work to help improve this paper. They would also like to thank T. Jaasko from Pulse Finland for performing the Vivaldi prototype antenna measurements. M. Sonkki would like to thank the Nokia Foundation and Infotech Oulu Doctoral Program for financially supporting his Ph.D. studies. This technology has been licensed by industry.Sonkki, M.; Sánchez Escuderos, D.; Hovinen, V.; Salonen, E.; Ferrando Bataller, M. (2015). Wideband Dual-Polarized Cross-Shaped Vivaldi Antenna. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 63(6):2813-2819. doi:10.1109/TAP.2015.2415521S2813281963

Design Guidelines for the Excitation of Characteristic Modes in Slotted Planar Structures

This paper provides some design guidelines for the excitation of broadband slotted planar antennas, addressing key issues such as coupling, symmetries and multiple feeding. The theory of characteristic modes (CMs) is used to identify the collection of current modes that exists on these structures, dealing to a valuable understanding of the radiating mechanisms and allowing a more controlled design process. Modal analysis of a circular aperture cut on a finite square ground plane is presented in order to demonstrate that an optimum choice of the feeding mechanism can be made according to the current distribution of the desired modes. Based on the information yielded by this modal analysis, a capacitive-coupled dual-feed circular aperture antenna is presented. This antenna takes advantage of the symmetries of the characteristic currents by making use of multiple feeding, in order to excite only some particular modes. Usage of commonly-fed and differentially-fed configurations enables an increased control of the excitation of modes in the structure. CM analysis of the antenna including the feeding structures is presented, showing the influence of the feeding lines in the performance of this type of antennas. A prototype of the antenna has been fabricated and measured. Simulated and measured results are presented, being in good agreement.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Project TEC2016-78028-C3-3-P and Project GV/2015/065.Antonino Daviu, E.; Cabedo Fabres, M.; Sonkki, M.; Mohamed Mohamed-Hicho, N.; Ferrando Bataller, M. (2016). Design Guidelines for the Excitation of Characteristic Modes in Slotted Planar Structures. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 64(12):5020-5029. doi:10.1109/TAP.2016.2618478S50205029641

Planar Wideband Antenna Designs for Wireless Applications in Portable Devices

[EN] This paper summarizes the research that has been developed by the authors for the last six years, concerning the design of planar wideband antennas for portable devices. Basic structures combining electric and magnetic elements are proposed, which lead to antennas with large bandwidth. Thus, by using these basic structures, a polarization diversity antenna, a wideband antenna for DVB-H applications and a wideband MIMO antenna have been proposed for wireless applications in mobile terminals. Prototypes of all the antennas have been fabricated and measured at iTEAM and/or CWC facilities.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under the projects TEC2010-20841-C04-01 and CSD2008-00068, and by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes projects AATE and MIMOTA) and its industrial partners, EB, ETS Lindgren, Nokia Devices Oulu and Pulse Finland Inc. Mr. Sonkki also would like to thank the Nokia Foundation and the Infotech Oulu Doctoral Program for financially supporting his PhD studies.Antonino Daviu, E.; Sonkki, M.; Cabedo Fabrés, M.; Ferrando Bataller, M.; Salonen, ET.; Sánchez Escuderos, D.; Herranz Herruzo, JI.... (2014). Planar Wideband Antenna Designs for Wireless Applications in Portable Devices. Waves. 6:17-28. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/52905S1728

