Artificial magnetic materials (AMMs) are a type of metamaterials which are engineered to exhibit desirable magnetic properties not found in nature. AMMs are realized by embedding electrically small metallic resonators aligned in parallel planes in a host dielectric medium. In the presence of a magnetic field, an electric current is induced on the inclusions leading to the emergence of an enhanced magnetic response inside the medium at the resonance frequency of the inclusions. AMMs with negative permeability are used to develop single negative, or double negative metamaterials. AMMs with enhanced positive permeability are used to provide magneto-dielectric materials at microwave or optical frequencies where the natural magnetic materials fail to work efficiently. Artificial magnetic materials have proliferating applications in microwave and optical frequency region. Such applications include inversely refracting the light beam, invisibility cloaking, ultra miniaturizing and frequency bandwidth enhancing low profile antennas, planar superlensing, super-sensitive sensing, decoupling proximal high profile antennas, and enhancing solar cells efficiency, among others. AMMs have unique enabling features that allow for these important applications. Fundamental limitations on the performance of artificial magnetic materials have been derived. The first limitation which depends on the generic model of permeability functions expresses that the frequency dispersion in an AMM is limited by the desired operational bandwidth. The other constraints are derived based on the geometrical limitations of inclusions. These limitations are calculated based on a circuit model. Therefore, a formulation for permeability and magnetic susceptibility of the media based on a circuit model is developed. The formulation is in terms of a geometrical parameter that represents the geometrical characteristics of the inclusions such as area, perimeter and curvature, and a physical parameter that represents the physical, structural and fabrication characteristics of the medium. The effect of the newly introduced parameters on the effective permeability of the medium and the magnetic loss tangent are studied. In addition, the constraints and relations are used to methodically design artificial magnetic material meeting specific operational requirements. A novel design methodology based on an introduced analytical formulation for artificial magnetic material with desired properties is implemented. The synthesis methodology is performed in an iterative four-step algorithm. In the first step, the feasibility of the design is tested to meet the fundamental constraints. In consecutive steps, the geometrical and physical factors which are attributed to the area and perimeter of the inclusion are synthesized and calculated. An updated range of the inclusion's area and perimeter is obtained through consecutive iterations. Finally, the outcome of the iterative procedure is checked for geometrical realizability. The strategy behind the design methodology is generic and can be applied to any adopted circuit based model for AMMs. Several generic geometries are introduced to realize any combination of geometrically realizable area and perimeter (s,l) pairs. A realizable geometry is referred to a contour that satisfies Dido's inequality. The generic geometries introduced here can be used to fabricate feasible AMMs. The novel generic geometries not only can be used to enhance magnetic properties, but also they can be configured to provide specific permeability with desired dispersion function over a certain frequency bandwidth with a maximum magnetic loss tangent. The proposed generic geometries are parametric contours with uncorrelated perimeter and area function. Geometries are configured by tuning parameters in order to possess specified perimeter and surface area. The produced contour is considered as the inclusion's shape. The inclusions are accordingly termed Rose curve resonators (RCRs), Corrugated rectangular resonators (CRRs) and Sine oval resonators (SORs). Moreover, the detailed characteristics of the RCR are studied. The RCRs are used as complementary resonators in design of the ground plane in a microstrip stop-band filter, and as the substrate in design of a miniaturized patch antenna. The performance of new designs is compared with the counterpart devices, and the advantages are discussed.

