Radio telescopes are among the applications with the highest demands on a local oscillator (LO), which is used to receive and process the signals coming from the sky. Therefore the modules providing the required LO signal have traditionally been big and complicated. To overcome this disadvantage, we implement our own integrated frequency synthesizer inside a small LO module in this article. With this synthesizer we are able to achieve a jitter of only 50 fs integrated from 10 Hz to 2.5 GHz offset at a carrier frequency of 75 GHz. This is in part achieved by a very low in-band phase noise of −111.8 dBc at 10 kHz offset. The stabilizable frequency range is 62–88 GHz. Thus achieving promising results to fulfill this very demanding task with integrated frequency synthesizers in the future.

Metamaterial lenses are appealing thin alternatives to conventional dielectric lenses. In this contribution we describe their design and application in two exemplary 77 GHz automotive radar sensors operating in monostatic and bistatic modes. The frontends are built around commercially available MMICs and small feed antennas are used in coordination with the six-layer printed circuit board-based realizations of metamaterial lenses. The design follows the principles of dielectric lenses, while the required local phase shift is obtained from a set of metasurface bandpasses. Their design uses a novel interpolation procedure to extract layout parameters for a given phase shift. Despite the small structural sizes due to the high frequency, the fabricated frequency-selective surfaces show very good performance in the required frequency range. Verification measurements were conducted on single bandpasses as well as on metamaterial lenses mounted on the radar frontend. The results agree very well with the simulation and confirm the applicability of thin lenses operating at mm-wave frequencies for automotive radar applications.

A reactive impedance surface (RIS) based miniaturized bent slotted patch antenna is proposed and investigated for S-band applications around 2.39 GHz. Bent slots in the patch reduce the patch antenna size by increasing current path on the patch. Further a RIS substrate with cross-shaped patch elements printed over a grounded dielectric is optimized and investigated for antenna miniaturization. The proposed bent slotted patch antenna over RIS substrate is 38.75% miniaturized with respect to traditional patch antenna at a fixed operating frequency. The proposed antenna reveals an overall volume of 0.280λ0 × 0.280λ0 × 0.036λ0 on a low-cost FR4 substrate at 2.39 GHz for S-band applications. The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured for its return loss. The measured results are in good agreement with simulated one.

This paper presents a compact dual-band filtering antenna without extra employing of filter structures. The antenna is designed using a planar dual-composite right/left-handed (D-CRLH) transmission line unit cell, where the filtering function is achieved through current cancellation between the D-CRLH resonators. The antenna is designed to function at 3.0 and 5.1 GHz, which can serve different WLAN applications. The antenna is a co-planar waveguide fed with a very compact size of only 30 × 16 mm2. Compared to the conventional patch antenna, the antenna size is only 17% at 3.0 GHz and 31% at 5.1 GHz. Despite the small size, the antenna preserves a good omni-directional radiation pattern at the two resonant frequencies with a measured realized gain of 2 and 2.7 dB, respectively. At the stopband in-between the two resonant bands, the reflection coefficient is almost 0 dB at 4.25 GHz and complete non-radiation is proved with a −11 dB measured realized gain. The different antenna filtering functions are verified by full-wave simulation and measurements.

This research involves a compact wideband circularly-polarized antenna array, which consists of a sequential rotating phase feed network, 2 × 2 mushroom-type metamaterial (MTM) unit, and so on. Each antenna array unit contains a microstrip feedline, an L-shaped slot antenna, and so on. The MTM-based antennas were incorporated with a sequential-phase network of sequentially rotated series-parallel feed to achieve wideband operation. The operational bandwidth and the radiation model in the high-frequency area were improved through the adjustment of spacing between the L-shaped slots while maintaining the size and structure of the MTM. The proposed design had dimensions of 80 mm × 80 mm × 3.5 mm (~1.64 λ0 × 1.64 λ0 × 0.072 λ0 at 6.15 GHz), and it was simulated, fabricated, and tested.

