This paper presents results for active and passive measurements using a novel method based on multiple compact antenna test range (CATR) reflectors to perform simultaneous multiple angle measurements in order to characterize the beam-forming characteristics in a real environment of the 5G devices operating in the millimeter wave frequency band: 24–44 GHz. The over-the-air (OTA) system generates four planar wavefronts with different incidence angles, realizing up to five pairs of angular spreads or four switched/simultaneous angles of arrival. The initial target application is radio resource management (RRM) testing, where the execution of mobility procedures and radio link monitoring of a 5G millimeter wave device are evaluated. The applicability of the multi-reflector approach to RRM testing is measured with commercial 5G handsets, through three test scenarios. The paper demonstrates that baseband (non OTA) testing is not sufficient for RRM FR2, as the results are influenced by the direction of arrival of the signal. It is further shown that OTA testing in a multi-reflector CATR system and a careful selection of a representative set of test directions is critical for full characterization of the performance of a wireless device operating in the millimeter wave bands.

Design method for band-stop filters (BSFs) that suppress a requested number of spurious bandstops and reduce ripples in the passbands below ~1 dB is proposed. BSF is designed in a form of a cascade of cells, each consisting of steps of equal electrical length, where the number of steps is used to control the number of suppressed spurious bandstops. Analytical formulas are developed that enable initial design of BSF for a given central frequency, depth, and bandwidth of the stopband. Varying the minimum characteristic impedances of initial cells, through an optimization using circuit simulation, the ripples in passbands are reduced below ~1 dB. Using the proposed theory, three filters in microstrip technology, with suppression of 3, 5, and 7 spurious stopbands respectively, were designed, fabricated, and measured. Good agreement between simulated and measured results has been observed. The proposed design can be recommended for filters having broad stop bandwidths, between 40 and 100%.

This paper reports on an ultra-wideband low-noise distributed amplifier (LNDA) in a transferred-substrate InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) technology which exhibits a uniform low-noise characteristic over a large frequency range. To obtain very high bandwidth, a distributed architecture has been chosen with cascode unit gain cells. Each unit cell consists of two cascode-connected transistors with 500 nm emitter length and ft/fmax of ~360/492 GHz, respectively. Due to optimum line-impedance matching, low common-base transistor capacitance, and low collector-current operation, the circuit exhibits a low-noise figure (NF) over a broad frequency range. A 3-dB bandwidth from 40 to 185 GHz is measured, with an NF of 8 dB within the frequency range between 75 and 105 GHz. Moreover, this circuit demonstrates the widest 3-dB bandwidth operation among all reported single-stage amplifiers with a cascode configuration. Additionally, this work has proposed that the noise sources of the InP DHBTs are largely uncorrelated. As a result, a reliable prediction can be done for the NF of ultra-wideband circuits beyond the frequency range of the measurement equipment.

This paper presents the first experimental results of a novel MEMS-based waveguide filter for mobile back-hauling at K-band with adjustable center frequency. The tuning concept employs commercial packaged RF MEMS switches, wire-bonded within a rectangular cavity. The switches are used to perturb the current distribution of the TE101 mode so as to tune the resonant frequency of the cavity. A tuning range up to 2% with unloaded Qs of the order of 1000 in K-band can be obtained. A second-order filter prototype employing commercially available MEMS on silicon substrate has been tested. Measurements show a 160 MHz frequency shift (0.7%) and Qs up to 1000 using only one MEMS per resonator. New higher-order prototypes using low-loss substrate MEMS (e.g. quartz) will be fabricated in order to get higher Qs. The concept here present leads to a very simple structure. The number of MEMS per resonator is, in fact, minimized (we use only one MEMS) and the design is simple. On the other hand, the achievable tuning range is lower (<2%) than the other concepts. Higher tuning ranges are achievable using more MEMS, but at the expense of lower Qs of the resonators.

Digital radar waveforms such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) often have the disadvantage that they require high sampling rates if fine range resolutions have to be achieved. The frequency comb OFDM radar scheme offers a possibility to overcome this drawback and to improve the range resolution without increasing the sampling rate. Simultaneously, the high unambiguous velocity, which is one of the advantages of digital radar waveforms, is retained and due to the simple generation of orthogonal transmit signals, it is well suited for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) applications. To prove all these features of the frequency comb OFDM radar scheme, a suitable 4 × 4 MIMO demonstrator including frequency comb generation as well as up- and downconversion with these combs has been set up. Its functionality has been validated with real measurements in an anechoic chamber in conjunction with a radar target simulator to emulate very high velocities.

