The effect of time misalignment between the radiofrequency (RF) input and tunable matching network control signal in dynamically load-modulated power amplifiers (Pas) is investigated in theory and practice. Moreover, the impact of different input signal statistics is considered. A simple amplifier model is used for the study, based on which the impact on output power, efficiency, and linearity is explored with various generic multi-tone signals. Furthermore, to experimentally verify the results, a 10 W dynamically load-modulated RF PA is measured. As expected, proper synchronization of the signals is crucial, especially as channel bandwidth increases. Additionally, it is shown that the input signal characteristics, such as the amplitude distribution, are important. Moreover, the prototype RF PA is measured with a 1.4 MHz long-term evolution (LTE) signal delivering an average output power of 33.9 dBm with 46% efficiency. Finally, high efficiency and linearity is maintained over output power by scaling the drain supply voltage.

This proposed work illustrates the design of a defected ground structure (DGS)-based coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed multiband microstrip antenna consisting of four vertical monopoles, joined together by the few rectangular horizontal strips. In this multiband antenna, I-shaped defects are inserted into both sides of ground plane of CPW feed creating a DGS-CPW. The 10 dB impedance bandwidth of lower band is 29%, ranging from 2.232 to 3.1 GHz, with respect to the central frequency of 2.52 GHz, and while that of the upper band is 2.1 GHz (4.712–6.81 GHz), about 35%, referred to the central frequency of 5.7 GHz. The parametric study is performed to understand the characteristics of the proposed antenna. To verify the simulated design concept, a prototype antenna is designed and fabricated on the FR4 substrate, and characterized experimentally. The characteristic of antenna parameters such as S-parameter, gain, current distribution, and radiation pattern have been studied. The proposed antenna is suitable for WLAN/WiMAX applications.

A compact circularly polarized antenna with wide axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) using quasi-self-complementary (QSC) structure is presented. A 3-dB ARBW is achieved by shortening the ground plane of the QSC structure. Furthermore, the wide ARBW is obtained by the introduction of a stepped stub in the extended ground plane of the QSC structure. The antenna is fabricated on a FR4 substrate with the overall dimensions of 25 mm × 22 mm × 0.8 mm. The proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth of 5.9 GHz (2.4–8.3 GHz, 110%) and 3 dB ARBW of 1.6 GHz (2.4–4 GHz, 50%). A peak gain of 1–3 dBi is observed within the 3 dB ARBW.

In this paper, a new configuration embedded with two filters and one resistor is proposed, which has the dual function of power splitting and filtering. The filter is based on stepped impedance ring resonator. All the even- and odd-mode resonant frequencies and transmission zeroes of the stepped impedance ring resonator are derived based on the even- and odd-mode analysis. Three interdigital-coupled lines are applied at the input port and output ports to achieve a bandpass response and suppress the second harmonic. For verification, a sample operating at the central frequency of 2 GHz is fabricated and tested. The measured results show the power divider has good performance on impedance matching, frequency selectivity, and isolation over the operating band.

In this paper we present the design and realization of a high-power amplifier in grounded coplanar transmission line technology using AlGaN/GaN dual-gate High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a gate-length of 100 nm to achieve a high gain per stage and high output power. A large-signal model was extracted for the dual-gate HEMT based on the state-space approach. For the fabricated dual-stage amplifier a continuous-wave saturatedoutput power of up to 24.8 dBm (0.84 W/mm) was measured at 63 GHz for 20 V drain bias. A small-signal gain of more than 20 dB was achieved between 56 and 65 GHz.

Two novel memory polynomial models are derived based on physical knowledge of a general power amplifier (PA). The derivations are given in detail to facilitate derivations of other model structures. The model error in terms of normalized mean square error (NMSE) and adjacent channel error power ratio (ACEPR) of the novel model structures are compared to that of established models based on the number of parameters using data measured on two different amplifiers, one high-power base-station PA and one low-power general purpose amplifier. The novel models show both lower NMSE and ACEPR for any chosen number of parameters compared to the established models. The low model errors make the novel models suitable candidates for both modeling and digital predistortion.

This paper presents the modeling, manufacturing, and testing of a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based LC tank resonator suitable for low phase-noise voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs). The device is based on a variable MEMS varactor in series with an inductive coplanar waveguide line. Two additional parallel stubs controlled by two ohmic MEMS switches have been introduced in order to increase the resonator tunability. The device was fabricated using the FBK-irst MEMS process on high resistivity (HR) silicon substrate. Samples were manufactured with and without a 0-level quartz cap. The radio frequency characterization of the devices without 0-level cap has shown a continuous tuning range of 11.7% and a quality factor in the range of 33–38. The repeatability was also tested on four samples and the continuous tuning is 11.7 ± 2%. Experimental results on the device with a 0-level cap, show a frequency downshift of about 200 MHz and a degradation of the quality factor of about 20%. This is, most likely, due to the polymeric sealing ring as well as to a contamination of the ohmic contacts introduced by the capping procedure. A preliminary design of a MEMS-based VCO was performed using Advanced Design System and a hardwired prototype was fabricated on Surface Mount Technology on RO4350 laminate. The prototype was tested resulting in a resonance frequency of 5 GHz with a phase noise of −105 and −126 dBc at 100 KHz and 1 MHz, respectively, and a measured output power of −1 dBm.

