Europe requires significant transmission grid expansions to foster the integration of electricity markets, enhance security of supply and integrate renewable energies. However, next to lengthy authorization processes, transmission system operators (TSOs) in Europe are currently facing extreme public opposition in their transmission line projects leading to significant project delays. These delays imply significant additional costs for TSOs as well as society as a whole and put the transformation of the European energy system at risk. Existing scientific literature currently lacks comprehensive studies that have tried to identify generalizable success factors to overcome public opposition in transmission line projects. The goal of work at hand was to close this research gap. Potential success factors were collected through extensive literature review and interviews throughout Europe with respective stakeholders such as citizen action groups, NGOs or energy experts. Experiences from analogue large infrastructure projects like wind parks, carbon capture and storage facilities, hydro dams, nuclear waste repositories, etc. were also used to form hypotheses. The findings were transformed into a structural equation model and tested through a questionnaire answered by almost all European TSOs. Results revealed that people’s trust in the TSO is of utmost importance for less public opposition. It can be regarded as the critical success factor per se. TSOs can create trust through stakeholder participation, sufficient communication, proper organizational readiness and liaison with stakeholders. Furthermore, appropriate technical planning can help to reduce public opposition in transmission line projects. In total 18 concrete and actionable success factors were identified for TSO management to facilitate the establishment of these aforementioned aspects. They will help European TSOs to reduce public opposition and thus accelerate the implementation of new transmission lines. Interestingly, economic benefits for people did not turn out to be a Significant success factor in reducing their opposition against new transmission lines.:Contents I List of tables VIII List of figures IX List of abbreviations XI List of symbols XV List of country codes XVI 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Problem statement 1 1.2 Thematic classification and research gap 2 1.3 Objective, research questions and scop e of work 3 1.4 Methodology and structure of work 5 2 Fundamentals of electricity transmission line planning 7 2.1 History of the European electricity transmission network 7 2.2 Transmission technologies 9 2.2.1 High-voltage alternating current (HVAC) 9 2.2.1.1 High - voltage alternating current overhead lines (HVAC OHL) 9 2.2.1.2 High - voltage alternating underground cables (HVAC UGC) 10 2.2.2 High - voltage direct current (HVDC) 12 2.2.2.1 High - voltage direct current overhead lines (HVDC OHL) 12 2.2.2.2 High - voltage direct current underground cables (HVDC UGC) 13 2.2.3 Gas - insulated lines (GIL) 14 2.3 Major players 15 2.3.1 European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and related associations 15 2.3.1.1 National Transmission System Operators (TSOs) 15 2.3.1.2 ENTSO - E 16 2.3.2 Energy regulators and related associations 18 2.3.2.1 National regulatory authorities (NRA) 18 2.3.2.2 European associations of energy regulators 19 2.4 Development of new transmission lines 20 2.4.1 Planning objectives 20 2.4.2 Planning process 21 2.4.2.1 Identification of needs 22 2.4.2.2 Feasibility study 23 2.4.2.3 Spatial planning 24 2.4.2.4 Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) 25 2.4.2.5 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 26 2.4.2.6 Permitting procedure 28 2.4.2.7 Securing land rights and way - leaves 28 2.4.2.8 Construction, commissioning and operation 29 2.5 Project delays and obstacles 31 2.5.1 Project delays 31 2.5.2 Rationales for delay 33 2.5.2.1 Minor obstacles 34 2.5.2.2 Public opposition 35 2.5.2.3 Insufficient authorization procedures 36 2.5.3 Excursus: Recent governmental measures to overcome delays 38 2.5.3.1 Austria 38 2.5.3.2 Denmark 38 2.5.3.3 Germany 39 2.5.3.4 Great Britain 41 2.5.3.5 Netherlands 42 2.5.3.6 European Union 43 2.5.3.7 Further recommendations 48 2.6 Interim conclusion on the fundamentals of transmission line planning 49 3 Fundamentals of social acceptance 51 3.1 Definition and classification 51 3.2 Contextual factors that influence stakeholders’ attitudes 54 3.2.1 Proximity of stakeholders to a facility 54 3.2.2 Risk perception