Cette thèse présente le travail effectué sur la conception d’un oscillateur à quartz miniature (volume visé de 1 cm3) con-trôlé en température. Les équipements de télémétrie, poursuite et contrôle tels que ceux utilisés dans les microsatellites (comme Myriades) sont d'un volume très important (8 litres). Des équipements avec un volume 8 fois moindre (1 litre) sont envisagés sur les pico et nano satellites. Une réduction drastique du volume et de la consommation est donc nécessaire, à performances égales. Elle nécessite une remise en question de l'ensemble des éléments composant l'équipement dont le micro-oscillateur, tant au niveau volume qu'au niveau consommation d’énergie. Les études préliminaires ont servi à définir le résonateur adapté pour satisfaire les spécifications de stabilité demandées. La simulation thermique d'un modèle d’oscillateur OCXO (Oven Controlled Xtal Oscillator) a permis d'obtenir une bonne compréhension des transferts de chaleur dans le dispositif. La réduction des pertes thermiques et l'augmentation de la stabilité thermique du résonateur étaient les principaux défis. La dilatation thermique du résonateur entraine des contraintes mécaniques au niveau de ses fixations et décale la fréquence de résonance. Un MEMS en silicium a été conçu pour supporter le résonateur à l’aide de simulations thermomécaniques. Ce support est compatible avec les contraintes de faible con-sommation et de sensibilité thermique tout en gardant une bonne résistance aux chocs. En ce qui concerne l’électronique, une puce ASIC utilisée depuis plusieurs années a été caractérisée pour établir un modèle numérique. Cette étude a dévoilé les facteurs limitants des performances de l’ensemble et permis d’envisager des solutions correctives. En intégrant dans la démarche les coûts de fabrication, l’utilisation d’un ASIC a été écartée (au moins provisoirement) au profit d’une solution exploitant des composants électroniques du commerce. Enfin, un démonstrateur de module physique miniature a été monté et caractérisé. Les résultats de mesures montrent que la consommation du démonstrateur reste inférieure à la spécification demandée (50 mW à une température extérieure de 25°C et à 100 mW pour -40°C). L’importance de la participation du rayonnement dans les échanges thermiques a aussi été validée expérimentalement. / This thesis presents the work on designing a miniature temperature controlled crystal oscillator (required volume is 1 cm3). TTC (Telemetry, Tracking and Control) equipment which is used in microsatellites (as Myriades) has a very important volume (8 liters). 8 times lower volume equipment (1 liter) is planned for pico and nano satellites. Therefore, a significant reduction of volume and consumption for equal performance is necessary. Redesign is required for all components of equipment items including micro-oscillator, as in volume as at the level of energy consumption. Preliminary studies have served to define the resonator adapted to satisfy the request stability specifications. Thermal simulation of an OCXO oscillator model (Oven Con-trolled Xtal Oscillator) has permitted to achieve a good understanding of heat transfer into the device. Reducing heat loss and increases the thermal stability of resonator were major challenges. Thermal expansion of the resonator causes mechanical stresses in its mountings and shifts the resonance frequency. A silicon MEMS has designed for supporting the resonator by using thermo-mechanical simulations. This support is compatible with the constraints of low consumption and heat sensitivity retaining good impact resistance. As regards electronics, an ASIC chip which is used during many years has characterized with the purpose to obtain the digital model. This study has revealed the limiting factors of the oscillator performance. Also it has allowed to provide remedial solutions. The ASIC using was rejected in favor of the solution operating with commercial electronic components (at least temporarily). Finally, a miniature demonstrator of physical module was assembled and characterized. The measuring results show that demonstrator consumption remains below the required specification (50 mW at outside temperature 25°C and 100 mW at -40 ° C). The importance of the participation of radiation within the thermal exchanges has also validated experimentally.

Le but de ce travail était de développer des filtres passe-bande RF dans la technologie de PCB, avec trois objectifs principaux. Le premier objectif était de développer des formules de synthèse tosimplify la procédure de conception du filtre. Le deuxième était de parvenir à un rejet wideout bande sans modifier les caractéristiques de la bande de filtrage. Le troisième objectif est de contrôler la fréquence centrale du filtre en utilisant diode varicap. / The purpose of this work was to develop RF bandpass filters in PCB technology,with three main objectives. The first objective was to develop synthesis formulas tosimplify the design procedure of the filter. The second was to achieve wideout-of-band rejection without modifying the in-band filtering characteristics. Thethird objective was to control the center frequency of the filter by using varactordiode.The bandpass filter topology treated in this thesis is based on Stub-LoadedResonators (SLR). The main features of this filter topology were treated. Equivalentcircuits based on J-inverters and susceptance parameters were derived. Based onthese equivalent circuits, synthesis formulas were developed. Simulations werepresented to validate the synthesis theory. For a proof-of-concept, third orderstripline bandpass filters were designed and fabricated based on this synthesis.Analysis technique using odd- and even- mode was achieved on the SLR. Thusresonance odd- and even-mode conditions were derived. These conditions aim toeasily control the first spurious frequency. Moreover, to go further in improving theout-of-band rejection a new technique, called “U corner structure”, was developedand design rules were derived. Based on these design rules an extended out-of-bandrejection was achieved without any modification in the passband and by maintainingthe compactness of the filter. A first spurious frequency was localized at up to ninetimes the working frequency in the case of the Parallel-coupled Stub-Loadedresonator (PC-SLR) filter. Also, by applying this technique into the classicalparallel-coupled filter the first and second spurious frequencies were rejected. Toaddress the issue of tunable filters, the SLRs were correctly loaded by variablecapacitors (varactor diode). The center frequency of the PC-SLR filter was easilycontrolled by maintaining a large out-of-band rejection.

