Les environnements intelligents et l’homme connecté semble être la prochaine évolution des télécommunications sans fil. En effet, le développement des nouvelles bandes de fréquence millimétriques permettront de créer des communications haut débit et de nouveaux types d’environnements, les Wireless Body Environment Networks, où les utilisateurs auront la possibilité d’interagir avec l’environnement. Pour développer ces environnements, il est nécessaire d’étudier les mécanismes de propagation et les canaux de communication sans fil autour du corps humain. Cette thèse analyse les canaux de propagation pour les réseaux corporels à 60 GHz et plus particulièrement trois scenarios: (i) la propagation entre une station de base externe et un noeud placé à proximité du corps (off-body) ; (ii) la propagation entre deux noeuds portés sur le corps (on-body) ; (iii) la communication entre une station de base externe et un noeud tenu porté par la main de l’utilisateur (near-body). Un modèle de canal numérique est proposé et implémenté pour modéliser la propagation off-body en environnement intérieur. Le modèle est basé sur le standard IEEE 802.11ad et une solution de la diffraction d’une onde plane incidente sur un modèle cylindrique du corps humain. Le modèle est développé pour deux polarisations orthogonales et les performances d’une communication WiGig sont étudiées via le bit error rate. La propagation on-body est étudiée pour deux différentes configurations: avec et sans ligne de vue directe. Ces scenarios mènent à des solutions analytiques différentes: l’équation de Norton et l’onde rampante. Ces solutions sont obtenues en utilisant des modèles de corps simplifiés et ont été validées expérimentalement. De plus, une méthode permettant d’améliorer le bilan de liaison entre deux dispositifs portés sur le corps en utilisant des plaques métalliques réduisant les pertes de propagation. Cette technique a été illustrée théoriquement en utilisant les équations de Millington. Une campagne de mesure a été effectuée sur un modèle de corps plat ayant les propriétés électriques de la peau humaine. Il a été montré que cette méthode permet d’augmenter le bilan de liaison de 20 dB. La région near-body s’étendant de 5 à 30 cm du corps humain est étudiée. Il s’agit de la région correspondant à la portée de main. Un algorithme numérique est proposé pour modéliser la présence d’un utilisateur dans un environnement intérieur. Un modèle statistique a aussi été proposé. Il a été montré que la distribution spatiale du champ suit une Two-Wave Diffuse Power distribution. / The smart environments and the connected human seems to be the future of wireless communications. The development of new frequency bands in the millimeter range will allow us to create high data rate communications which will led to the Wireless Body Environment Networks. In this kind of scenarios, it is expected that the user and the environment will interact. In order to develop such new applications, it is necessary to first study the propagation mechanisms and then, the communication channel underlying body centric environments. This thesis treats of channel models for 60 GHz Body Area Networks and more particularly of three kinds of scenarios: (i) the communication between an external base station and a worn node (off-body); (ii) the communication between two worn nodes (on-body); the communication between an external base station and a hand-held device (near-body). An indoor off-body channel model is numerically proposed and implemented. The model is based on the IEEE 802.11ad indoor standard channel at 60 GHz and a fast computation solution of the scattering of a plane wave by a circular cylinder. The model is developed for two orthogonal polarizations and the communications performances are studied. The on-body propagation is studied for two different configurations: line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight communications on the body. These scenarios led to different solutions for the channel knowing as, respectively, Norton’s equations and creeping formulations. These solutions are obtained using simplified geometries which has been experimentally validated. Further, in order to improve the propagation on the human body, a technique using metallic plates has been proposed. This technique has been theoretically studied using Milligton’s equations and experimentally assessed on a flat phantom with the properties of the human skin. The proposed method allows to save up to 20 dB. Finally, the near-body communication scenario has been introduced and studied. The near-body region is extended from 5 to 30 cm away of the user body which corresponds to the arm’s reach and models a handheld device. A numerical algorithm has been proposed to model indoor near-body environments. Also, a special has been given to statistical body shadowing. It has been shown that the fading follows a Two-Wave Diffuse Power distribution.

