The current and future demand for wireless technology is increasing rapidlyin the era of Internet-of-things, information-shower, auto-drive vehicles andthe fifth generation of mobile communications. The flourishing in wirelesstechnologies comes from their advantages such as mobility, flexibility, easy toextend, easy to install and easy to do the maintenance. However, the wirelesstechnology is suffering from many problems such as; lack of security andthe shortage of spectrum bands. The security remains a major challenge forthe wireless communications because of the broadcasting nature of wirelesssignals and massive researches have been conducted to deal with it. Beamformingis one of the physical layer security solutions that is proposed toimprove the security by focusing the majority of the transmitted power towardthe legitimate destination. The main concern about the beamformingtechnique is the relatively small amount of power that escapes from the sidelobes where any illegal user equipped with a sufficiently sensitive receivercan detect its information. The literature has been received many differentsolutions to secure the side lobes emissions. These solutions suffer from fourcommon limitations; 1) the need to modulate the signal at the antenna level,2) the data rates are restricted by the switching speed, 3) they can not easily beintegrated with the current infrastructure, and 4) they work only with phasemodulation. In this thesis, a new, simple, economic, easy to get integratedwith current phased array systems and effective solution has been proposedand analytically analysed under different circumstances, including noiseless,noisy and Rician fading channels and the effect of phase shift errors. The secondproblem addressed in this thesis is the poor spectral efficiency of spaceshift keying modulation. This thesis proposes a new physical layer directcode to improve the spectral efficiency of space shift keying modulation byexploiting the indices of both active and inactive transmitting antennas.

<div>Integrated optical phased arrays (OPAs) have gained popularity for achieving beam steering with no moving parts and potential high speed and small beam divergence angle. These characteristics are crucial for applications like free-space communication and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), a key component in autonomous driving. Two main aspects that affect the performance of an integrated OPA are discussed: high power handling and large beam steering range.</div><div><br></div><div>High emission power from the OPA is desirable for long range detection applications. Silicon is broadly used in integrated OPA designs as it allows for structures with a more compact footprint. However, its power-handling capability is limited by the two-photon absorption of the material, resulting in higher loss and potential damage at high input power levels. In this work, high power delivery into free space is realized by using a silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon hybrid platform. SiN components are used to direct and split high input power into smaller portions and coupled into silicon components for a more compact emitter array.</div><div><br></div><div>In order to achieve a full 180-degree beam steering range with aliasing-free operation, the pitch of a periodic emitter array is required to be half of the operating wavelength or less. At such a small pitch, evanescent coupling between adjacent emitters causes strong crosstalk. We demonstrate the optical phased array based on uniform half-wavelength spaced grating emitter array. Two-dimensional beam confinement and a record-high aliasing-free beam steering field-of-view of 135 degrees from grating emitter are measured from a 32 channel SiN/Si hybrid OPA. Evanescent coupling between waveguides are suppressed by metamaterial-based <b>e</b>xtreme <b>ski</b>n-<b>d</b>epth (e-skid) waveguides. The e-skid waveguides utilize an alternating air-silicon multi-fin side cladding. The high index contrast of those sub-wavelength ridges provides strong anisotropy, which leads to faster decay of the evanescent wave for transverse electric (TE) input modes, thus limiting evanescent coupling between closely spaced waveguides.</div><div><br></div><div>Furthermore, we extend the concept of the half-wavelength-pitched emitter array to the design of a two-dimensional end-fire OPA. This OPA can potentially achieve 180-degree by 180-degree full-range beam steering with no grating lobes by having a half-wavelength emitter pitch in both dimensions. The design of a broadband 8 by 8 silicon photonics switch based on the half-wavelength-pitched emitter array with low path-dependent loss (PDL) is also discussed.</div>