Une étude conjointe du CEA et d'AREVA la Hague a montré qu'une des voies d'amélioration majeure des usines de traitement/recyclage du combustible nucléaire usagé, actuelles et futures, concerné le domaine de l'analyse. En effet, le suivi et le pilotage des procédés déployés dans ces usines nécessitent de nombreuses analyses générant de grandes quantités d'effluents radioactifs. Réduire les volumes mis en jeu lors de ces analyses permettrait donc de réduire la nocivité des échantillons et des effluents et donc d'accroitre la sureté pour le personnel et de réduire l'impact sur l'environnement et le coût de fonctionnement des usines. Parmi toutes les analyses effectuées, la mesure d'acidité libre est la plus fréquente, car c'est un paramètre indispensable pour pouvoir piloter correctement le procédé. C'est pourquoi, ces travaux de thèse ont abouti à l'amélioration de la méthode de mesure via une réduction d'échelle de l'analyse et une automatisation du protocole de mesure. Deux voies ont été étudiées : - le titrage par injection séquentielle (SIA), qui est un dispositif de 25 L de volume et qui par rapport à la méthode d'analyse de référence, réduit 1000 fois le volume d'échantillon nécessaire à l'analyse, 8 fois le temps d'analyse et 40 fois le volume d'effluents générés. - le titrage ballist-mix emploie un dispositif microfluidique qui, après intégration et réduction des composants, peut atteindre un volume de 25 mL et offre des performances analytiques comparables à celles obtenues en SIA. La méthode par SIA a été validée sur des solutions chargées en uranium alors que la technologie utilisée pour développer les titrages ballist-mix est en cours de validation. Cependant le principe opératoire du titrage ballist-mix est plus avantageux puisqu'il simplifie le travail de développement analytique du fait de la possibilité de simuler en avance les phénomènes physicochimiques ayant lieu lors du titrage / A joint study between the CEA and Areva La Hague has shown that chemical analysis is a crucial parameter for achieving a better performance in present and future spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plants. In fact, each plant’s process monitoring and control require a significant amount of laboratory analysis leading in overall to a considerable amount of nuclear waste. Hence, reducing the sample’s required volume for analysis would reduce its toxicity and subsequent waste, therefore increasing personnel safety, decreasing the environmental impact and the plant’s operation cost. Among the process control analytical workload, the free acidity measurement has been identified as a key analysis due to its measurement frequency. For this reason, the main objective of this research has been focused in the improvement of a reference method for free acidity measurement. The following work has been divided in two main studies seeking for the reduction of the sample volume and the automation of the analytical method protocol: - Sequential Injection Analysis (SIA) titration, whose application requires the employment of a device occupying a 25 L space, and which reduces 1000 fold the sample volume per analysis, 8 times the analysis time and 40 fold the amount of waste generated when compared to the reference analytical method. - Ballist-mix titration, whose analytical performance is equivalent to the SIA titration, but whose implementation is done inside a microfluidic device occupying a volume as low as 25 mL after integration of all of the elements needed for analysis. At the present time, the SIA titration has been validated using nitric acid samples containing uranyl cations, whereas the ballist-mix titration is being validated with the same sample conditions. However, this last analytical technique features a simplified operating principle which allows the user to shorten the analytical development process by opening the possibility to simulate the process before any experimentation

