No / Two Cylindrical Dielectric Resonators DR asymmetrically placed on a thin dielectric substrate and fed by a single rectangular slot for wideband wireless applications are presented. Optimized design procedures were applied within a well-known electromagnetic solver to achieve the improved elements dimensions of the antenna geometry. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed DRA can achieve 29% relative bandwidth at 10 dB return loss covering the spectrum range from 9.62 GHz to 12.9 GHz with a maximum gain of 8 dB.

Yes / A compact dielectric resonator antenna for ultra-wideband vehicular communication applications is proposed. Two cylindrical dielectric resonators are asymmetrically located with respect to the center of an offset rectangular coupling aperture, through which they are fed. Optimizing the design parameters results in an impedance bandwidth of 21%, covering the range from 5.9 to 7.32 GHz in the lower-band and a 53% relative bandwidth from 8.72 to 15 GHz in the upper-band. The maximum achieved gain is 12 dBi. Design details of the proposed antenna and the results of both simulations and experiment are presented and discussed.

No / A small dielectric resonator antenna has been designed for ultra wideband (UWB) communication system applications. The antenna element is a rectangular low permittivity ceramic block, with a dielectric constant of 9.4, and the modified T-shaped feed network includes a 50 ohm microstrip line to achieve strong coupling, and some bandwidth enhancement. The antenna performance is simulated and measured over a frequency band extending from 3100 MHz to 5500 MHz; the impedance bandwidth over this interval is 55.8% with VSWR <; 2, making the antenna suitable for UWB applications.

Yes / A compact dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for wideband applications is proposed. Two cylindrical dielectric resonators which are asymmetrically located with respect to the center of a rectangular coupling aperture are fed through this aperture. By optimizing the design parameters, an impedance bandwidth of about 29%, covering the frequency range from 9.62 GHz to 12.9 GHz, and a gain of 8 dBi are obtained. Design details of the proposed antenna and the results of both simulation and experiment are presented and discussed.

With the increasing demand for high performance communication networks and the proliferation of mobile devices, significant advances in antenna design are essential. In recent years the rising demands of the mobile wireless communication industry have forced antennas to have increased performance while being limited to an ever decreasing footprint. Such design constraints have forced antenna designers to consider frequency agile antennas so that their behavior can adapt with changing system requirements or environmental conditions. Frequency agile antennas used for mobile handset applications must also be inexpensive, robust, and make use of electronic switching with reasonable DC power consumption. Previous works have addressed a number of these requirements but relatively little work has been performed on frequency agile dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs). The objective of this thesis is to investigate the use of DRAs for frequency reconfigurability. DRAs are an attractive option due to their compactness, very low losses leading to high radiation efficiencies (better than 95%) and fairly wide bandwidths compared to alternatives. DRA’s are also well suited for mobile communications since they can be placed on a ground plane and are by nature low gain antennas whose radiation patterns typically resemble those of short electric or magnetic dipoles. One way to electronically reconfigure a DRA, in the sense of altering the frequency band over which the input reflection coefficient of the antenna is below some threshold, is to partially load one face of the DRA with a conducting surface. By altering the way in which this surface connects to the groundplane on which the DRA is mounted, the DRA can be reconfigured due to changes in its mode structure. This connection was first made using several conducting tabs which resulted in a tuning range of 69% while having poor cross polarization performance. In order to address the poor cross polarization performance a second conducting surface was placed on the opposing DRA wall. This technique significantly reduced the cross polarization levels while obtaining a tuning range of 83%. The dual-wall conductively loaded DRA was then extended to include a full electronic implementation using PIN diodes and varactor diodes in order to achieve discrete and continuous tuning respectively. The two techniques both achieved discrete tuning ranges of 95% while the varactor implementation also had a continuous tuning range of 59% while both maintaining an acceptable cross polarization level.

