In this thesis the development of a high efficiency harmonic re-radiator, consisting of a diode doubler and conjugate-matched receive and transmit antennas, is described. Diode-based frequency multipliers and rectifiers, coupled with antennas, are of interest for quasi-optical applications, for energy-scavenging and for sensing applications. The device studied operates by receiving an interrogating signal at a frequency of 1.3 GHz and re-radiating a signal at 2.6 GHz. The primary goal of this research was to develop a passive, miniature and effective frequency doubler integrated with planar antennas. The system is referred to as a frequency doubling reflectenna, (FDR). Prediction of accurate performance was achieved by employing precise modeling and measurement methods. The FDR can be utilized in data collection applications. The footprint of the FDR is occupied primarily by the receive and transmit antennas. Therefore, a significant portion of the research focused on the development of compact and efficient planar antennas, which would provide for a miniature FDR. A first-generation FDR design was designed, which utilized quarter-wavelength shorted microstrip patch antennas. The choice of antennas provided a small prototype with dimensions equal to 44 mm by 17 mm. In order to further reduce the size of the harmonic re-radiator, meandered planar antennas were investigated and optimized for efficient operation. A second-generation FDR design, which utilized meandered microstrip patch antennas, was produced and a size reduction of 75% was achieved. Both first- and second-generation harmonic re-radiator designs were designed for low input power operation and provided maximum measured conversion efficiencies of approximately 4.5% and 1.8%, with the input to the diode doubler at -14.5 and -17.5 dBm, respectively. Re-configurable microwave devices, which dynamically operate at different frequencies, are often desirable for sensing applications. Therefore, to conclude this research, a tunable FDR was realized using a semiconductor varactor that provided the dynamic capacitance required for the tunability.

The designs of various feeding networks for microstrip antennas have been investigated in this dissertation. In the active microstrip antenna designs, an amplifier-type microstrip antenna integrates a two- port amplifier circuitry to the various passive antennas through a 50£[ inset microstrip feed line which can function in broadband operation¡ACP operation and dual-frequency operation. As for the broadband circularly polarized microstrip antenna with a dual-perpendicular feed design, antenna with a dual-perpendicular feed which was formed by a Wilkinson power divider with a quarter-wavelength section of microstrip line for providing equal splitting of the input power and 90¢X phase difference to the two feed points has been presented. The broadband CP bandwidth can be achieved due to the good isolation between the two output lines of the feed network. In the microstrip antennas with CPW feed designs, we first proposed a microstrip antenna with three-dimensional CPW feed. A separate feed substrate is used which can provide a large-area space for the layout of complicated microwave circuitry. In addition, the feed substrate can also be oriented to the patch substrate with various angles, resulting in more flexibility in the proposed three-dimensional feed design. Finally, we proposed a design with two slot lines located at both sides of the coupling slot which can lengthen the excited patch surface current path, thus the resonant frequency is reduced and an antenna size reduction up to 40% has been obtained.