Multi-device radio frequency power amplifiers (PAs) often exhibit strongly non-linear behavior in combination with long-term memory effects, leading to an extremely challenging model development cycle. This paper presents a new, dynamic, behavioral modeling technique, based on a combination of the real-valued decomposed piecewise method and concepts from the field of machine learning. The underlying theory of the proposed modeling technique is provided, along with a detailed modeling procedure. Experimental results show that the proposed decomposed piecewise support vector regression (SVR) model leads to significant performance improvements when compared with standard SVR models for both single transistor and multi-transistor PAs. Different model thresholds are used to test the proposed model performance for both PA types. For the single-transistor PA, modeled using only one partition, an approximately 10 dB normalized mean square error (NMSE) reduction is seen when compared with the standard SVR model. For the same PA, when utilizing two partitions, the reduction improves to 14 dB. When applied to a multi-device Doherty PA, the NMSE between model and measurement data is −50 dB, representing more than 10 dB improvement compared with the standard SVR model.

The study aimed to present a dual-band 5G multi-input multi-output monopole dual-antenna system, which was configured on the upper edge of the display ground plane for laptops. The dual-antenna unit is a 29 × 2 × 3 mm3 three-dimensional structure with two antennas of the same structure and size, consisting of a fed monopole antenna and a shorted monopole antenna. The antennas are arranged 4 mm apart, side by side in the same direction, to form a dual-antenna unit. Such a configuration allows the feeding points of the two antennas to be separated by the shorting point of the shorted monopole antenna, and the shorting point of the low-frequency resonant path (the shorted monopole antenna) of the two antennas to be larger than a quarter of the wavelength of the low frequency with appropriate bending. The strong current will be concentrated near the shorting point of the shorted monopole antenna when the low-frequency mode is excited, and the current flow from the ground to the feeding point of the other antenna will be reduced, achieving the isolation which is better than 10 dB in measurement between the two antennas without adopting any isolation element. The envelope correlation coefficients calculated from the measured complex E-field radiation patterns are all smaller than 0.12, which can cover the 5G dual-band operations of 3300–3600 and 4800–5000 MHz, and the measured antenna efficiencies can reach more than 40%, which are well suited for multiple antenna applications.

Variable Z0 (VZ0) antenna technology is a new design or optimization methodology applicable to any antenna on any platform designed or optimized with any procedure. It should be particularly useful for wireless devices populating the Internet of Things. VZ0 expands the design or decision space by adding another degree of freedom invariably leading to better antennas. A simple design example illustrates its effectiveness.

In this study, a new ultra-wideband (UWB) band-edge selectivity antenna with a modified radiation slot using defected ground structure (DGS) is presented to obtain bandpass filtering reflection coefficient and gain performance. The well-designed DGS is designed on backside metallic of the substrate and can be seen as a low-pass filter that provides a good roll-off at a higher frequency. By connecting the DGS and the stepped slot and making them merge with each other, good cut-off property in the upper passband and better in-band impedance characteristics are obtained. Measured results show that the proposed design not only shows good band-edge selectivity in reflection coefficient and gain performance but also has a good impedance matching of −13.5 dB reflection coefficients and a good radiation efficiency of 90% in the operating frequencies. The measured bandwidth defined with the reflection coefficient less than −10 dB is from 3.1–11.2 GHz. Furthermore, the size of the filtering UWB antenna is 22 mm × 12 mm, which is smaller than many individual UWB antennas and UWB filters.

Near-field to far-field transformations constitute a powerful antenna characterization technique for near-field measurement scenarios. In this paper, a near-field to far-field transformation technique based on multiple spherical wave expansions (SWEs) is presented. Thanks to its iterative matrix inversion nature, the approach performs the transformation of fields measured on arbitrary surfaces. Also, irregular sampling schemes can be incorporated. The proposed algorithm is based on modeling the antenna fields with not one, but several SWEs distributed over its geometry. Due to the high number of SWEs, their truncation number can be arbitrarily reduced. Working with expansions of low order allows us to incorporate the probe correction in the transformation in a very simple way, accepting any type of probe and orientation. Only the probe far-field pattern is used, thus working with its full SWE is avoided. The algorithm is validated using simulated field data as well as measurements of real antennas.