With the increasing demand for high performance communication networks and the proliferation of mobile devices, significant advances in antenna design are essential. In recent years the rising demands of the mobile wireless communication industry have forced antennas to have increased performance while being limited to an ever decreasing footprint. Such design constraints have forced antenna designers to consider frequency agile antennas so that their behavior can adapt with changing system requirements or environmental conditions. Frequency agile antennas used for mobile handset applications must also be inexpensive, robust, and make use of electronic switching with reasonable DC power consumption. Previous works have addressed a number of these requirements but relatively little work has been performed on frequency agile dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs). The objective of this thesis is to investigate the use of DRAs for frequency reconfigurability. DRAs are an attractive option due to their compactness, very low losses leading to high radiation efficiencies (better than 95%) and fairly wide bandwidths compared to alternatives. DRA’s are also well suited for mobile communications since they can be placed on a ground plane and are by nature low gain antennas whose radiation patterns typically resemble those of short electric or magnetic dipoles. One way to electronically reconfigure a DRA, in the sense of altering the frequency band over which the input reflection coefficient of the antenna is below some threshold, is to partially load one face of the DRA with a conducting surface. By altering the way in which this surface connects to the groundplane on which the DRA is mounted, the DRA can be reconfigured due to changes in its mode structure. This connection was first made using several conducting tabs which resulted in a tuning range of 69% while having poor cross polarization performance. In order to address the poor cross polarization performance a second conducting surface was placed on the opposing DRA wall. This technique significantly reduced the cross polarization levels while obtaining a tuning range of 83%. The dual-wall conductively loaded DRA was then extended to include a full electronic implementation using PIN diodes and varactor diodes in order to achieve discrete and continuous tuning respectively. The two techniques both achieved discrete tuning ranges of 95% while the varactor implementation also had a continuous tuning range of 59% while both maintaining an acceptable cross polarization level.

With the increasing demand for high performance communication networks and the proliferation of mobile devices, significant advances in antenna design are essential. In recent years the rising demands of the mobile wireless communication industry have forced antennas to have increased performance while being limited to an ever decreasing footprint. Such design constraints have forced antenna designers to consider frequency agile antennas so that their behavior can adapt with changing system requirements or environmental conditions. Frequency agile antennas used for mobile handset applications must also be inexpensive, robust, and make use of electronic switching with reasonable DC power consumption. Previous works have addressed a number of these requirements but relatively little work has been performed on frequency agile dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs). The objective of this thesis is to investigate the use of DRAs for frequency reconfigurability. DRAs are an attractive option due to their compactness, very low losses leading to high radiation efficiencies (better than 95%) and fairly wide bandwidths compared to alternatives. DRA’s are also well suited for mobile communications since they can be placed on a ground plane and are by nature low gain antennas whose radiation patterns typically resemble those of short electric or magnetic dipoles. One way to electronically reconfigure a DRA, in the sense of altering the frequency band over which the input reflection coefficient of the antenna is below some threshold, is to partially load one face of the DRA with a conducting surface. By altering the way in which this surface connects to the groundplane on which the DRA is mounted, the DRA can be reconfigured due to changes in its mode structure. This connection was first made using several conducting tabs which resulted in a tuning range of 69% while having poor cross polarization performance. In order to address the poor cross polarization performance a second conducting surface was placed on the opposing DRA wall. This technique significantly reduced the cross polarization levels while obtaining a tuning range of 83%. The dual-wall conductively loaded DRA was then extended to include a full electronic implementation using PIN diodes and varactor diodes in order to achieve discrete and continuous tuning respectively. The two techniques both achieved discrete tuning ranges of 95% while the varactor implementation also had a continuous tuning range of 59% while both maintaining an acceptable cross polarization level.

The diploma project deals with the numerical modeling, implementation and measurement of dielectric dipoles excited by a coaxial probe. Attention was turned to shape optimization of dipoles from the viewpoint of ultra wideband parameters in the band group 6. (“Bandgroup 6“). Two antennas exhibiting the best parameters were fabricated. Results of measurements were compared with simulation results. Simulations and measurements were in agreement. For the simulations, we use program CST Microwave Studio.