This paper presents a new planar particle that shows negative effective permittivity under irradiation by an electromagnetic wave. The mutual coupling between the couples of these particles is studied in particular. The response of this particle sensitive to an electric field is strongly anisotropic. The particle is aimed to be used to compose an isotropic epsilon-negative metamaterial in two forms. First, a unit cell of the metamaterial consists of a cube bearing six particles on its faces, located with specific orientations. The experiments showed that this unit cell is suitable for manufacturing an isotropic epsilon-negative metamaterial obtained by arranging these cells in a 3D cubic periodic system. The second form of an epsilon-negative metamaterial with an isotropic response consists of the planar particles themselves, distributed quasi-randomly, composing a 2D system and/or of particles placed in spherical shells and distributed fully randomly in a hosting material forming a 3D system. The isotropy of these systems was verified by measurements in a rectangular waveguide.

In this paper, we have analyzed the performance of correlated Nakagami-m fading channel by using the maximal-ratio-combing diversity at the receiver. A closed-form mathematical expression is derived for the average bit error rate (BER) for binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) and average symbol-error-rate (SER) for M-Quardrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) scheme in terms of the higher transcendental function such as Appell hypergeometric function by using the well-known moment generating function (MGF)-based approach with arbitrary fading index for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication systems. Moreover, we also derived an expression for the outage probability and the proposed numerical results are compared with the reported literature.

Metamaterials made of exclusively metallic cut wire pairs have been experimentally demonstrated to exhibit a negative refractive index at optical frequencies. However, other related works on slightly different wire and plate pairs have not shown a negative index. In this paper, we present the analogy between previously reported S-shaped metamaterials and asymmetric cut wire pairs by a simple unifying approach. These two structures present a negative index for some geometrical configurations. Using simulations and experimental measurements in the microwave domain, we investigate the material properties of the last structure. Applying the inversion method from transmission and reflection responses, we show that a negative index is exhibited due to simultaneous negative permittivity ε and permeability μ. A negative index n is experimentally verified in a bulk prism engineered by stacking several layers of the metamaterial.

This paper presents a detailed experimental analysis of the cyclostationary properties of low-frequency (LF) noise sources of microwave bipolar devices, in order to improve the LF noise description in compact models. Such models are used to help designers on predicting circuit performances such as phase and amplitude noise in oscillators. We start by reviewing the most relevant experimental and simulation results on the subject, and then investigate the model of conductance fluctuations proposed to explain the 1/f noise of carbon resistors. This simple linear case serves as a basis for understanding the complex case of a non-linear device under large-signal periodic operation. We then present the large-signal small-signal analysis of a pumped junction, focusing on the process of converting the fundamental LF noise process, a current fluctuation, into voltage fluctuations. We show why a stationary noise model would lead to an increase of the voltage noise observed around DC when the device is pumped, while the voltage noise would decrease if a cyclostationary model was used. A great amount of experimental data is presented not only to support our analysis, but also as a mean to distinguish between the two noise processes under consideration: stationary or cyclostationary. The goal of our noise measurement technique was to maximize the difference between those two concepts. Throughout the paper, we revisit some known concepts and show how some experimental results may lead to misinterpretations.

Hyperthermia (i.e. heating of tumor tissue to 40–43°C) is used in clinical oncology to enhance the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Many tumor sites are heated either by a single RF or MW antenna positioned on the tumor location, or by a phased array positioned around the patient. Superficial tumors are generally heated with MW antennas (434–2450 MHz) and deep-seated tumors with RF antennas (70–150 MHz). These devices cover the major, more common tumor sites, but more rare locations require more dedicated applicators. We discuss dedicated RF systems aiming for heating semi-deep-seated tumors in the leg, breast, and upper thorax. Clinical results show that adequate heating is possible with these systems, with achieved temperatures in the therapeutic range.

The scattering by the perfectly electric conducting (PEC) half-plane and PEC zero thickness disk placed on parallel planes is considered. The fields are represented in the spectral domain, i.e. in the domain of Fourier transform. The operator equations with respect to the Fourier amplitudes of the scattered field are obtained. The kernel functions of these equations contain poles. After regularization procedure, which is connected with the elimination of the poles, operator equations are converted to the system of singular integral equations. The convergence of the solution is based on the corresponding theorems. The scattered field consists of the plane wave, reflected by the infinite part of the half-plane, cylindrical waves, which appear as a result of scattering by the edge of the half-plane, and spherical waves, which appear as a result of scattering by the disk and multiple re-scattering by the disk-half-plane. The total near-field distribution and far-field patterns of cylindrical waves are presented.