The design of the RF over fiber signal transport system for the ALPACA receiver is described, with particular attention to the strict noise requirements as well as dynamic range considerations. Also discussed are analytical tools for analyzing dynamic range in the context of RFI-rich radio astronomy observational settings, including formulas for maximum interference to noise ratios and a simulation framework for predicting distortion levels. Phase and gain stability measurements of the signal transport system are presented, including the effects of the multi-strand armored fiber optic cable. The resulting system meets design requirements, with equivalent noise temperature below 900 K in 90° F ambient air, resulting in less than 1 K contribution to the system noise temperature. Typical gain is 31-37 dB, and gain differences between channels are stable within 0.25 dB in 90° F conditions. Phase drift between channels due to electronics remains below 1° at room temperature, and below 1.3° in a warm environment. The fiber optic cable is predicted to cause phase changes between channels of no more than 1.3° per °C. Typical spurious free dynamic range is 99 dB·Hz^(⅔), and distortion levels for normal RFI conditions at Arecibo are expected to be 28 dB below the system noise floor.

The design of the RF over fiber signal transport system for the ALPACA receiver is described, with particular attention to the strict noise requirements as well as dynamic range considerations. Also discussed are analytical tools for analyzing dynamic range in the context of RFI-rich radio astronomy observational settings, including formulas for maximum interference to noise ratios and a simulation framework for predicting distortion levels. Phase and gain stability measurements of the signal transport system are presented, including the effects of the multi-strand armored fiber optic cable. The resulting system meets design requirements, with equivalent noise temperature below 900 K in 90° F ambient air, resulting in less than 1 K contribution to the system noise temperature. Typical gain is 31-37 dB, and gain differences between channels are stable within 0.25 dB in 90° F conditions. Phase drift between channels due to electronics remains below 1° at room temperature, and below 1.3° in a warm environment. The fiber optic cable is predicted to cause phase changes between channels of no more than 1.3° per °C. Typical spurious free dynamic range is 99 dB·Hz^(⅔), and distortion levels for normal RFI conditions at Arecibo are expected to be 28 dB below the system noise floor.

The continual increase of wireless technologies in the world has motivated the use of phased arrays to mitigate radio frequency interference (RFI). There are many methods of performing beamforming for RFI rejection, but they are traditionally physically large and complicated solutions. Phased arrays need to be shrunk and made cheaper for them to see widespread use. This work presents several compact phased array receivers for different applications. The first part of this thesis presents a software GPS processor for a digital beamforming GPS receiver. The receiver is small enough to be flown on drones and enables GPS signals to be processed and a user’s position to be determined. Using digital beamforming, it can operate even under poor conditions such as intentional jamming, RFI, and large multipath effects. Next, this work builds a frontend RF chain for a true time delay phased array receiver. The receiver uses analog true delay delay chips to mitigate radio frequency interference in sensitive instruments. True time delay allows for analog beamforming over a wide bandwidth, but compact true time delay solutions are new and untested. The receiver allows these solutions to be properly vetted in a full system. The chain uses novel compact wideband antennas for L-band frequencies and traditional low cost amplifiers and filters. The last section of this thesis updates the open-source CASPER project to fully support RF system-on-chips. CASPER is an open-source framework for radio astronomy instruments. It speeds up the design and implementation of radio astronomy instruments on compact platforms and makes them easier to interact with. This work expands the framework to use the transmit abilities of advanced RF system-on-chip platforms. With this expansion, full duplex systems such as communications and radar can now also use CASPER. A full loopback beamforming test built on CASPER demonstrates both transmit and receive beamforming.