The Paracas (900 BC-AD 1) of south coastal Peru are widely recognized for ceramics bearing patterned designs created fromincised clay that was often post-fire painted. Analyses of containers, effigies, figurines and musical instruments recovered intactin tombs, have centered largely on temporal and iconographic concerns, and in evaluating prestige. A number of archaeologicalcontexts offer an alternative view of ceramics and their role in public and domestic spheres. In this paper, the role of ceramics inritual offerings is discussed and analyzed in tandem with the other forms and mediums they accompany. The contexts for theseofferings differ from those of funerary ritual in which whole vessels are placed with the dead. These analyses indicate that the endcycle of ceramics is diverse, that their substance is valued in whole and fragmentary form, and that their spatial orientation issignificant. Insights are offered into how ceramics as substances interact and complement other materials in offerings and howthis bears upon our interpretation of specific iconographies and design symbols and their respective meanings. / Los paracas (900 a.C.-1 d.C.) son ampliamente reconocidos por su cerámica, que luce patrones de diseño que van desde la arcillaincisa hasta la pintura post cocción. El análisis de las vasijas, efigies, figurillas e instrumentos musicales intactos recuperados enlas tumbas centró durante mucho tiempo la atención en asuntos cronológicos e iconográficos, y en la evaluación del prestigio de lasmismas. Diversos contextos arqueológicos nos ofrecen una  imágen alternativa de la cerámica y su significado en las esferas públicay doméstica. En este trabajo, examinaré el papel de la cerámica en ofrendas rituales y la analizaré conjuntamente con las otrasformas y medios que la acompañaban. El contexto de estas ofrendas difiere de aquellos rituales funerarios en los cuales se enterraronobjetos enteros con los muertos. El análisis indica que el ciclo terminal de la cerámica era diverso, que ella era en esencia valoradaen sus formas entera y fragmentaria, y que su orientación espacial era importante. Este artículo ofrece una nueva perspectiva decómo la cerámica, como sustancia, complementa a —e interactúa con— los restantes materiales de las ofrendas, y cómo esto se transmite en la interpretación que hacemos de iconografías y símbolos de diseño específicas, y sus significados respectivos.

The evolutionary origin and the phylogeny of higher metazoan taxa is still under debate although considerable progress has been made in the past 20 years. Metazoa represents a monophyletic group of highly diverse animals including Bilateria, Cnidaria, Porifera, Ctenophores, and Placozoa. Bilateria comprises the majority of metazoans and consists of three major clades: Deuterostomia, Spiralia (= Lophotrochozoa sensu lato), and Ecdysozoa, whereas the sister group taxa Spiralia and Ecdyzozoa form the monophyletic clade Protostomia. Molecular data have profoundly changed the view of the bilaterian tree of life. One of the main questions concerning bilaterian phylogeny is the on-going debate about the evolution of complexity in Bilateria. It was assumed that the last common ancestor of Deuterostomia, Ecdysozoa and Spiralia had a segmented and coelomate body organization resembling that of an annelid. On the contrary, the traditional view is the evolution of Bilateria from a simple body organization towards more complex forms, assuming that the last common ancestor of Bilateria resembles a platyhelminth-like animal without coelomic cavities and segmentation. To resolve this question, it is necessary to unravel the phylogenetic relationships within Bilateria. By using mitogenomic and phylogenomic data, this thesis had a major contribution to clarify phylogenetic relationships within problematic metazoan taxa: (1) the phylogeny of Deuterostomia, (2) the questionable monophyly of Platyzoa, and first assumptions concerning the phylogeny of Gnathostomulida, Gastrotricha and Polycladida, (3) phylogenetic relationships within annelid taxa, especially Terebelliformia, Diurodrilidae, and Syllidae, with new insights into the evolution of mitochondrial gene order, and (4) new insights into the evolution of annelids, especially the interstitial ones, as well as the colonization of the interstitial realm.