In this paper, the concept of load-modulated power amplifiers (PAs) is studied. Two GaN-HEMT power amplifiers (PAs), targeted for high efficiency at maximum and output back-off (OBO) power levels, are designed, implemented, and tested across 1.8–2.2 GHz. The load modulation in the first design is realized by tuning the shunt capacitors in the output matching network. A novel method is employed in the second design, where barium–stronrium–titante is used for the realization of load modulation. The large-signal measurement results across the desired band show 59–70% drain efficiency at 44–44.5 dBm output power for both designs. Using the available tunable technique, the drain efficiency of the PAs is enhanced by 4–20% at 6 dB OBO across the bandwidth.

In this paper, we present the electromagnetic modeling of a performance-enhanced planar Schottky diode for applications in terahertz (THz) frequencies. We provide a systematic simulation approach for analyzing our Schottky diode based on finite element method and lumped equivalent circuit parameter extraction. Afterward, we use the developed model to investigate the effect of design parameters of the Schottky diode on parasitic capacitive and resistive elements. Based on this model, device design has been improved by deep-trench formation in the substrate and using a closed-loop junction to reduce the amount of parasitic capacitance and spreading resistance, respectively. The results indicate that cut-off frequency can be improved from 4.1 to 14.1 THz. Finally, a scaled version of the diode is designed, fabricated, and well characterized to verify the validity of this modeling approach.

Two geometrically derived stability parameters, µ′ (or µ) and ν′(or ν), are used to analyze the stability of a two-port network. The magnitudes of both µ′ (or µ) and ν′ (or ν) parameters determine geometrical relations between the stability circle and the unit Smith chart in the ΓS (or ΓL) plane. |µ′| (or |µ|) is defined as the minimum distance from the stability circle to the origin of the unit Smith chart in the ΓS (or ΓL) plane, while |ν′|(or |ν|) is defined as the maximum distance. Moreover, the signs of ν′ (or ν) and µ′ (or µ) parameters determine which region of the stability circle is stable (inside or outside) and whether the stable region includes the origin of the Smith chart, respectively. There are totally 12 situations between the stability circle and the unit Smith chart in the ΓS (or ΓL) plane by using µ′ (or µ) and ν′ (or ν) parameters. This paper classifies 12 situations in the ΓS plane and also presents the corresponding practical two-port networks.

This paper deals with the concept of microliter sensing of human blood samples by waveguide dielectrometry at microwave frequency (39.5 GHz). The methods, research protocol, and basic results derived from the permittivity measurements are presented. Here we summarize the results of our 5-year research on developing a multidisciplinary approach to the characterization of erythrocytes dielectric response, in parallel with biochemical studies of their receptor-membrane activity, within the scope of a case–control study for in vitro diagnostics of acute and chronic neurological conditions.

A simple and compact printed ultra-wideband antenna with dual-band-notched characteristics is presented. The proposed antenna is composed of a rectangular patch and a modified ground plane. The rectangular patch is etched onto a lossy FR4 substrate. A circular ring strip parasitizes the rectangular patch embedded by a U-shaped slot. Two inverted-L slits and a rectangular slit are embedded onto the ground plane. Some bandwidth enhancement and band-notched techniques are applied in the antenna structure for broadening the bandwidth and generating notches. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna offers a very wider bandwidth ranging from 3.04 to 17.30 GHz, defined by the return loss less than −10 dB, with dual-notched bands of 3.30–4.20 and 5.10–5.85 GHz covering the 3.3/3.7 GHz WiMAX, 3.7/4.2 GHz C-band, and 5.2/5.8 GHz wireless local area network systems. Furthermore, the proposed antenna presents relatively high antenna gain and quasi-omnidirectional radiation patterns.

