The advent of Substrate Integrated Circuit (SIC) technology, and specifically Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology has made it feasible to design and fabricate low loss and high quality factor (Q-factor) microwave and millimeter wave structures on a compact and integrable layout and at a low cost. The SIW structure is the planar realization of the conventional rectangular waveguide (RWG). In this technology, the side walls of the waveguide are replaced with two rows of metallic vias, which are connecting two conductor sheets, located at the top and bottom of a dielectric slab. The motivation for this thesis has been to develop an analytical method to efficiently analyze SIW structures, and also design different types of passive microwave components based on this technology. As SIW structures are imitating waveguide structures in a planar format, the field distributions inside these structures are very close to those in waveguides. However, due to the very small substrate height in conventional planar technologies, and also the existence of a row of vias, instead of a solid metallic wall, there is a reduced set of modes in SIW compared to regular waveguide. This fact has given us an opportunity to deploy efficient modal analysis techniques to analyze these structures. In this thesis, we present a Mode Matching Techniques (MMT) approach for the analysis of H-plane SIW structures. One of the areas of application, which can significantly benefit from having an efficient analytical method, is designing and optimizing new circuits. Having such an analytical tool, which is faster than commercially available field solvers by an order of magnitude, new components can be designed, analyzed and optimized in a fast and inexpensive manner. Based on this technique, various types of passive microwave components including filters, diplexers, power dividers and couplers, some of which are among the first to be reported in SIW technology, are designed and analyzed in this thesis. Also based on this technique, the most accurate formula for the effective waveguide width of the SIW is presented in this thesis. In order to provide means to excite and measure SIW components, transitions between these structures and other planar topologies like microstrip and coplanar waveguide (CPW) are needed. More importantly, low-reflection transitions to microstrip are required to integrate SIW circuits with active components, and therefore it is vital to provide low-reflection transitions so that the component design is independent of the influences of the transitions. In this thesis, a new wideband microstrip-to-SIW transition, with the lowest reported reflection coefficient, is also introduced. / Graduate / 0544 / zkordi@ece.uvic.ca

The main purpose of this dissertation was to address key issues in the design and analysis of RF/microwave filters for wireless applications. Since RF/microwave filters are one of the bulkiest parts of communication systems, their miniaturization is one of the most important technological challenges for the development of compact transceivers. In this work, novel miniaturization techniques were investigated for single-band, dual-band, ultra-wideband and tunable bandpass filters. In single-band filters, the use of cross-shaped fractals in half-mode substrate-integrated-waveguide bandpass filters resulted in a 37 percent size reduction. A compact bandpass filter that occupies an area of 0.315 mm2 is implemented in 90-nm CMOS technology for 20 GHz applications. For dual-band filters, using half-mode substrate-integrated-waveguides resulted in a filter that is six times smaller than its full-mode counterpart. For ultra-wideband filters, using slow-wave capacitively-loaded coplanar-waveguides resulted in a filter with improved stopband performance and frequency notch, while being 25 percent smaller in size. A major part of this work also dealt with the concept of 'hybrid' RF MEMS tunable filters where packaged, off-the-shelf RF MEMS switches were used to implement high-performance tunable filters using substrate-integrated-waveguide technology. These 'hybrid' filters are very easily fabricated compared to current state-of-the-art RF MEMS tunable filters because they do not require a clean-room facility. Both the full-mode and half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide tunable filters reported in this work have the best Q-factors (93 - 132 and 75 - 140, respectively) compared to any 'hybrid' RF MEMS tunable filter reported in current literature. Also, the half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide tunable filter is 2.5 times smaller than its full-mode counterpart while having similar performance. This dissertation also presented detailed analytical and simulation-based studies of nonlinear noise phenomena induced by Brownian motion in all-pole RF MEMS tunable filters. Two independent mathematical methods are proposed to calculate phase noise in RF MEMS tunable filters: (1) pole-perturbation approach, and (2) admittance-approach. These methods are compared to each other and to harmonic balance noise simulations using the CAD-model of the RF MEMS switch. To account for the switch nonlinearity in the mathematical methods, a nonlinear nodal analysis technique for tunable filters is also presented. In summary, it is shown that output signal-to-noise ratio degradation due to Brownian motion is maximum for low fractional bandwidth, high order and high quality factor RF MEMS tunable filters. Finally, a self-sustained microwave platform to detect the dielectric constant of organic liquids is presented in this dissertation. The main idea is to use a voltage- controlled negative-resistance oscillator whose frequency of oscillation varies according to the organic liquid under test. To make the system self-sustained, the oscillator is embedded in a frequency synthesizer system, which is then digitally interfaced to a computer for calculation of dielectric constant. Such a system has potential uses in a variety of applications in medicine, agriculture and pharmaceuticals.