of individuals 55 3.2.3 Individual knowledge base 56 3.2.4 Existing and marginal exposure 56 3.2.5 Land valuation and heritage 57 3.2.6 Trust in project developer 58 3.2.7 Energy system development level 59 3.3 The history of social movement against infrastructure facilities 60 3.4 Forms of public opposition 61 3.5 Interim conclusion on the fundamentals of social acceptance 63 4 Fundamentals and methodology of success factor research 64 4.1 The goal of success factor research 64 4.2 Defining success factor terminology 64 4.2.1 Success 64 4.2.2 Success factors 65 4.3 Success factor research history and current state 67 4.4 Classification of success factor studies 67 4.4.1 Specificity 68 4.4.2 Causality 69 4.5 Success factor identification approaches 70 4.5.1 Systematization of success factor identification approaches 70 4.5.2 Approach assessment 72 4.6 Criti cism to success factor research 73 4.7 Interim conclusion on the fundamentals of success factor research 75 5 Success factor res earch on social acceptance in transmission line planning – a combination of research streams 77 5.1 State of research 77 5.1.1 Social acceptance in electricity transmission line planning (A) 77 5.1.2 Success factor research on social acceptance (B) 83 5.1.3 Success factor research in transmission line planning (C) 89 5.2 Value add and classification of this work 89 5.3 Research design 90 5.3.1 Identification of potential success factors through a direct, qualitative - explorative approach 92 5.3.1.1 Overview of methodologies 92 5.3.1.2 Survey 93 5.3.2 Quantitative - confirmatory approach to validate potential success factors 95 5.3.2.1 Overview of statistical methodologies 95 5.3.2.2 Structural equation modeling (SEM) 96 5.3.2.2.1 Path analysis 97 5.3.2.2.2 Structure of SEM 99 5.3.2.2.3 Methods for SEM estimation 102 5.3.2.2.4 PLS algorithm 106 6 Identification of reasons for public opposition and derivation of potential success factors 112 6.1 Conducted interviews 112 6.1.1 Selection of interviewees 112 6.1.2 Preparation, conduction and documentation of interviews 115 6.2 Reasons for public opposition 117 6.2.1 Health and safety issues 118 6.2.1.1 Electric and magnetic fields (EMF) 118 6.2.1.2 Falling ice 124 6.2.1.3 Toppled pylons and ruptured conductors 125 6.2.1.4 Flashover 125 6.2.2 Reduced quality of living 126 6.2.2.1 Visual impact 126 6.2.2.2 Noise 128 6.2.3 Economic unfairness 130 6.2.3.1 Devaluation of property and insufficient compensation 130 6.2.3.2 Expropriation 131 6.2.3.3 Negative impact on tourism 132 6.2.3.4 Lack of direct benefits and distributional unfairness 132 6.2.3.5 Agricultural disadvantages 133 6.2.4 Lack of transparency and communication 135 6.2.4.1 Insufficient justification of line need 135 6.2.4.2 Insufficient, inaccurate and late information 137 6.2.4.3 Intransparent decision making 138 6.2.4.4 Inappropriate appearance 138 6.2.4.5 Expert dilemma 139 6.2.5 Lack of public participation 140 6.2.5.1 Lack of involvement 140 6.2.5.2 One - way communication 141 6.2.5.3 Lack of bindingness 141 6.2.5.4 Inflexibility 142 6.2.6 Environmental impact 142 6.2.6.1 Flora 143 6.2.6.2 Fauna 145 6.2.7 Distrust 146 6.3 Potential success factors to reduce public opposition 147 6.3.1 Communication 149 6.3.1.1 Communication strategy 149 6.3.1.2 Early communication 150 6.3.1.3 Line justification 150 6.3.1.4 Direct personal conversation 151 6.3.1.5 Appropriate communication mix 153 6.3.1.6 Comprehensibility 156 6.3.1.7 Sufficient and honest information 157 6.3.1.8 Stakeholder education 158 6.3.1.9 Post - communication 159 6.3.2 Participation 160 6.3.2.1 Pre - polls 160 6.3.2.2 Participation possibilities 161 6.3.2.3 Participation information 164 6.3.2.4 Macro - planning involvement 165 6.3.2.5 Pre - application involvement 166 6.3.2.6 Neutral moderation/mediation 166 6.3.2.7 Joint fact finding 169 6.3.2.8 Flexibility, openness and respect 170 6.3.2.9 Commitment and bindingness 171 6.3.2.10 Transparent decision making 172 6.3.3 Economic benefits 173 6.3.3.1 Local benefits 173 6.3.3.2 Individual compensations 174 6.3.3.3 Muni cipality compensations 176 6.3.3.4 Socio - economic benefits 177 6.3.3.5 Excursus: Social cost - benefit analysis of a new HVDC line between France and Spain 177 6.3.4 Organizational readiness 182 6.3.4.1 Stakeholder analysis and management 182 6.3.4.2 Qualification and development 184 6.3.4.3 Sufficient resources 186 6.3.4.4 Internal coordination 187 6.3.4.5 Cultural change 187 6.3.4.6 Top - management support 188 6.3.4.7 Best practice exchange 188 6.3.5 Stakeholder liaison 189 