Passive intermodulation (PIM) is a complex problem in high-power microwave devices and satellite communications. In this paper, an effective calculation method is proposed for predicting PIM power levels of the cascaded microwave devices. First of all, the analytical formula of intermodulation voltage is derived based on the nonlinear I–V characteristics of microwave devices. Then, the mathematical model of point sources is constructed by the transmission line theory and extended to the cascaded microwave devices. The passive intermodulation products (PIMP) of the cascaded microwave devices are evaluated based on the point-source model. The relationship of PIM between a single microwave device and the cascaded system is revealed. Eventually, the corresponding experiments are designed to verify the accuracy of point-source model and the cascaded model to predict the third-order PIM power level, which address the problem of PIM prediction of the cascaded microwave devices.

A coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed circular-shaped fractal antenna with third iterative orthogonal elliptical slot for ultra-wideband applications is presented. The bandwidth is enhanced by using successive iterations of radiating patch, CPW feedline, and tapered ground plane. An impedance bandwidth of 2.9–20.6 GHz is achieved. The designed antenna has omnidirectional radiation patterns along with average peak realized gain of 3.5 dB over the entire frequency range of operation. A good agreement is observed between the simulated and experimental results. This antenna structure has the advantages of miniaturized size and wide bandwidth in comparison to previously reported fractal structures.

This paper presents a radio frequency (RF) continuous-time band-pass delta sigma modulator (CT BP DSM) receiver realized in a 180 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. It also provides an introduction to active antenna systems (AAS) for cellular infrastructure base stations, which is the target application for this RF integrated circuit (IC). The internal quantizer and feedback digital to analog converter (DAC) resolution of the CT BP DSM is 2 bit. Without applying DAC linearization techniques such as trimming or dynamic element matching being utilized, measured performance parameters include an SNR and SNDR in 35 MHz bandwidth of 56.7 and 53.7 dB, respectively. IIP3 and noise figure are −6.6 dBm and 10 dB, respectively. No image reception is noticeable within a measurement dynamic range of 83 dB. When driven by single-carrier and three-carrier W-CDMA signals, adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) is −62.6 and −52.1 dB, respectively, making the design also suitable as a modulator for a class-S power amplifier.

This paper presents a design method of internally-matched packaged GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for achieving not only high-efficiency and high-power performances but also a wide bandwidth and insensitivity to harmonic terminations in the S-band. The package and its internal matching networks are synthesized to confine the second harmonic impedances seen by the GaN die to high-efficiency regions whatever the harmonic impedances presented outside the package. This paper reports the design of a packaged GaN HEMT achieving 78% of power-added-efficiency (PAE) and 25 W of output power at 2.5 GHz. A packaged GaN power bar is also reported with the addition of fundamental matching networks inside the package. In 50 Ω environment, the packaged GaN power bar provided more than 56% of PAE from 2.5 to 3.1 GHz and was desensitized to harmonic load variations with less than two points of PAE variation when a load-pull is performed at second harmonic frequencies outside the package.

This paper focuses on assessing the limitations in the direction-finding process of radio sources with directional antennas in an urbanized environment, demonstrating how signal source antenna parameters, such as beamwidth and maximum radiation direction affect bearing accuracy in non-line-of-sight conditions. These evaluations are based on simulation studies, which use measurement-tested signal processing procedures. These procedures are based on a multi-elliptical propagation model, the geometry of which is related to the environment by the power delay profile or spectrum. The probability density function of the angle of arrival for different parameters of the transmitting antenna is the simulation result. This characteristic allows assessing the effect of the signal source antenna parameters on bearing error. The obtained results are the basis for practical correction bearing error and these show the possibility of improving the efficiency of the radio source location in the urbanized environment.

An inspired metamaterial-based highly efficient monopole antenna displaying wide-/dual-band resonances along with self-filtering properties is presented. The monopole has high out-of-band suppression characteristics that lead to very close to 0 dB band-stop between the antenna dual resonant bands. The antenna operates at the two WLAN services of 2.65–3.25 and 5–7 GHz with stopband with total reflection at 4.5 GHz. The designed filtering characteristics are based on current coupling for the dual-band functions and current neutralization for the stopband function. Moreover, the proposed antenna has a very high radiation efficiency of 97 and 99% at 3 and 6 GHz, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed antenna exhibits an omni-directional radiation pattern with coplanar waveguide feed for simple integration with passive/active devices. Moreover, the antenna properties are achieved with a compact antenna size (30 × 30 mm2). With all presented results, the proposed antenna is very competitive over recent relevant antennas. In addition, a very good agreement between theoretical, full-wave simulations and measurements is achieved.

The present paper presents the design and development of a dual-channel microwave rotary joint using coaxial waveguide as primary waveguide and rectangular waveguide as the secondary waveguide. Design is presented at 5.85–7.02 GHz with 20% bandwidth and at 14–14.5 GHz bands with 3.6% bandwidth using dual channel mode transducers exciting transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode in the coaxial waveguide. Rectangular to coaxial waveguide transitions employing multi-stepped doorknob transitions are used to excite the TEM mode from the rectangular waveguide. The measured results for electrical parameters such as return loss, insertion loss of the dual-channel rotary joint are presented with 360° rotation of the rotary part with respect to the stator part.