[pt] Esta tese constrói uma perspectiva teórica que considera a miniatura como dispositivo de criação em práticas artísticas e literárias, em articulação com o pensamento de Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) e de seu projeto de escrever um comentário sobre o tema da miniaturização (Verkleinerung), a partir do conto de fadas A nova Melusina (Die neue Melusine), de Goethe. Esse desejo de escrita é o ponto de partida deste estudo, que investiga a imagem do escritor judeu-alemão como colecionador, com uma atenção especial por sua coleção de pequenos objetos (miniaturas, velhos brinquedos, globos de neve, livros infantis, selos e cartões postais) e por seu interesse crítico, no contexto do exílio, pela infância, ao redor da qual constelam conceitos (mônada, coleção, técnica) e figuras-chave de seu pensamento (criança, colecionador, trapeiro). Tais conceitos e figuras operam como ferramentas metodológicas da pesquisa, que pensa a miniatura como uma forma estética vinculada à infância e a miniaturização como uma técnica de reprodução. Sob a forma de um caderno de leitura e escrita, a investigação apresenta anotações e comentários sobre a miniatura e a miniaturização como dispositivos de criação no campo da literatura e das artes, elegendo como corpus tanto trabalhos de artistas que compõem séries com miniaturas, quanto ficções literárias que tematizam a miniatura como signo do pequeno. / [en] This thesis explores Walter Benjamin s work and, more specifically, his ideas for a commentary on miniaturization (Verkleinerung) that would be inspired by Goethe s The New Melusine (Die neue Melusine), to elaborate a theoretical perspective that envisions the process of miniaturization and the miniature itself as creative apparatuses for artistic and literary practices. This study also investigates Benjamin as a collector, focusing on his collection of small objects -such as miniatures, old toys, snow globes, children s books, stamps, and postal cards- and his interest on the topic of childhood, which emerged during his time in exile. This later interest would also allow the Jewish-German writer to develop not only the key concepts of monad, collection, and technique, but also the imagery that would become crucial to his work -namely, the child, the collector, and the ragman. This constellation of concepts and imagery will act as a methodological device in this thesis, which understands the miniaturization process as a reproduction technique and the miniature as an aesthetic form that is itself connected to the notion of childhood. By adopting the format of a journal composed of notations and critical comments that position both the miniaturization process and the miniature as creative apparatuses for literature and the arts, this study also investigates not only literary writings that adopt the idea of the miniature as a symbol, but the works of artists that touch on the topic of miniaturization as well. / [fr] Cette thèse propose une perspective théorique qui considère la miniature comme un dispositif de création dans des pratiques artistiques et littéraires, en articulation avec la pensée de Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) et son projet d écrire un commentaire sur le thème de la miniaturisation (Verkleinerung), à partir du conte de fées La nouvelle Mélusine (Die neue Melusine) de Goethe. Ce désir d écriture constitue le point de départ de cette étude, qui explore l image de l écrivain juif-allemand en tant que collectionneur, avec une attention particulière portée à la fois à sa collection de petits objets (miniatures, jouets anciens, boules à neige, livres pour enfants, timbres et cartes postales) et à son intérêt critique, dans le contexte de l exil, pour l enfance, autour de laquelle se retrouvent des concepts (monade, collection, technique) et des figures clés de sa pensée (enfant, collectionneur, chiffonnier). Ces concepts et ces figures procèdent dans la thèse comme des outils de recherche méthodologique, afin de donner à voir la miniature comme une forme esthétique liée à l enfance et la miniaturisation comme une technique de reproduction. Le travail de recherche présente, sous forme d un cahier de lecture et d écriture, des annotations et des commentaires sur la miniature et la miniaturisation comme dispositifs de création dans le domaine de la littérature et des arts, choisissant comme corpus des oeuvres d artistes composant des séries de miniatures que des fictions littéraires qui thématisent la miniature comme signe du petit.

No description available.

Ultra Wideband (UWB) communication has recently drawn considerable attention from academia and industry. This is mainly owing to the ultra high speeds and cognitive features it could offer. The employability of UWB in numerous areas including but not limited to Wireless Personal Area Networks, WPAN's, Body Area Networks, BAN's, radar and medical imaging etc. has opened several avenues of research and development. However, still there is a disagreement on the standardization of UWB. Two contesting radios for UWB are Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) and DS-UWB (Direct Sequence Ultra Wideband). As nearly all of the reported research on UWB hasbeen about a very narrow/specific area of the communication system, this thesis looks at the end-to-end performance of an MB-OFDM approach. The overall aim of this project has been to first focus on three different aspects i.e. interference, antenna and propagation aspects of an MB-OFDM system individually and then present a holistic or an end-to-end system analysis finally. In the first phase of the project the author investigated the performance of MB-OFDM system under the effect of his proposed generic or technology non-specific interference. Avoiding the conventional Gaussian approximation, the author has employed an advanced stochastic method. A total of two approaches have been presented in this phase of the project. The first approach is an indirect one which involves the Moment Generating Functions (MGF's) of the Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR) and the Probability Density Function (pdf) of the SINR to calculate the Average Probabilities of Error of an MB-OFDM system under the influence of proposed generic interference. This approach assumed a specific two-dimensional Poisson spatial/geometric