In this paper, a compact multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system with high isolation is proposed for 2.4 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) application. The system is composed of two aperture-coupled shorted patch antennas with a spacing of 4 mm (only 0.032λ). The antenna is fed with an H-shaped coupling slot, and the defected shorting wall is used for high isolation. The proposed MIMO system exhibits an isolation of better than −20 dB and a maximum isolation of −43 dB at the central frequency. The envelope correlation coefficient is less than 0.01. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna is a good candidate for MIMO system with higher isolation and better diversity.

In the field of high data rate wireless communications, localization issues play a key role in achieving energy-efficient communication and geographic routing. time-difference of arrival (TDOA)-based localization methods present numerous advantages. In this paper, a new method of TDOA estimation is proposed. With this method, unlike conventional TDOA measurements, it is possible to perform communication and localization at the same time by using a multi-input single-output system. By transmitting ultra-wide-band orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing signals using spatial diversity, it is possible to extract TDOA from interference patterns in spectral domain. In addition, increasing the precision of localization is also studied using a multi-band approach. This whole study is made within the framework of the WiGig alliance specifications; however, it is compatible with other standards.

A compact asymmetric coplanar strip (ACS)-fed monopole antenna for dual-band application is presented. The single-layer antenna composed of inverted L-shaped exciting strip and an L-shaped lateral ground plane. The antenna resonating at two different frequencies, 2.4 and 5.8 GHz is covering the wireless local area network/radio frequency identification bands. The antenna has an overall dimension of 35 × 5.7 mm2 when printed on a substrate of dielectric constant 4.4 and loss tangent 0.02. The planar design, simple feeding, and compactness make it easy for the integration of the antenna into circuit boards. Details of the antenna design, and simulated and experimental results are presented and discussed. The experimental result shows good conformity with simulated results. The simulation tool based on the method of moments (Mentor Graphics IE3D version 15.10) has been used to analyze and optimize the antenna.

A new ultra-high frequency radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antenna, which is comprised a U-shaped tuning stub and a dipole radiator for different permittivity surfaces is investigated, fabricated, and measured. For a conjugate match to the NXP G2XM chip impedance of 29–j137 at 915 MHz, a dipole tag antenna with U-shaped stubconnected to dipole arms was designed. Simple size adjustments of the U-shaped tuning stub and dipole radiator of the antenna allow for easy control of the antenna resistance and inductive reactance, from which the chip impedance requirement may be readily satisfied. The read range of the prototype antenna attached on a different permittivity surfaces (εr = 1–4) can reach more than 4.5 m, which has been tested for an RFID reader with 4.0 W of effective isotropic radiated power. The antenna structure consists of two dipole load bars and two loop electrically connected. The design offers more choice of freedom to tune the input impedance of the proposed antenna. Measurement data are presented which are in good agreement with simulation results. The design is suitable for mounting on all kinds of objects. The fabricated tag sensitivity of −3 dBm, read range of 7 m on the x–z and y–z planes, and the measured orientation radiation patterns were obtained in the desired frequency band.

In this paper, we propose an effective waveform diversity scheme that can be applicable to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operations affected by interfering signals. A novel approach is taken to achieve fully adaptive SAR waveform diversity that generates sufficient number of orthogonal signals with modest performance trade-off. To this purpose, multiple phased-code waveforms are arbitrarily generated with mutually low cross-correlations. They exhibit a highly flexible characteristic as their code lengths are not limited and Doppler tolerance is well preserved throughout SAR imaging. Various SAR jamming simulations are carried out to demonstrate that the proposed waveform diversity has a good potential for electronic counter-countermeasures applications.

This paper describes and analyzes a new technique used in Q-slot antenna to generate circular polarization (CP). The CP characteristics were investigated carefully by studying the surface current distribution, the phase difference between the left hand circular polarization (LHCP) and right hand circular polarization (RHCP) at some resonant frequencies, and the measured values of the axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW). Normal arms (E1 and E2) were cut in the upper elliptical feeding strip line to form an open-mouth structure. The arms E1 and E2 were made equal in length and set perpendicular to each other to have normal electric fields, leading to the generation of CP radiation. A formula was modified for the dual resonant frequencies f1, f2 of the modes TM010 and TM001. The measured values of the ARBW indicated that the antenna has a wide ARBW of 4.8–5.93 GHz, which is approximately 52% of the 3rd operating band of 4.7–6.8 GHz. The wide ARBW in a small size indicated that the design of the Q-slot antenna overcame the limits of designing antennas with wide ARBW in small size and low profile. A formula for normalized field was driven according to the complementary of the Q-slot antenna.