Wideband and multi-element antennas for mobile applications

Abstract This dissertation presents wideband and multi-element antennas for mobile applications. It is divided into the following main parts: modal theory, wideband antennas, multi-element antennas, and wideband multi-element antennas. The radiating fields are first studied in terms of spherical scalar and vector modes, and it is shown how these modes correlate with the characteristic current modes on a planar mobile ground plane. The theory part shows how it is possible to excite the same modes on a conventional sphere and a rectangular planar mobile ground plane. The theory refers to the novel wideband antenna structures presented in this dissertation, in terms of current and radiating modes. After studying the modes, the dissertation shows how to excite a radiating antenna mode within a wide frequency bandwidth. To gain this, two main approaches are taken. First, a quasi-complementary antenna (QCA) structure with an electric conductor and magnetic slot is presented, and its characteristics are studied. A QCA UWB antenna, and a QCA element excited with a monopole or a dipole, is presented. The QCA structure compensates for the imaginary part of the input impedance on wide frequency bandwidth, when, at the same time, the fundamental mode is excited to ensure good radiating properties. The second approach uses a symmetrical feeding with two antenna elements to gain a wide frequency bandwidth, the relative -6 dB impedance bandwidth between 37.5–80%. When a field is symmetrically coupled to the conducting ground plane, the excitation avoids the awakening of higher order modes which might disturb the performance of the antenna. It is also shown, by using multiple feeding elements, that the excitation of orthogonal higher order modes on a small radiating ground plane is possible. As the modes are orthogonal to each other, they present a very low correlation. By using this kind of approach, radiation pattern diversity can be obtained in mobile applications within a small volume. On the other hand, when combining two QCA elements to a one multi-element antenna structure, a wideband diversity antenna with an 87.5% relative -6 dB impedance bandwidth, and a wideband MIMO antenna with a 95.0% relative -6 dB impedance bandwidth, are presented with excellent radiation and correlation properties. Also mutual coupling is need to be counted when multi-element antennas are designed. When designing an efficient radiator, it is important to consider an antenna feeding in terms of wideband impedance matching and wideband baluns, not to spoil the antenna performance. The efficient antenna structures and feeding mechanisms are obtained by using commercial 3D electromagnetic simulators to find the desired wideband antenna characteristics. Prototype antennas are measured in most of the presented structures to show their functionality in real. In general, the dissertation presents wideband antenna structures with radiating antenna modes excited on a planar conducting ground plane. The idea is to find structures and feeding mechanisms to excite the fundamental mode, or a certain radiating antenna mode, at a wide frequency bandwidth, by avoiding the excitation of higher order modes which might disturb the antenna performance. It is also shown that, by using multiple feeding elements, it is possible to excite higher order modes on a small antenna.Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjassa esitetään uusia laajakaistaisia ja monielementtiantenneja matkaviestimiin. Väitöskirja koostuu neljästä pääalueesta: pintavirtojen muototeoria, laajakaistaiset antennit, monielementtiantennit sekä laajakaistaiset monielementtiantennit. Teoriaosassa säteilykenttiä on aluksi tutkittu pallon pinnalla sekä skalaaripotentiaaleina että pintavirtavektoreina, jonka jälkeen niitä on verrattu mobiilin laitteen maatason ominaispintavirtojen synnyttämiin säteilykenttiin. Teoriaosassa osoitetaan, että pallon pinnalla sekä tasomaisella suorakaiteen muotoisella pinnalla on mahdollista herättää samat säteilykentät. Myöhemmin väitöskirjassa esitettävien uudenlaisten antennirakenteiden ominaisuuksia verrataan teoriaosassa esitettyihin pintavirtoihin ja säteilykenttiin. Teoriaosuuden jälkeen osoitetaan miten säteilevä sähkömagneettinen kenttä saadaan herätettyä laajalla taajuusalueella. Tähän on otettu kaksi eri lähestymistapaa, joista ensimmäisessä esitellään ja tutkitaan kvasikomplementaarista antennirakennetta (QCA). Kvasikomplementaarisessa antennirakenteessa sisääntuloimpedanssin imaginaariosa kompensoidaan yhdistämällä sähköinen johde ja magneettinen rako samaan antenniin. Samanaikaisesti perusmuoto herätetään laajalla taajuusalueella, jolla varmistetaan antennin hyvät säteilyominaisuudet koko toimintataajuusalueella. Toisessa lähestymistavassa käytetään kahta symmetrisesti asetettua antennielementtiä, joita syötetään symmetrisesti samalla amplitudilla ja vaiheella. Kun sähkömagneettinen kenttä herätetään symmetrisesti, korkeamman kertaluvun muotojen herättäminen voidaan välttää laajalla taajuusalueella. Symmetrisesti syötetyillä antennirakenteilla saavutettu -6 dB suhteellinen impedanssikaistanleveys on 37.5–80 %. Useita syöttöelementtejä käytettäessä voidaan mobiilin laitteen maatasossa herättää yhdellä pistetaajuudella monta toisistaan riippumatonta säteilykenttää. Koska herätetyt kentät ovat toisistaan riippumattomia, on niiden välinen korrelaatio myös pieni. Kyseisellä rakenteella on mahdollista toteuttaa säteilykuviodiversiteetti erittäin pienessä tilassa, kuten matkapuhelimessa. Toisaalta, kun yhdistetään kaksi QCA-elementtiä yhdeksi monielementtiratkaisuksi, voidaan toteuttaa laajakaistainen diversiteettiantenni, jonka suhteellinen -6 dB impedanssikaistanleveys on 87.5 %. Vastaavasti kahdella laajakaistaisella QCA-elementillä toteutetulla MIMO-ratkaisulla päästään 95 % suhteelliseen -6 dB impedanssikaistanleveyteen. Molemmilla ratkaisuilla on erittäin hyvät säteilyominaisuudet sekä alhainen korrelaatio ja pieni keskinäiskytkentä antennielementtien välillä. Suunniteltaessa toimivaa laajakaistaista antennirakennetta, on tärkeää ottaa huomioon antennisyötön impedanssisovitus, jotta antennin suorituskyky ei heikkenisi. Lisäksi balansoidussa rakenteissa tulee olla laajakaistainen baluni, jolla vältetään säteilykuvion vääristyminen. Väitöskirjan syöttöratkaisuissa on käytetty kaupallisia sähkömagneettisia simulaattoreita, joilla antennirakenne voidaan mallintaa kolmiulotteisesti, ja joilla laajakaistainen syöttö saadaan optimoitua haluttuun antenniin. Suurin osa esitellyistä antennirakenteista on simulointien lisäksi myös mitattu, jolloin niiden toimivuus käytännössä pystytään todentamaan rakentamalla prototyyppiantenni. Yleisesti väitöskirjassa esitellään tasomaisia antenniratkaisuja johtavassa maatasossa, joissa säteilevät pintavirrat herätetään mahdollisimman laajalla taajuusalueella. Ideana on löytää laajakaistaisia antenni- ja syöttörakenteita, joilla saadaan herätettyä perusmuoto tai jokin muu haluttu muoto. Ajatuksena on välttää korkeamman kertaluvun muotojen herättäminen, jotka voivat pilata antennin suorituskyvyn. Väitöskirjassa osoitetaan myös, että pienikokoisella antennilla on mahdollista herättää korkeamman kertaluvun muotoja pistetaajuudella käyttämällä useita heräte-elementtejä

