When the conventional mobile communication antennas embedded in the laptop computers, it is difficult to achieve enough bandwidths or a larger antenna size is required for covering the GSM/DCS operation. To overcome this problem, three new mobile communication internal antennas, having multi-band operation capability and suitable to be embedded in the laptop computers are proposed. At first, we introduce a monopole antenna with a shorted parasitic element. This antenna can provide wide bandwidths to cover GSM900, DCS, PCS, and UMTS operations. Then, in order to additionally achieve the GSM850 operation to form the penta-band operation, we present a wideband monopole antenna with a shorted structure. Finally, we propose an open-loop antenna with a shorted parasitic element. The antenna occupies a smaller volume and is capable of providing wide bandwidths to cover GSM850, GSM900, DCS, PCS, and UMTS operations. Detailed antenna designs and experimental results are presented and discussed.

Novel and low-cost antennas suitable for WLAN access points are presented. The operating bandwidths of the proposed antennas can cover the 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN bands, and the antenna gain is larger than 2 and 4 dBi in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands; respectively. Besides, they can also generate the good omnidirectional radiation patterns in the azimuthal plane. Dipole antenna, folded dipole antenna, monopole antenna and circularly polarized antenna has been applied in the proposed designs, and good antenna performance has been obtained.

Studies of the optimum isolation in a multi-mode PDA phone are presented in this thesis. Firstly, we analyze the optimum isolation between the DCS and GPS antennas embedded in a dual-mode PDA phone. Then, we change the antenna types of the DCS system to study again the behavior of the optimum isolation. Secondly, we analyze the optimum isolation between a DCS antenna and a WLAN antenna embedded in a dual-mode PDA phone. Finally, we propose a multi-mode PDA phone for DCS, GPS, and WLAN operations with good isolation among the three internal antennas.

In this dissertation, different from the conventional PIFA structure, the novel internal loop and slot antennas suitable for multiband mobile phone application are proposed. The loop antennas here use the technique of meandering the loop pattern to control the frequency ratio of the three resonant loop modes, and then the multiband operation can be obtained. For the slot antenna, different from the conventional slot antenna operating in a half-wavelength, the monopole slots antenna operating in it¡¦s quarter-wavelength mode are proposed. By properly adjusting the position of the monopole slot and the tuning stub of the microstrip feedline, the monopole slot antenna can achieve the multiband operation with a small occupied area in the mobile phone. In addition, the user¡¦s hand and head effects on the loop antenna are also studied. The obtained results indicate that, when the user¡¦s hand and head is close to or cover a certain portion of the antenna, large decrease in the antenna¡¦s radiation efficiency and great distortion in the antenna¡¦s radiation pattern will occur for all the three excited resonant modes of the loop antenna, no matter the unbalanced or balanced modes. Further, the efficiency drops caused by the user¡¦s hand and head over the GSM900 band are much larger than that over the GSM1800/1900 bands.

Two novel internal WWAN antennas having multi-band operation capability and suitable to be embedded in the laptop computers are proposed. The first antenna is a penta-band printed monopole slot antenna, which can cover GSM850/900/1800/1900/UMTS operation. The second antenna is a penta-band printed dual-loop antenna. The antenna can cover GSM850/900/1800/1900/UMTS operation and occupies a small size. The effects of the environment and the user¡¦s hand on the internal laptop computer antenna are also studied. Take the first antenna as an example; the obtained results show that the effects of the internal environment of the laptop computer are mostly on the antenna¡¦s impedance matching, which however can be improved by adjusting the parameters of the antenna. On the other hand, since the user¡¦s hands are lossy materials, a decrease in the antenna¡¦s radiation efficiency is observed when the user¡¦s hand is in the vicinity of the internal antenna.

Transmitarrays have been shown to be viable architectures for achieving high-directivity reconfigurable apertures. The existing work on reconfigurable transmitarrays is sparse, with only a few experimental demonstrations of reconfigurable implementations. Furthermore, of the designs that have been presented, different approaches have been proposed, but the advantages and drawbacks of these approaches have not been compared. Therefore, in this thesis we present a systematic study of the different approaches to designing reconfigurable transmitarrays, and present designs following these approaches with experimental validation. First, we investigate the distributed-scatterer approach, which is modeled with layers of identical scattering surfaces. We characterize the beamforming capabilities and then present a Method of Moments technique for analyzing and optimizing designs that follow this approach. Then, we present experimental results for a unit cell with varactor-loaded dipoles following this approach. From these results, we demonstrate that the structure thickness following this approach is problematic for beamforming applications. Taking the coupled-resonator approach, we next present a slot-coupled patch design that is significantly thinner and easier to fabricate than designs that follow the first approach. Implementing this design in a fully reconfigurable transmitarray, we demonstrate two-dimensional beamforming. An advantage of this design is that it can also operate as a reflectarray. Next, following the guided-wave approach, we present a transmitarray design that uses a bridged-T phase shifter and proximity-coupled differentially-fed stacked patches. Not only does this design not require vias, it is has a large fractional bandwidth of 10 percent, which is unprecedented in reconfigurable transmitarrays. Implementing this design in a full transmitarray, we experimentally demonstrate reconfigurable two-dimensional beamsteering, as well as shaped-beam synthesis. The main contributions of this thesis are two-fold. First, we thoroughly and systematically compare the transmitarray approaches, which has not been previously done in literature. Secondly, we experimentally demonstrate a reconfigurable array design that achieves better bandwidth, scan angle range, and beam-shaping capability, than existing designs, with reduced fabrication complexity and physical profile.