placement of interferers around the victim MB-OFDM receiver. The second approach is a direct approach and extends the first approach by employing a wider class of generic interference. In the second phase of the work the author designed, simulated, prototyped and tested novel compact monopole planar antennas for UWB application. In this phase of the research, compact antennas for the UWB application are presented. These designs employ low-loss Rogers duroid substrates and are fed by Copla-nar Waveguides. The antennas have a proposed feed-line to the main radiating element transition region. This transition region is formed by a special step-generating function-set called the "Inverse Parabolic Step Sequence" or IPSS. These IPSS-based antennas are simulated, prototyped and then tested in the ane-choic chamber. An empirical approach, aimed to further miniaturize IPSS-based antennas, was also derived in this phase of the project. The empirical approach has been applied to derive the design of a further miniaturized antenna. More-over, an electrical miniaturization limit has been concluded for the IPSS-based antennas. The third phase of the project has investigated the effect of the indoor furnishing on the distribution of the elevation Angle-of-Arrival (AOA) of the rays at the receiver. Previously, constant distributions for the AOA of the rays in the elevation direction had been reported. This phase of the research has proposed that the AOA distribution is not fixed. It is established by the author that the indoor elevation AOA distributions depend on the discrete levels of furnishing. A joint time-angle-furnishing channel model is presented in this research phase. In addition, this phase of the thesis proposes two vectorial or any direction AOA distributions for the UWB indoor environments. Finally, the last phase of this thesis is presented. As stated earlier, the overall aim of the project has been to look at three individual aspects of an MB-OFDM system, initially, and then look at the holistic system, finally. Therefore, this final phase of the research presents an end-to-end MB-OFDM system analysis. The interference analysis of the first phase of the project is revisited to re-calculate the probability of bit error with realistic/measured path loss exponents which have been reported in the existing literature. In this method, Gaussian Quadrature Rule based approximations are computed for the average probability of bit error. Last but not the least, an end-to-end or comprehensive system equation/impulse response is presented. The proposed system equation covers more aspects of an indoor UWB system than reported in the existing literature.

In recent years, the wireless industry has witnessed tremendous development for the defense and commercial segments. The explosive growth in the modern radio frequency and microwave systems leads to an increased interest in the research of miniaturized microwave circuits with superior performance. Broadband components, in particular band pass filters (BPFs) and couplers are some of the widely used components in the modern communication systems, software defined radios, cognitive radios, imaging systems and positioning radars. In order to meet these requirements, the use of innovative geometries, a thorough understanding of their behavior by appropriate analytical techniques and the use of appropriate fabrication approaches are essential. This thesis is an effort in this direction. In this thesis work, an aperture in the ground plane is used to achieve the tight coupling in the edge and broadside-coupled coupled lines which may be otherwise difficult due to the fabrication limitations. Since microstrip lines with an aperture in the ground plane are found to be very useful in various MIC and MMIC components, closed form analytical expressions developed here will be useful for their initial synthesis. The performances of components using these are enhanced using open/short circuited resonators, spurlines and stubs. A quasi-static approach has been investigated to obtain simple closed form expressions for a microstrip line with a rectangular aperture in the ground plane. The effect of a rectangular aperture in the ground plane has been incorporated in the commonly used expressions of a regular microstrip line by introducing the concept of an equivalent effective height. The expressions for the effective height microstrip geometries with defected ground are obtained and this has been further extended to various possibilities of two-conductor and three-conductor coupled lines. Analysis of the filters and the couplers are mainly based on the even and odd mode propagation characteristics of coupled lines. This approach is extended in this thesis for three conductor coupled lines. Novel broadband BPFs and couplers and dual band pass filters employing various coupled line configurations and defected ground have been developed in this research work. Most of these components have been implemented on a regular microwave laminate or LTCC medium (planar or multi-layer) and tested for the required RF performances. The experimental results were compared against the analytically computed results based on the circuit models and the full wave simulations using electromagnetic (EM) simulations for the validation. The results are in good agreement. With practical requirements of the organization in mind, additional design elements such as open circuit stubs have been incorporated in some of these designs to achieve the desired performance. It is expected that the wideband filter (3.0GHz to 3.8GHz) and the broadband coupler (4GHz to 6GHz) developed in this thesis work would be deployed in systems developed at the Central Research Laboratory, Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore, India. In summary, the present doctoral work strives to (i) establish a simplified analysis method for the microstrip lines and coupled microstrip lines with a rectangular aperture in the ground plane, (ii) extend the even and odd mode analysis of the coupled lines for several new coupled line configurations, (iii) design novel broadband microwave filters, dual band filter and couplers using both these, (iv) fabricate these devices using the planar technologies including LTCC, and (v) validate the analysis and design with important practical applications.