The primary motivation behind this research was to determine whether 3D printed lenses printed out using the non-planar technique can help achieve better beam intensity for a 60 GHz printed-circuit-board based radar and consequently improve radar efficiency. Non-planar printing is a new development in the 3D printing industry. In the non-planar printing method, the printer is moving simultaneously in all X, Y and Z-axis. This process prints with curved layers, which helps achieve a smoother surface. For this, a newly developed version of the Slic3r, specifically called non-planar Slic3r, was used. The modelled lens was imported into this Slic3r software. The G-Code was generated, and using it, non-planar lenses were printed along with planar lenses for comparison purpose. The lenses printed out using the non-planar technique were not perfectly smooth as was thought initially. Both planar and non-planar lenses measurements were taken in a watchful environment, and the measurements were later compared. The comparison of measurements showed that the non-planar lens did not show any noticeable gain in the intensity over planar lenses. The conclusion, however, is limited to the frequency range around 60 GHz, and in the case of higher frequencies, the result may change

This research focuses on radio wave propagation at millimeter-wave frequencies. A measurement based channel characterization approach is taken in the investigation. First, measurement techniques are analyzed. Three types of measurement systems are designed, and implemented in measurement campaigns: a narrowband measurement system, a wideband measurement system based on Vector Network Analyzer, and sliding correlator systems at 5.8+AH4AXA-mbox{GHz}, 38+AH4AXA-mbox{GHz} and 60+AH4AXA-mbox{GHz}. The performances of these measurement systems are carefully compared both analytically and experimentally. Next, radio wave propagation research is performed at 38+AH4AXA-mbox{GHz} for Local Multipoint Distribution Services (LMDS). Wideband measurements are taken on three cross-campus links at Virginia Tech. The goal is to determine weather effects on the wideband channel properties. The measurement results include multipath dispersion, short-term variation and signal attenuation under different weather conditions. A design technique is developed to estimate multipath characteristics based on antenna patterns and site-specific information. Finally, indoor propagation channels at 60+AH4AXA-mbox{GHz} are studied for Next Generation Internet (NGI) applications. The research mainly focuses on the characterization of space-time channel structure. Multipath components are resolved both in time of arrival (TOA) and angle of arrival (AOA). Results show an excellent correlation between the propagation environments and the channel multipath structure. The measurement results and models provide not only guidelines for wireless system design and installation, but also great insights in millimeter-wave propagation. / Ph. D.

L'objectif de cette thèse est de réaliser un système radio-sur-fibre bidirectionnel fonctionnant dans la bande des fréquences millimétriques autour de 60 GHz. La solution proposée est basée sur l'utilisation d'une photodiode PIN en tant que mélangeur optoélectronique. Une étude théorique associée à une caractérisation non-linéaire et large bande de la photodiode a permis de modéliser le comportement mélangeur de la photodiode. Le modèle de photodiode obtenu a ensuite été utilisé pour optimiser les performances du mélangeur optoélectronique puis du système radio-sur-fibre complet. Des mesures expérimentales ont permis de vérifier la compatibilité du système proposé avec les spécifications du standard ECMA 387 proposé pour régir la création de réseaux locaux aux fréquences de 60 GHz, pour au moins les deux premiers débits proposés (394 Mb/s et 794 Mb/s).