abstract: The increase in computing power has simultaneously increased the demand for input/output (I/O) bandwidth. Unfortunately, the speed of I/O and memory interconnects have not kept pace. Thus, processor-based systems are I/O and interconnect limited. The memory aggregated bandwidth is not scaling fast enough to keep up with increasing bandwidth demands. The term "memory wall" has been coined to describe this phenomenon. A new memory bus concept that has the potential to push double data rate (DDR) memory speed to 30 Gbit/s is presented. We propose to map the conventional DDR bus to a microwave link using a multicarrier frequency division multiplexing scheme. The memory bus is formed using a microwave signal carried within a waveguide. We call this approach multicarrier memory channel architecture (MCMCA). In MCMCA, each memory signal is modulated onto an RF carrier using 64-QAM format or higher. The carriers are then routed using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) interconnects. At the receiver, the memory signals are demodulated and then delivered to SDRAM devices. We pioneered the usage of SIW as memory channel interconnects and demonstrated that it alleviates the memory bandwidth bottleneck. We demonstrated SIW performance superiority over conventional transmission line in immunity to cross-talk and electromagnetic interference. We developed a methodology based on design of experiment (DOE) and response surface method techniques that optimizes the design of SIW interconnects and minimizes its performance fluctuations under material and manufacturing variations. Along with using SIW, we implemented a multicarrier architecture which enabled the aggregated DDR bandwidth to reach 30 Gbit/s. We developed an end-to-end system model in Simulink and demonstrated the MCMCA performance for ultra-high throughput memory channel. Experimental characterization of the new channel shows that by using judicious frequency division multiplexing, as few as one SIW interconnect is sufficient to transmit the 64 DDR bits. Overall aggregated bus data rate achieves 240 GBytes/s data transfer with EVM not exceeding 2.26% and phase error of 1.07 degree or less. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2018

A transmission line format is presented which takes the form of a Multilayer Ridged Substrate Integrated Waveguide, for which signal energy is transmitted within standard PCB substrates, within a wave-guiding structure formed from conducting tracks in the horizontal plane and arrays of through-plated vias in the vertical plane. The Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) is a recent development into which research is so far concentrated on single-layer rectangular variants which, like traditional rectangular waveguide, are amenable to analytic computation of the cutoff eigenvalues. Recent publications have offered empirically-derived relationships with which a Substrate Integrated Waveguide can be analysed by equivalence of the horizontal dimensions with a conventional waveguide, allowing such structures to be designed with minimal effort. We propose a ridged form of this structure, in which multiple PCB layers are stacked to obtain the desired height and the published equivalent width is used to obtain the horizontal dimensions. The proposed structure combines the increased bandwidth of ridged waveguide with SIW’s greatly reduced cost of manufacture and integration, relative to conventional waveguide, and improved power handling capacity and loss susceptibility relative to microstrip. Ridged variants have not yet been studied in the literature, however, in part because the eigenspectrum can not be obtained analytically. We thus present a semi-analytical software model with which to synthesise and analyse the cutoff spectrum in ridged Substrate Integrated Waveguide, verified by comparison with analytical solutions, where they exist, simulation in finite-element software and a physical prototype. Agreement with simulated and measured results is within 1 % in certain subsets of the parameter space and 11 % generally, and individual results are returned in times of the order of seconds. We use the model to analyse the relationship between geometry and frequency response, constructing an approximating function for the early modes which is significantly faster, such that think it can be used for first-pass optimisation. A range of optimal parameters are presented which maximise bandwidth within anticipated planar geometric constraints, and typical design scenarios are explored.

In this work, an innovative approach for effective modeling of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) devices is firstly proposed. Next, a novel substrate integrated waveguide power splitter is proposed to feed antenna array elements in series. This feed network inherently provides uniform output power to eight quadrupole antennas. More importantly, it led to a compact configuration since the feed network can be integrated inside the elements without increasing the overall array size. Its design procedure is also presented. Then, a series feed network was used to feed a novel compact omnidirectional antenna array. Targeting the 5G 26 GHz mm-wave frequency band, simulated results showed that the proposed array exhibits a broad impedance bandwidth of 4.15 GHz and a high gain of 13.6 dBi, which agree well with measured results. Its attractive features indicate that the proposed antenna array is well suitable for millimeter-wave wireless communication systems.

No description available.