6.3.5.1 Stakeholder cooperation 189 6.3.5.2 Supporters / Multiplicators 190 6.3.5.3 Local empowerment 191 6.3.6 Technical planning 191 6.3.6.1 Line avoidance options 191 6.3.6.2 Route alternatives 194 6.3.6.3 Transmission technology options 194 6.3.6.4 Piloting of innovations 198 6.3.6.5 Excursus: Exemplary transmission line innovations 198 6.3.6.6 Avoidance of sensitive areas 206 6.3.6.7 Bundling of infrastructure 206 6.3.6.8 Line deconstruction 207 6.3.6.9 Regulatory overachievement 208 7. Development of research model 209 7.1 Procedure 209 7.2 Development of hypotheses on causal relationships 209 7.2.1 Stakeholder liaison 209 7.2.2 Participation 210 7.2.3 Communication 210 7.2.4 Organizational readiness 211 7.2.5 Economic benefits 212 7.2.6 Technical planning 212 7.2.7 Trust 213 7.2.8 Summary of hypotheses 213 7.3 Development of path diagram and model specification 214 7.3.1 Structural model 214 7.3.2 Measurement model 215 7.3.2.1 Formative measurements 215 7.3.2.2 Reflective measurements 2 7.4 Identifiability of model structure 217 8 Empirical validation of potential success factors 219 8.1 Data acqu isition 219 8.1.1 Concept of using questionnaires for data acquisition 219 8.1.2 Target group and sample size 220 8.1.3 Questionnaire design 222 8.1.3.1 Form and structure 222 8.1.3.2 Operatio nalization 224 8.1.3.2.1 Operationalization of potential success factors 224 8.1.3.2.2 Operationalization of construct TRUST 225 8.1.3.2.3 Operationalization of construct REDUCED PUBLIC OPPOSITION 226 8.1.3.2.4 Operationalization of control variables 226 8.1.3.3 Bias 227 8.1.3.3.1 Common method bias 227 8.1.3.3.2 Key i nformation bias 229 8.1.3.3.3 Hypothetical bias 229 8.1.4 Pretest 230 8.1.5 Questionnaire return and data preparation 231 8.2 Model estimation 236 8.2.1 Software selection for modeling 236 8.2.2 Estimation results 237 8.3 Model evaluation 239 8.3.1 Evaluat ion of reflective measurement models 240 8.3.1.1 Content validity 240 8.3.1.2 Indicator reliability 243 8.3.1.3 Construct validity 245 8.3.1.3.1 Convergent validity 245 8.3.1.3.1.1 Average var iance extracted (AVE) 245 8.3.1.3.1.2 Construct reliability 245 8.3.1.3.2 Discriminant validity 247 8.3.1.3.2.1 Fornell/Larcker criterion 247 8.3.1.3.2.2 Cross loadings 248 8.3.2 Evaluation of formative measurement models 250 8.3.2.1 Content validity 250 8.3.2.2 Indicator reliability / relevance 250 8.3.2.2.1 Indicator weights and significance 250 8.3.2.2.2 Multicollinearity 254 8.3.2.3 Construct validity 256 8.3.3 Evaluation of structural model 256 8.3.3.1 Multicollinearity 256 8.3.3.2 Explanatory power 257 8.3.3.3 Predictive relevance 259 8.3.4 Evaluation of total model 260 8.4 Verification of hypotheses and discussion of results 260 8.5 Success factors for reducing public opposition in transmission line planning: Recommendations for TSO management 264 8.5.1 Measures to create stakeholder trust 266 8.5.1.1 Sufficient stakeholder participation 266 8.5.1.2 Proper stakeholder communication 267 8.5.1.3 TSO’s organizational readiness for stakeholder management 267 8.5.1.4 Creating liaison with stakeholders 268 8.5.2 Important aspects in technical planning 268 8.5.3 Consolidated overview 269 9 Concluding remarks 270 9.1 Summary of results 270 9.2 Contribution, limitations, and directions for further research 272 10 Appendix 276

Ce travail est une étude de caractérisation de différents composants du réseau basse tension (BT) français dans la bande de fréquence utilisée par les courants porteurs en ligne en bande étroite entre 9 kHz et 500 kHz. L’objectif est de permettre une compréhension approfondie de la propagation du signal CPL dans le réseau BT français. L’approche ascendante est choisie. Elle consiste en la caractérisation du réseau à partir de la caractérisation de chaque composant le constituant. Deux composants essentiels du réseau BT ont été caractérisés : les câbles d’énergie et les installations des clients. Dans la première partie, différentes technologies de câbles de distribution et de branchement ont été caractérisées expérimentalement. Deux modèles ont été choisis, un premier modèle dit ligne simple (LS) qui ne prend pas en compte le couplage et un deuxième modèle dit ligne couplée (LC) plus complet qui prend en compte le couplage inductif et capacitif entre les lignes de transmission des câbles. Dans la deuxième partie, on s’est intéressé à l’obtention des impédances d’entrée des installations des clients vues par le réseau BT. Ces impédances ont été obtenues à partir de la caractérisation du câble électrique domestique ainsi que