The band around 60 GHz is interesting for BAN applications mainly for lowerinterference than at microwave frequencies, wide available band adapted to On-Off Keying(OOK) modulation for low energy consumption and low data rate communication (under10 Mbps), antenna miniaturization. Nevertheless, due to high attenuation at this frequency,the design of a reliable and energy-effective communications for BANs requires a detailedanalysis of the body channel. A planar and compact SIW horn antenna was designed and usedfor body channel measurements at 60 GHz. The main contribution in the antenna design is thebandwidth enhancement covering the whole available band around 60 GHz compared to thesame antenna type available at this frequency. The on-body measurements with this antennashow that short-distance and LOS (Line Of Sight) links are possible at 60 GHz. The bodydynamic is taken into account by statistical off-body channel measurements. For the firsttime, measurements are done for the same scenarios at 60 GHz and another frequency in theUltra WideBand suitable with OOK impulse radio modulation. By taking into accounttransmission power standards and low power consumption receivers sensitivity in theliterature, the potentiality of 60 GHz for BAN is shown with an outage probability lower than8 % whereas this parameter is lower than 15 % at 4 GHz. When characterizing antenna onbody, difficulties arise for antenna de-embedding due to the antenna-body coupling. In fact,the antenna gain depends on transmitter-receiver distance on body. For the first time, aformulation of the vertical dipole gain on body is given. Also a new theoretical approachbased on the complex images method is proposed to compare two types of canonical antennaradiating on body. A vertical dipole and different rectangular apertures are normalizedthrough their input impedance with the same accepted power. The aperture input impedanceformulation has been developed during this study. The aperture efficiencies are 10% higherwhen antennas are at a height lower than 3 mm above the body phantom. The received powerincreases with the antenna size only for phantom direct touch, the difference among antennasis lower than 4 dB for the considered antennas limited with a monomode configuration. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This dissertation presents the design and implementation of circuits and transceivers in CMOS technology to enable many new millimeter-wave applications. A simple approach is presented for accurately modeling the millimeter-wave characteristics of transistors that are not fully captured by contemporary parasitic extraction techniques. Next, the integration of a low-power 60-GHz CMOS on-off keying (OOK) receiver in 90-nm CMOS for use in multi-gigabit per second wireless communications is demonstrated. The use of non-coherent OOK demodulation by a novel demodulator enabled a data throughput of 3.5 Gbps and resulted in the lowest power budget (31pJ/bit) for integrated 60-GHz CMOS OOK receivers at the time of publication. Also presented is the design of a high-power, high-efficiency 45-GHz VCO in 45-nm SOI CMOS. The design is a class-E power amplifier placed in a positive feedback configuration. This circuit achieves the highest reported output power (8.2 dBm) and efficiency (15.64%) to date for monolithic silicon-based millimeter-wave VCOs. Results are provided for the standalone VCO as well as after packaging in a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate. In addition, a high-power high-efficiency (5.2 dBm/6.1%) injection locked oscillator is presented. Finally, the design of a 2-channel 45-GHz vector modulator in 45-nm SOI CMOS for LINC transmitters is presented. A zero-power passive IQ generation network and a low-power Gilbert cell modulator are used to enable continuous 360° vector generation. The IC is packaged with a Wilkinson power combiner on LCP and driven by external DACs to demonstrate the first ever 16-QAM generated by outphasing modulation in CMOS in the Q-band.

This dissertation presents a novel large signal modeling approach which can be used to accurately model CMOS transistors used in millimeter-wave CMOS power amplifiers. The large signal model presented in this work is classified as an empirical compact device model which incorporates temperature-dependency and device periphery scaling. These added features allow for efficient design of multi-stage CMOS power amplifiers by virtue of the process-scalability. Prior to the presentation of the details of the model development, background is given regarding the 90nm CMOS process, device test structures, de-embedding methods and device measurements, all of which are necessary preliminary steps for any device modeling methodology. Following discussion of model development, the design of multi-stage 60GHz Class AB CMOS power amplifiers using the developed model is shown, providing further model validation. The body of research concludes with an investigation into designing a CMOS power amplifier operating at frequencies close to the millimeter-wave range with a potentially higher-efficiency class of power amplifier operation. Specifically, a 24GHz 130nm CMOS Inverse Class F power amplifier is simulated using a modified version of the device model, fabricated and compared with simulations. This further demonstrates the robustness of this device modeling method.