Phase shifters play a crucial role in radar, satellite communications, and 5G networks. Recently, the idea of using filters as phase shifters have attracted much interest due to providing many benefits such as smaller area, lower noise figure, easier fabrication method as compared with other technologies, reduced cost, and the ability to work as multi-functioning device. This work focuses on the implementation of bandstop-based and bandpass-based filtering phase shifters. For the bandstop-based approach, some of the resonating structures that were examined are stubs, LC tanks, L-shaped/U-shaped half wavelength resonators and many others. Periodic stub loading filter design method was compared against traditional filter synthesis method in order to determine which approach can provide better insertion loss range, higher phase range, and wider bandwidth. Optimization of stub impedance and the size of the device was presented. With regards to bandpass-based filtering phase shifters, microstrip-based and substrate integrated waveguide-based designs were investigated. The benefits of microstrip technology include low profile, low cost, ease of fabrication and integration. Microstrip-based designs were implemented using square shaped and octagon shaped split ring resonators. Then, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-based designs were proposed and realized using hexagon resonators. The advantages of SIW-based filters are low insertion loss, high power handling, high immunity to external noise and crosstalk. A novel SIW-based filtering phase shifter with tunable transmission zero and tunable center frequency was developed aimed at maximizing device performance.

Les développements technologiques en télécommunication et microondes tendent depuis plusieurs années vers la miniaturisation des circuits, une réduction des coûts, des masses et des pertes dans ces dispositifs. Les circuits SIW (Substrate Integrated Waveguide) s’inscrivent tout à fait dans cette mouvance et font à l’heure actuelle l’objet de nombreux sujets de recherche avec des applications directes dans l’industrie. Les circuits SINRD (Substrate Integrated Non Radiative Dielectric) utilisent eux les propriétés du substrat usiné (insertion de trous) pour la propagation du signal et des fonctions de l’électronique peuvent également être développées avec cette technologie. La conception de ces circuits passe généralement par des outils peu performants car non dédiés. Dans ce travail de thèse, une méthode numérique dédiée à ces circuits est développée. Elle est validée par comparaison à d’autres méthodes numériques et des mesures. Elle présente des temps de calcul très faibles. De nouveaux dispositifs pour des applications en télécommunications spatiales bas coûts et faibles pertes peuvent ainsi être développés grâce à elle. / For several years, technological developments in telecommunications and microwave circuit tend to miniaturization, low cost and mass reduction, in these devices. SIW Circuits (Substrate Integrated Waveguide) are developed in this manner and are currently the subject of numerous research topics with direct applications in industry. SINRD circuits (Substrate Integrated Non Radiative Dielectric) use micro machined substrate properties (insertion of holes) for signal propagation and electronic functions can be developed with this technology. The design of these circuits generally use unefficient tools that are not dedicated to these circuits. In this thesis, a numerical method dedicated to these circuits is developed. It is validated by comparison with other numerical methods and measurements. It presents very low computation time. New designs for applications in space communications and low-cost lowloss circuits may be developed through it.

This work familiarizes readers with the issues of slot antennas. It presents design and simulation of slot antenna for X band in CST Microwave Studio program. The simulation procedure is described here, including all the settings required for proper operation of the simulation. Then there is the description of the principle of the Half-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide - HMSIW. In the end the designed structure of HMSIW and the slot antenna are assembled and measured. The results of the simulation are compared with the results acquired by measurements. The designed antenna at the frequency 10 GHz achieves the impedance bandwidth 255 MHz, and the gain 8,81 dBi (the simulated values in CST Microwave studio).

The objective of this thesis is to introduce novel procedures and guidelines to design bandstop microwave filters for modern terrestrial and satellite wireless communication systems. Among all available microwave filter technologies, planar structures of microstrip and substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) are chosen, due to ease of fabrication, low profile, weight and manufacturing cost. Particularly, SIW structures are more attractive because they have a better insertion loss, quality factor, and power handling capability in comparison to their microstrip counterparts, and can also be easily integrated into other planar circuitries. A comprehensive hybrid analytic-optimization method is developed to synthesize any single-band as well as multi-band bandstop coupling matrix. In this method, the location of reflection zeros (RZs) and the attenuations in stopbands can be determined in advance. Several novel single-band, dual-band, and triple-band bandstop filters are designed using regular and ridged SIW resonators, in-line coupled singlet resonators, cross-coupled resonators, and bandstop stubs. The designed filters have fractional bandwidths up to 23% . Moreover, a tunable ridged SIW bandstop resonator and a tunable CPW resonator, etched into the top plate of the SIW transmission line, are introduced. Combining these two resonators, a dual-band SIW filter is designed that permits one of its stopband to be tuned while another stopband is fixed. All introduced filters in this thesis are verified by commercial electromagnetic software, analytic investigations using Matlab codes, and measurements. / Graduate