Transmitarrays have been shown to be viable architectures for achieving high-directivity reconfigurable apertures. The existing work on reconfigurable transmitarrays is sparse, with only a few experimental demonstrations of reconfigurable implementations. Furthermore, of the designs that have been presented, different approaches have been proposed, but the advantages and drawbacks of these approaches have not been compared. Therefore, in this thesis we present a systematic study of the different approaches to designing reconfigurable transmitarrays, and present designs following these approaches with experimental validation. First, we investigate the distributed-scatterer approach, which is modeled with layers of identical scattering surfaces. We characterize the beamforming capabilities and then present a Method of Moments technique for analyzing and optimizing designs that follow this approach. Then, we present experimental results for a unit cell with varactor-loaded dipoles following this approach. From these results, we demonstrate that the structure thickness following this approach is problematic for beamforming applications. Taking the coupled-resonator approach, we next present a slot-coupled patch design that is significantly thinner and easier to fabricate than designs that follow the first approach. Implementing this design in a fully reconfigurable transmitarray, we demonstrate two-dimensional beamforming. An advantage of this design is that it can also operate as a reflectarray. Next, following the guided-wave approach, we present a transmitarray design that uses a bridged-T phase shifter and proximity-coupled differentially-fed stacked patches. Not only does this design not require vias, it is has a large fractional bandwidth of 10 percent, which is unprecedented in reconfigurable transmitarrays. Implementing this design in a full transmitarray, we experimentally demonstrate reconfigurable two-dimensional beamsteering, as well as shaped-beam synthesis. The main contributions of this thesis are two-fold. First, we thoroughly and systematically compare the transmitarray approaches, which has not been previously done in literature. Secondly, we experimentally demonstrate a reconfigurable array design that achieves better bandwidth, scan angle range, and beam-shaping capability, than existing designs, with reduced fabrication complexity and physical profile.

No / A novel conical beam patch antenna design, suitable for local area network applications, uses a central cylindrical connection from the disc to ground to achieve a large reduction in resonant size. Results on efficiency, bandwidth, and pattern are reported for several prototypes.

no / Reconfigurable beam steering using circular disc microstrip patch antenna with a ring slotis proposed. The overall dimension of the antenna is 5.4×5.4 mm2 printed on a 0.504 mm thick, Rogers RT5870 substrate with relative permittivity 2.3 and loss tangent 0.0012. The designed antenna operates at the expected 5G frequency band 60 GHz with a central coaxial probe feed. TwoNMOS switches are configured to generate three different beam patterns. Activating each switch individually results in a near 70 degree shift in the main beam direction, whereas the frequency characteristics are unchanged. The power gains are between 3.9 dB and 4.8dB for the three states of switches configurations. Simulated results in terms of return loss, peak gains and radiation pattern are presented and show a reasonable agreement at the expected 60 GHz bandfor 5G applications. / The published journal webpage is no longer available.

Without noise, a wireless system would be able to transmit and receive signals over an arbitrary long-distance. However, practical wireless systems are not noise-free, leading to a limited communication range. Thus, the design of low-noise devices (such as antennas, amplifiers, and filters) is essential to increase the communication range. Also, it is well known that the noise performance of a receiving radio is primarily determined by the frontend including the antenna, filter, and a low-noise amplifier. In our first design, we intend to reduce the noise level of the receiving system by integrating a parametric amplifier into the slot antenna. The parametric amplifier utilizes nonlinear and/or time-variant properties of reactive elements (capacitors and/or inductors) to amplify radio frequency signals. Also, the parametric amplifier offers superior noise performance due to its reactive nature. We utilize the parametric amplifier to design a low-noise active matching circuit for electrically small antennas in our second design. Using Chu's limit and the Bode-Fano bound, we show a trade-off between the noise and bandwidth of the electrically small antennas. In particular, to make the small antenna wideband, one needs to introduce a mismatch between the antenna and the amplifier. Due to the mismatch, the effect of the low-noise amplifier becomes even more critical and that is why we choose the parametric amplifier as a natural candidate. As a realized design, a loop antenna is configured as a receiver, and the up-converter parametric amplifier is connected to it leading to a low-noise and wideband active matching circuit. The structure is simulated using a hybrid simulation technique and its noise performance is compared to the transistor counterpart. Our simulation and measurement results show more than 20 times bandwidth improvement at the expense of a 2 dB increase in the noise figure compared to the passive antenna counterpart. / Doctor of Philosophy / Nowadays, there is a high demand for compact and high-speed electronic devices such as cellphones, tablets, laptops, etc. It is therefore essential to design a miniaturized wideband antenna. Unfortunately, a trade-off exists between the bandwidth and gain of small antennas. The trade-off is based on some fundamental limits and extends to all small and passive antennas, regardless of their shape or structure. By using an active component such as an amplifier, the gain-bandwidth trade-off can be improved. However, we show that the active component adds noise to the receiving system leading to a new trade-off between noise and bandwidth in the receiving structures. In other words, utilizing the active component does not solve the problem and just replaces the gain-bandwidth trade-off with the noise-bandwidth trade-off. To improve the noise-bandwidth trade-off, we propose a new receiving structure in which we use the parametric amplifier instead of a commercially available transistor amplifier. The noise performance of the parametric amplifier is extremely better than the transistor amplifier leading to lower noise for the specified bandwidth. In particular, we improved the noise performance of the receiving system by 3 dB leading to doubling the communication distance.