During this project we have designed a new type of antenna that uses an array of antenna elements in order to emit electromagnetic radiation as signals and to be able to control the beam. After an extended time the design yielded a simulation which had the correct characteristics. After printing and constructing a prototype of the antenna it was tested in an anechoic chamber at Uppsala University. The array was divided into two different sub-arrays: the upper and the lower sub-arrays. Each of these consisted in itself of two sides: the long and the short sides. Each side had seven radiating elements, during the tests only one of the two sub-arrays (upper or lower) was running. Both sub-arrays are excited via a rat-race or 90 degree coupler. While the antenna was running it had 14 radiating elements and two phase shifters, two per sub-array and two per side. The idea was for a signal to travel passing the radiating elements and the phase shifter which would steer the induced electromagnetic signal in one direction, a traveling-wave array. This direction could be changed since the phase shifters were configurable in three different states per phase shifter, hence the induced electromagnetic beam was steerable. The beam was also steerable through the feed which was re-configurable, since there were two feeds per sub-array a phase shift could be introduced between the long and the short side. The beam steering range was between -2 degrees and 11 degrees oriented as 0 degrees would be a perpendicular line from the array to the receiving end. The design itself worked which could be stated from the results in the upper part of the array, the test results from the lower part however did not match the simulated results. This is likely due to an error in the construction of the antenna rather than the theory since the upper and lower part of the array was mirrored versions of each other. The phase shifters worked as intended in the bigger picture but were slightly different in the simulations compared to the physical ones, likely due to the same type of error source as regarding the full antenna.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis is an examination of one of the main technologies to be developed on the path to Space Solar Power (SSP): Wireless Power Transfer (WPT), specifically power beaming. While SSP has been the main motivation for this body of work, other applications of power beaming include ground-to-ground energy transfer, ground to low-flying satellite wireless power transfer, mother-daughter satellite configurations, and even ground-to-car or ground-to-flying-car power transfer. More broadly, Wireless Power Transfer falls under the category of radio and microwave signals; with that in mind, some of the topics contained within can even be applied to 5G or other RF applications. The main components of WPT are signal transmission, propagation, and reception. This thesis focuses on the transmission and propagation of wireless power signals, including beamforming with Phased Array Antennas (PAAs) and evaluations of transmission and propagation efficiency. Signals used to transmit power long distances must be extremely directive in order to deliver the power at an acceptable efficiency and to prevent excess power from interfering with other RF technology. Phased array antennas offer one method of increasing the directivity of a transmitted beam through off-axis cancellation from the multi-antenna source. Besides beamforming, another focus of this work is on the equations used to describe the efficiency and far field distance of transmitting antennas. Most previously used equations, including the Friis equation and the Goubau equation, are formed by examining singleton antennas, and do not account for the unique properties of antenna arrays. Updated equations and evaluation methods are presented both for the far field and the efficiency of phased array antennas. Experimental results corroborate the far field model and efficiency equation presented, and the implications of these results regarding space solar power and other applications are discussed. The results of this thesis are important to the applications of WPT previously mentioned, and can also be used as a starting point for further WPT and SSP research, especially when looking at the foundations of PAA technology.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19712号 / 工博第4167号 / 新制||工||1643(附属図書館) / 32748 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科電気工学専攻 / (主査)教授 篠原 真毅, 教授 土居 伸二, 准教授 小嶋 浩嗣 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Presented herein is the design and construction process in the expansion of BYU's seven-element experimental platform to a nineteen-element platform for phased array feed experiments. The nineteen-element system was deployed at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank West Virginia for use on the Green Bank 20-Meter Telescope. Numerical simulations were performed to determine how sensitivity was affected by electronic beam steering and offset of the phased array feed (PAF) relative to the focal plane of the reflector. These simulated results were then compared to experimental data.

Recent developments in the field of phased array feeds for radio astronomical reflector antennas, have opened a new frontier for array signal processing for radio astronomy observations. The goal is to replace single horn feeds with a phased array feed, so as to enable astronomers to cover more sky area in less time. The development of digital backend signal processing systems has been a major area of concentration for the development of science-ready phased array feeds for radio astronomers. This thesis focuses on the development of analog down-converter receivers and an FPGA-based digital backend for real-time data processing and analysis support for phased array feeds. Experiments were conducted with new receiver boards and both single-polarization and dual-polarization phased array feeds at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico and at the 20-meter telescope at Green Bank, WV, and results were analyzed. The experiments were performed as a part of a feasibility study for phased array feeds. The new receiver boards were developed as an upgrade to the earlier connectorized receivers as the number of input channels increased from 19 to 38 and space constraints arose due to the large size of the earlier receivers. Each receiver card has four independent channels on it. The receiver cards were found to have lower cross-coupling between the channels in comparison to the earlier receivers. The development of a FPGA-based real time digital backend focused on a real-time spectrometer, beamformer and a correlator for all the 64-channels using a x64 ADC card and ROACH FPGA boards. The backend can plot results in real time and can stream and store the data on the computers for purpose of post-processing and data analysis. The design process uses libraries and blocks provided by the Center for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research (CASPER) community.