Thesis (PhD (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / This dissertation presents a concept for a compact, low-profile, integrated solar panel antenna for use on small satellites in low Earth orbit. To date, the integrated solar panel antenna design approach has primarily been, patch (transparent or non-transparent) and slot radiators. The design approach presented here is proposed as an alternative to existing designs. A prototype, comprising of an optically transparent rectangular dielectric resonator was constructed and can be mounted on top of a solar panel of a Cube Satellite. The ceramic glass, LASF35 is characterised by its excellent transmittance and was used to realise an antenna which does not compete with solar panels for surface area. Currently, no closed-form solution for the resonant frequency and Q-factor of a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna exists and as a first-order solution the dielectric waveguide model was used to derive the geometrical dimensions of the dielectric resonator antenna. The result obtained with the dielectric waveguide model is compared with several numerical methods such as the method of moments, finite integration technique, radar cross-section technique, characteristic mode analysis and finally with measurements. This verification approach was taken to give insight into the resonant modes and modal behaviour of the antenna. The interaction between antenna and a triple-junction gallium arsenide solar cell is presented demonstrating a loss in solar efficiency of 15.3%. A single rectangular dielectric resonator antenna mounted on a ground plane demonstrated a gain of 4.2 dBi and 5.7 dBi with and without the solar cell respectively. A dielectric resonator antenna array with a back-to-back Yagi-Uda topology is proposed, designed and evaluated. The main beam of this array can be steered can steer its beam ensuring a constant flux density at a satellite ground station. This isoflux gain profile is formed by the envelope of the steered beams which are controlled using a single digital phase shifter. The array achieved a beam-steering limit of ±66° with a measured maximum gain of 11.4 dBi. The outcome of this research is to realise a single component with dual functionality satisfying the cost, size and weight requirements of small satellites by optimally utilising the surface area of the solar panels.

Ultra wide-band (UWB) technology is considered one of the very promising wireless technologies in the new millennium. This increases the demand on designing UWB antennas that meet the requirements of different UWB systems. In this dissertation, different UWB antennas are proposed such as an antenna that covers almost the entire UWB bandwidth, 3.5-11 GHz, as defined by the federal communication commission (FCC). This antenna has a size of 50×40×1.5mm3. Miniaturized worldwide UWB antennas are also introduced. Miniaturized worldwide UWB antennas that have compact sizes of (30×20×1.5) mm3, and (15×15×1.5) mm3 are also investigated. The designed worldwide UWB antennas cover the UWB spectrums defined by the electronic communication committee (ECC), 6-8.5 GHz, and the common worldwide UWB spectrum, 7.4-9 GHz. A system consisting of two identical antennas (transmitter and receiver) is built in the Antennas and Propagation Lab at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) to test the coupling properties between every two identical antennas. The performance of that system is analyzed under different ii conditions to guarantee that the transmitted signal will be correctly recovered at the receiver end. The designed UWB antennas can be used in many short range applications such as wireless USB. Wireless USB is used in PCs, printers, scanners, laptops, MP3 players, hard disks and flash drives. A new technique is introduced to widen the impedance bandwidth of dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs). DRA features compactness, low losses, and wideband antennas. Different compact UWB DRAs are investigated in this dissertation. The designed DRAs cover a wide range of frequency bands such as, 6.17-24GHz, 4.23-13.51GHz, and 4.5-13.6GHz. The designed DRAs have compact sizes of 1×1×1.5cm3, 0.9×0.9×1.32cm3, 0.6×0.6×1cm3, and 0.6×0.6×0.9cm3; and cover the following frequency bands 4.22-13.51GHz, 4.5-13.6GHz, 6.1-23.75GHz, and 6.68-26.7GHz; respectively. The proposed DRAs may be used for applications in the X, Ku and K bands such as military radars and unmanned airborne vehicles (UAV).