This paper presents a hybrid design of 1 × 2 and 1 × 4 arrays operating in 0.277–0.292 THz on 65 nm Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Each of the chips has an X-band input with 3 ×3 multiplier stages and connected at the output to an on-chip ring antenna. A wideband microstrip Wilkinson four-way and two-way power dividers have been developed on a multilayer printed circuit board to feed the array elements with proper radio frequency and direct current inputs. Demonstrating improvements in effective isotropically radiated power and in total radiated power compared to a single CMOS element, the hybrid integration approach proves effective in implementing coherent THz transmitter arrays. Theoretical and practical factors that reduce the radiated power compared with ideal arrays are also discussed.

The possibility to characterize infinite and periodic frequency-selective surfaces (FSS) filters that have two orthogonal axes of symmetry inside a waveguide is reported. Thus, preliminary measurements can rapidly be obtained at low cost with few elementary cells instead of using a large FSS panel in free space. This is possible because of the equivalence that exists between the electromagnetic fields of two symmetric and oblique plane waves incident on and reflected from an infinite periodic surface and the incident/reflected fields that exist inside a single-mode rectangular waveguide containing a finite number of elementary cells. Comparisons of the measurements with some full-wave simulations for FSS belonging to the first three groups as they were defined by Munk confirm the good agreement between them. This is an interesting and simple assessment tool concerning the fabrication quality of FSS. The extension of this technique to non-symmetric FSS patterns is also discussed and supported by experimental and simulation results. The limitations of the technique are finally discussed.

A highly integrated Ku-band (10.7–12.75 GHz) planar phased array receiver of 64 antenna elements is presented. It features instantaneous reception of the full Ku-band (2.05 GHz wide) in two orthogonal polarizations with wide scan angles by using time delay instead of phase shift. The receiver is part of a system for satellite broadcast TV reception on board of moving vehicles. Two SiGe radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) were developed, packaged in ceramic BGAs and assembled onto a 15-layer printed circuit board (PCB) which integrates the antenna elements. An outline of the system is given along with a detailed description. It sets a new standard in integration density. The receiver has extensive analog signal processing at intermediate frequency (IF)-level. A novel bipolar implementation for true time delay is proposed, with a continuous programmable delay range of 0…80 ps with less than 2.5 ps group-delay variation in 2 GHz bandwidth (BW). The wide BW calls for a constant group-delay implementation in the IF chain. The receiver (RFIC) consumes only 132 mW per channel. Each channel has 40 dB gain.

A new circularly polarized microstrip array antenna using the orthogonal feed technique is proposed in this paper. The antenna has a multi-layer structure and a new 3-way power divider employing the both-sided microwave integrated circuit technology is designed to configure the feed network of the array. Circular polarization (CP) is realized by creating a quadrature phase difference between orthogonal feed circuits of the patches. The multi-layer structure gives flexibility to adjust the patch spacing that helps to reduce the sidelobe level of the antenna. It is found that the multi-layer structure exhibits a gain of about 2 dB higher than that of a single layer structure by means of sidelobe reduction. The proposed structure also exhibits good CP performances that are verified by a good agreement of measured and simulated results. Simple and compact structure makes the antenna suitable for various wireless applications.

This paper presents an analytical model to characterize the radiation pattern of focused aperture antennas. The model is based on the classic parabolic on pedestal distribution for amplitude, but in this work the focusing phase term is considered and applied in the Fresnel region. The model is useful for millimeter and submillimeter wave imaging radar systems that usually work in the Fresnel region of the antenna. Analytical closed expressions are developed to predict the available resolution (transversal beamwidth) and operating range (axial beamwidth) of such systems. The effects of the first- and second-order phase distributions on the aperture have also been also studied in order to show the scanning effect, the axial refocusing, and the astigmatic beam degradation.