Scattering Properties of Wideband Dual-Polarized Vivaldi Antenna for MIMO OTA

Abstract The scattering Properties of Wideband Dual-Polarized Vivaldi Antenna for MIMO OTA test system was measured using three non-overlapping 2 GHz sub-bands within 1.35-7.25 GHz. The measurements were performed in two orientations with three different link distances (radius of 1.0 m, 1.5 m, and 2.0 m)

28 GHz Wireless Backhaul Transceiver Characterization and Radio Link Budget

Millimeter wave communication is one of the main disruptive technologies in upcoming 5G mobile networks. One of the first candidate applications, which will be commercially ready by 2020, is wireless backhaul links or wireless last mile communication. This paper provides an analysis of this use‐case from radio engineering and implementation perspectives. Furthermore, preliminary experimental results are shown for a proof‐of‐concept wireless backhaul solution developed within the EU‐KR 5GCHAMPION project, which will be showcased during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Korea. In this paper, we verify system level calculations and a theoretical link budget analysis with conductive and radiated over‐the‐air measurements. The results indicate that the implemented radio solution is able to achieve the target key performance indicator, namely, a 2.5 Gbps data rate on average, over a range of up to 200 m

Statistical measurement system analysis of over-the-air measurements of antenna array at 28 GHz

Abstract Next generation communication systems will use millimeter wave communication to enable higher data rates compared to Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. The coming 5G system will use antennas antenna arrays and multiple radio transceivers to compensate an excess radio signal path loss and conductive testing of an antenna array will be a challenge. Over-the-air (OTA) testing provides solution to cabling and connection problems. This paper provides an analysis of accuracy of OTA measurement at 28 GHz frequency band. A statistical measurement system analysis is used and results show that ± 0.89 dB measurement accuracy is achieved in a typical laboratory environment without an anechoic RF chamber

Study of transmitter interference to receiver at 2 GHz with high antenna port isolation

Abstract The paper presents simulated and measurement results of a planar antenna structure at 2 GHz center frequency. The antenna has two ports implemented into the same conductive body. The antenna shows measured -10 dB impedance bandwidth from 1.87 GHz to 2.18 GHz with average 41.3 dB isolation between the antenna ports over the studied frequency bandwidth. Antenna is used to measure transmitted WCDMA FDD signal leakage to the receiver with a presence of blocker signal, which is transmitted over the air. The system measurements show that the RF filtering requirements can be relaxed based on 3GPP standard by using highly isolated antenna structure. Application areas can be found at the both ends of the mobile communications system, mobile devices and small cell base stations

Wireless Energy Transfer Powered Wireless Sensor Node for Green IoT: Design, Implementation and Evaluation

The number of IoT (Internet of Things) devices is predicted to increase dramatically in the years to come and their manufacturing and maintenance, including both commercial and ecological aspects associated with these, are gaining substantial attention. One of the effective ways of addressing both these issues at a time is the energy-neutral systems, which operate with the energy harvested from their environment. To address the major problem of this system, namely the low reliability, in the current paper, we develop and study the utility of a system powered solely with the wireless power transfer (WPT) over a radio frequency (RF) channel. In the article, we propose a methodology for developing and implementing a real-life IoT application based on RF WPT. We employ the proposed methodology to develop a WPT-powered solution to sense the temperature and the angular velocity in the rotating industrial environment. First, we discuss the key trade-offs arising when selecting and developing the new components for a WPT system. Then, we present and detail our solutions and describe the results of their evaluations. Finally, we instrument and evaluate the complete system, proving that it is capable of meeting all the design goals and requirements. The results reported in this paper can be of interest to the practitioners, for whom they provide a step-by-step methodology of WPT application development with a practical example. In addition, these results may be valuable for analysts, as they demonstrate many practical interrelations and effects specific to the real-life WPT applications