Driven by the ever growing consumer wireless electronics market and the need for higher speed communications, the 60-GHz technology gifted with an unlicensed 9 GHz frequency band in the millimeter-wave spectrum has emerged as the next-generation Wi-Fi for short-range wireless communications. High-performance, cost-effective, and small form-factor 60-GHz antenna systems for portable devices are key enablers of this technology. This work presents various antenna architectures built on low-cost organic packages. Planar end-fire switched beam antenna modules that can easily conform to various surfaces inside a wireless device platform are developed. The planar antenna package is realized on thin flexible LCP dielectrics. One design is based on a planar Yagi-Uda antenna element and the second on a tapered slot antenna element. A low-loss microstrip-to-slot via transition is designed to provide wide impedance matching for end-fire antenna paradigms. The novel transition utilizes the slow-wave concept to provide unbalanced to balanced mode conversion as well as impedance matching. It is demonstrated that the planar antenna packages may be even integrated with active circuits that are cavity recessed inside the thin dielectric. A compact switched-beam antenna module is demonstrated. The first-ever integrated mm-wave active antenna module on organic package capable of generating both broadside and end-fire radiation is also developed in this work. Both broadside and end-fire radiators are co-designed and integrated into a single multilayer package to achieve optimal directivity, efficiency and frequency bandwidth and yet maintain excellent isolation between the two radiators. Post-wall cavities, image theory and dielectric slab modes concepts are invoked to optimize these functions. Active circuitry are integrated into the same package to add control functions such as beam switching, and also amplify the packaged-antenna gain when operated either as a transmitter or a receiver. A significant challenge in the design of antenna systems for wireless platforms is the assessment of embedded antenna performance, that is, the proximity effects of the platform chassis on the embedded antenna. Various antennas are mounted at different locations inside a laptop computer chassis: modeling and experimental studies are carried out to characterize this problem that is apparent to an antenna behind a radome. Air traffic control radars usually require cavity filters that can handle high power and low in-band insertion loss while providing enough out-band rejection to prevent interference with neighboring channels. Such radars that operate in the S-band consist of filter banks frequency micro electromechanical systems (RF-MEMS) switches. Evanescent-mode mode cavity resonators are loaded with RF-MEMS tuning capacitance networks to control the resonant frequency of a second-order bandpass filter. The second part is the design of a novel cavity filter architecture for enhanced selectivity near the passband. It is a second-order folded cavity resonator bandpass filter with magnetic source-load cross coupling. This filter can have at least two finite transmission zeros near the passband.

With rapid advances in semiconductor technologies and packaging schemes, wireless products have become more versatile, portable, inexpensive, and user friendly over last few decades. However, the ever-growing demand of consumers to share information efficiently at higher speeds requires higher data rates, increased functionality, lower cost, and more reliability. The 60-GHz-frequency band, with 7 GHz license-free bandwidth addresses, such demands, and promises a low-cost multi-Gbps wireless transmission with a power budget in the order of 100 mW. This dissertation presents the systematic development of key building blocks and integrated 60-GHz-receiver solutions. Two different approaches are investigated and implemented in this dissertation: (1) low-cost SiGe-based direct-conversion low-power receiver front-end utilizing gain-boosting techniques in the front-end low-noise amplifier, and (2) CMOS-based heterodyne receiver front-end suitable for high-performance single-chip 60 GHz transceiver solution. The ASK receiver chip, implemented using 0.18 ?m SiGe, presents a complete antenna-to-baseband multi-gigabit 60 GHz solution with the lowest reported power budget (25 pJ/bit) to date. The subharmonic direct conversion front-end, implemented using 0.18 ?m SiGe, presents excellent conversion properties with a 4 GHz DSB RF bandwidth. On the other hand, the CMOS heterodyne implementation of the 60 GHz front-end receiver, targeted towards a robust, single-chip, high-performance, low-power, and integrated 60 GHz transceiver solution, presents the most wideband receiver front-end reported to date. Finally, different multi-band and tunable millimeter-wave circuits are presented towards the future implementation of cognitive and multi-band millimeter-wave radio.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the feasibility of a wireless architectural approach for intra-vehicle communications. The current wired architecture was compared to a wireless approach based on three prominent wireless protocols, namely Bluetooth Low-Energy, Ultra Wide-Band, and 60 GHz Millimeter wave technology. The evaluation was focused on their potential use within the intra-vehicle domain, and judged by characterizing properties such as frequency, bandwidth utilization, and power efficiency. A theoretical study targeting the propagating behavior of electromagnetic waves was also involved. In particular, wireless behavior has been investigated both in general aspects as well as specifically aimed towards the intra-vehicle application. The theoretical study was then concluded and presented with a course of action regarding wireless connectivity. Beneficial design considerations, potentials and challenges were highlighted together with a discussion on the feasibility of a wireless architectural approach. Suggestions for future work and research have been given, which include further expansion of targeted protocols, alleviating the restricted security aspects, and extend the physical aspects onto more software based approaches.