This work details the design and fabrication of an ultra-wideband periodic spiral antenna (PSA) with a notch filter embedded directly into the radiating aperture. Prototype fabrication of the PSA reveals long assembly time due to forming the antenna element, therefore modifications are made to allow fabricating the antenna elements on a thin, flexible, Polyimide substrate. A transmission line model is develop to support the updated configuration of the antenna elements. In addition, a symmetric spurline filter is integrated into the arms of the spiral antenna in order to address the common problem of interference in ultra-wideband systems. For the first time, a placement study is conducted to show the optimal location of the filter as a function of frequency. The presented transmission line model demonstrates the ability to decouple the design of the filter and antenna by being able to predict the resonant frequency and achieved rejection after integration of the two. Measured results show a gain rejection of 21 dB along with the ability to tune the resonance of the filter from 1.1 – 2.7 GHz using a lumped capacitor. For high power applications, thermal measurements are conducted, and for the first time, thermal profiles along the top of the antenna are used to show the radiation bands in a spiral antenna. Power tests are successfully conducted up to 40 W across the entire operational bandwidth and up to 60 W for 2 GHz and below. At these elevated power levels, a large voltage is generated across the lumped capacitor used to tune the resonance of the spurline filter; this issue is addressed through the development of a capacitive wedge that is overlapped on top of the spurline stub, which increases the voltage handling to 2,756 V. Measured results reveal a reduced tuning range compared to using lumped capacitors and a gain rejection of greater than 10 dB for all configurations.

Historical, well developed, procedures for RF design have minimal emphasis on exploring the third dimension due to the difficulty of fabrication. Recent material advancements applicable to 3D printing have brought about low-loss thermoplastics with excellent mechanical properties. Research into depositing conductive inks onto arbitrary 3D shapes has achieved resolutions better than 50 μm with conductivity values approaching that of copper cladding. The advancements in additive manufacturing have improved reliability and repeatability of three dimensional designs while decreasing fabrication time. With this design approach other considerations, such as stability and strength, can be concentrated on during the structure design to realize new shapes. The next step in the future of RF research will encompass designing and further understanding the benefits and consequences of using all three dimensions. This could include meandering an antenna element around other electronic components to make the overall package size smaller or integrating an antenna array into a wing. The design and analysis of the periodic spiral antenna (PSA) takes a look at a specific case of full volume utilization. In this application meandering in the z-dimension allowed the design to become smaller and more efficient than what is achievable with planar methods. This thesis will go into detail on the characterization of the periodic spiral antenna. To exemplify the benefits of meandering in the z-dimension a loop antenna is presented and benchmarked against other miniaturization techniques. Measured results of two different PSA models are presented and remarks on improving fabrication are given. When an antenna is used as a transmitter incident power will cause thermal generation so a study was conducted to understand how material properties can govern the amount of heat generated.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoseHCM_DISSERT.pdf: 1439414 bytes, checksum: f96f0decdde25078b5110927edf3b75c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-19 / This work presents techniques used to design and manufacture microstrip patch antennas for applications in portable and mobile devices. To do so, are evaluated several factors that can influence the performance of microstrip patch antennas. Miniaturization techniques are studied and employed in order to apply this type of antenna in mobile and / or mobile. The theories of microstrip patch antennas are addressed by analyzing characteristics such as constitution, kinds of patches, substrates, feeding methods, analysis methods, the main advantages and disadvantages and others. Techniques for obtaining broadband microstrip patch antennas were surveyed in literature and exemplified mainly by means of simulations and measurements. For simulations of the antennas was used the commercial software . In addition, antenna miniaturization techniques have been studied as a main concern the fundamental limits of antennas with special attention to electrically small antennas because they are directly linked to the microstrip patch antennas. Five design antennas are proposed to demonstrate the effectiveness of techniques used to obtain the microstrip patch antennas broadband and miniaturized for use in mobile devices and/or portable. For this, the proposed antennas were simulated, built and measured. The antennas are proposed to be used in modern systems of wireless communications such as DTV, GPS, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.11, etc. The simulations of the antennas were made in business and computer programs. The measured results were obtained with a parser Vector of networks of the Rhode and Schwarz model ZVB 14 / Esse trabalho apresenta t?cnicas usadas para projetar e fabricar antenas patch de microfita para aplica??es em dispositivos port?teis e m?veis. Para isso, s?o avaliados diversos fatores que podem influenciar no desempenho das antenas patch de microfita. T?cnicas de miniaturiza??o s?o estudadas e empregadas visando a aplica??o deste tipo de antena em dispositivos port?teis e/ou m?veis. Fundamentos te?ricos sobre as antenas patch de microfita s?o abordados analisandose caracter?sticas como: constitui??o, tipos de patches, substratos, m?todos de alimenta??o, m?todos de an?lises, principais vantagens e desvantagens dentre outros. T?cnicas para obten??o de antenas patch de microfita banda larga foram pesquisadas na literatura e exemplificadas principalmente por meio de simula??es e medi??es. Para as simula??es das antenas foi utilizado o programa computacional comercial . Al?m disso, t?cnicas de miniaturiza??o de antenas foram estudadas tendo como preocupa??o principal os limites fundamentais das antenas com aten??o especial a antenas eletricamente pequenas por estarem diretamente vinculadas ?s antenas patch de microfita. Cinco projetos de antenas s?o propostos para comprovar a efici?ncia das t?cnicas utilizadas para obten??o de antenas patch de microfita banda larga e miniaturizadas, para aplica??o em dispositivos m?veis e/ou port?teis. Para isso, as antenas propostas foram simuladas, constru?das e medidas. As antenas foram propostas para serem utilizadas em sistemas modernos de comunica??es sem fio como: DTV, GPS, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.11, etc. As simula??es das antenas foram feitas nos programas computacionais comerciais e . Os resultados medidos foram obtidos com um analisador vetorial de redes da Rhode and Schwarz modelo ZVB 14