In the area of electromagnetic metrology, binary coded excitation signals become more and more important and various binary coded sequences are available. The measurement approach is to assess the impulse response function of a device under test by correlating the response signal with the excitation signal. In order to achieve a high measurement reproducibility as well as a high dynamic range, the generated binary coded signals have to provide low-noise. In this contribution, a low-noise signal generator realized with a field programmable gate array is presented. The performance investigation of different kinds of binary coded excitation signals and different correlation concepts have been practically investigated. With a chip rate of 5 Gchip/s, the generator can be utilized for ultra-wideband applications. In order to allow for a low-noise and long-term stable signal generation, a new clock generator concept is presented and results of phase noise measurements are shown. Furthermore, an algorithm to fast and precisely shifting the time lag between two binary coded signals for correlating excitation and response signals with a hardware correlator is presented. Finally, the realized demonstrator system is tested using two commonly used types of binary coded sequences.

This paper presents a very fast and highly efficient full-wave hybrid method for analyzing an integrated dielectric lens antenna (ILA) fed by multilayered substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) slot antenna/array. The feeding antenna structure is modeled as a stacked parallel-plate waveguide with metallic posts, coupling, and radiating slots. Physical optics method in conjunction with three-dimensional ray tracing technique is employed to analyze the effect of the dielectric lens on the SIW feeding slots. Fields in the SIW structure are computed by considering the Dyadic Green's function expressed as an expansion of vectorial cylindrical eigenfunctions and taking into account scattering at the conducting posts. Slots are modeled with equivalent magnetic currents expressed as a sum of domain basis functions. By imposing continuity of the tangential components of the fields an integral equation is obtained that is solved with the application of method-of-moments. In order to validate the proposed technique, a hemispherical ILA fed by a double-layered SIW cavity which is backed with slot antenna is analyzed. Excellent agreement is obtained with HFSS software together with significant improvement in computational time and memory requirements.

In this paper, an efficient dual function radar-communication system is proposed to improve the system's resource utilization. In this work, we considered a scenario where the location of the communication receiver is known prior but the radar target is moving and its location is changing with time. Therefore, we proposed a closed-loop design that allows an adaptive selection of appropriate information embedding strategies during tracking operations. We used two strategies that utilize the amplitudes and/or phases of the transmitted radar waveforms toward the communication direction according to the position of the communication receiver during each scan. Hence, during each radar illumination, the system carries out a target-tracking task and simultaneously maintains the communication symbols transmission toward the intended communication direction. The simulation results verify the effective performance of the proposed approach in terms of target detection and tracking performance and angular bit error rate (BER). Furthermore, the proposed amplitude phase-shift keying signaling strategy can transmit different communication symbols to different users located within the sidelobe region and also provides a significant improvement in data rate transmission and BER performance compared with the existing sidelobe-based communication strategies.

A novel quarter cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (q-CDRA) has been introduced by splitting four uniform quarters from a cylinder. q-CDRA has been designed and validated with theoretical analysis. Two and four element q-CDRAs have been proposed in composite forms through Ansoft high-frequency structure simulator simulation software and fabricated for experimental investigation. The input characteristics and radiation patterns of the proposed antennas have been studied through simulation and compared with the measured ones. The |S11| characteristics of the proposed antennas have been compared with each other. The four-element composite q-CDRA has wide impedance bandwidth (|S11| ≤ −10 dB) of 58.15% with monopole-like radiation pattern as compared with other q-CDRAs. The two and four elements q-CDRAs have symmetric monopole-like radiation patterns with linear polarization for whole operating bandwidth (4.5–8.6 GHz). The proposed composite q-CDRAs may find suitable applications in WLAN and WiMAX band.

In this work, a printed coplanar waveguide (CPW) fed single band antenna based on expanded graphite material is introduced. The proposed antenna is based on a CPW-monopole antenna with a U-shape conductor strip connected with the ground. Expanded graphite, a grade of graphene, is used as a conductor to design the uniplanar antenna over a flexible paper substrate. The antenna is designed for 2.4 GHz applications. The antenna design procedures are discussed. The material preparation and analysis are illustrated. Finally, the antenna fabrication and measurements of the reflection coefficient are discussed. The measured antenna reflection coefficient agrees with the simulated one, ensuring the antenna validity for serving the required applications. The radiation antenna parameters are discussed and simulated results from two-simulation software are included for comparison. The antenna has a simulated gain of 4 dBi and simulated efficiency of around 90% at 2.4 GHz.