This paper presents a novel ultra-low-loss high-pass filter with 3 dB cutoff frequency of 890 MHz for astronomical receiver radio frequency interference mitigation application. The filter consists of three series capacitors, four shunt inductors, and microstrip circuit board. Specially, 4 shunt inductors are actualized by fabricating air-core short-circuit coaxial cable inductors in the filter box body, and the quality factor of these cable inductors is up to 762.2 and 1046, respectively, at 1.4 GHz. In the expected passband of 1.1–1.9 GHz, S parameters measurement show that insertion loss is lower than 0.16 dB and two-port return loss is larger than 20 dB; noise measurement show that filter noise temperature is lower than 8 at 300 K ambient temperature. Noise sources of this filter are analyzed by simulation and measurement.

In this paper, a compact quintuple notched-band ultra-wideband bandpass filter with high selectivity and wide bandwidth is proposed. The filter adopts an approximate closed-loop C-shaped stepped impedance resonator to generate triple notched bands, and uses Hilbert fractal curve slit and L-shaped resonator to create single notched band, respectively. Multiple notched-band are centered at 5.29, 6.61, 7.92, 8.95, and 9.93 GHz to eliminate undesired interference from coexisting wireless services of WLAN, C-band, and X-band. Additionally, two transmission zeros are introduced to enhance the sharp skirt selectivity up to 0.944. This filter could exhibit high sharp selectivity and wider bandwidth simultaneously. The filter is fabricated on a RT/Duroid 5880 substrate (ɛr = 2.2 and thickness = 0.787 mm) and measured to verify the simulation results. Both simulation and measurement are in well agreement, showing the good performance of the filter.

In this study, a dipole antenna is designed for real-time damage assessment, humidity, and temperature monitoring in reinforced and non-reinforced concrete structures. The antenna-based sensor is embedded into reinforced and non-reinforced concrete beams to assess electromagnetic measurements. Reflection parameter S11 in dB values and resonant frequencies of the embedded antenna are evaluated to detect damage, humidity, and temperature changes. The exploratory results show that as deformation increases in reinforced concrete, resonance frequency values decrease and S11 values increase. The load and resonance frequency values showed very close trends as deformation increases in the beam. In water content sensing experiments, the S11 in dB values of the antenna decrease as the humidity increases for concrete specimens while the resonance frequency values increase as the humidity increases for the reinforced concrete specimen. Elevated temperature sensing experimental results show that the resonance frequency values of the antenna decrease as the temperature of the specimen increases for concrete specimens while the S11 in dB values increase as the temperature of the specimen increases for reinforced concrete specimen.

Despite the great progress in data transmission systems using dielectric waveguides (DWGs) in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency band (30–300 GHz), the signal distortions caused by DWGs have not yet been fully understood. However, such investigations would help to optimize DWGs as a transmission channel in order to further increase data rate and transmission distance of such systems without the need for more complex transceivers. Therefore, this paper presents a detailed study of the expected signal distortions caused by frequency-dependent attenuation and frequency-dependent group delay of circular DWGs at mm-wave frequencies. Based on a low-complexity digital transmission system, the effects of DWGs on the signal-to-noise ratio and the intersymbol interference at the receiver are evaluated. The figures and equations given in this paper allow the reader to easily calculate the channel properties and signal distortions for a wide range of circular DWGs without the need of finite element method solver or other time-consuming numerical simulations. Finally, design recommendations are given to minimize signal distortions for transmitting signals along DWGs.