celle de différents appareils domestiques parmi les plus présents dans les installations. Pour ces différentes caractérisations, trois méthodes expérimentales ont été conçues et mises au point. Une étude paramétrique a été réalisé pour évaluer l’influence des longueurs des câbles ainsi que les valeurs des impédances connectées aux extrémités des lignes de transmission de ces câbles sur l’atténuation, le couplage et l’impédance d’accès. / This work presents the characterization of different components of the French Low Voltage (LV) network in the frequency band used by the narrowband power line communication (PLC) between 9 kHz and 500 kHz. The aim of this work is to provide a deeper understanding of the propagation of the PLC signal in the French LV network. For this, the bottom-up approach is used. This approach consists in LV network characterization starting from the characterization of each component of this LV network. Two essential components of the LV network have been characterized: energy cables and customer installations. In the first part, different distribution and connection cable technologies have been experimentally characterized.Two models have been chosen: a first model called LS consisting on the characterization of cables without taking into account the coupling and a second one more complete called LC which, takes into account the inductive and capacitive coupling between the transmission lines of the cables. In the second part, the work focused on obtaining the input impedance of the customer installations seen by the LV network. These impedances were obtained from the characterization of the domestic electrical cable as well as various domestic appliances among the most present in the installations. Finally, the results of both parts allowed to make a parametric study of the influence of cable lengths and the impedance values connected to the ends of the transmission lines of these cables on attenuation, coupling and access impedances.

No description available.

<p dir="ltr">High-power microwave (HPM) devices are generally vacuum-based devices that transform electron beam energy into microwaves with peak powers above 100 MW from 1-300 GHz. Solid-state HPM devices provide more compactness and greater reliability while consuming less power. Nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs) provide a solid-state alternative to HPM generation by sharpening the input pulses from a pulse forming network to create output oscillations.</p><p dir="ltr">The first section of this dissertation evaluates and explores the feasibility of using nonlinear composites containing ferroelectric (e.g., Ba_2/3Sr_1/3TiO₃, BST) and/or ferromagnetic (e.g., Ni_1/2Zn_1/2Fe₂O₄, NZF) inclusions in a linear polymer host (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) to tune NLTL properties for HPM applications. Appropriately modelling and designing NLTLs using nonlinear composites require accurately characterizing their linear and nonlinear electromagnetic properties. We first studied the electromagnetic properties of the composites using theoretical, numerical, and experimental approaches. Incorporating these composite models and characterizations into NLTL simulations will be discussed.</p><p dir="ltr">Vacuum-based HPM devices, such as magnetrons and crossed-field amplifiers, generally operate in the space-charge-limited region, which corresponds to the maximum current possible for insertion into the device. This motivated studying the space-charge-limited current and electron flow in a two-dimensional (2D) planar diode with various crossed-magnetic fields using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. For non-magnetically insulated diodes (electrons emitted from the cathode can reach the anode), analytical and/or semi-empirical solutions are derived for electrons with nonzero monoenergetic initial velocity that agree well with PIC simulations. For magnetically insulated conditions, we developed new metrics using simulations and analytic theories to assess electron cycloidal and Brillouin flow to understand the implications of increasing injection current for 2D diodes. These analyses provide details on the operation of these devices at high currents, particularly virtual cathode operation, that may elucidate behavior near their limits of operation.</p>

No description available.

Yes / In this review paper, a comprehensive study on the concept, theory, and applications of composite right/left-handed transmission lines (CRLH-TLs) by considering their use in antenna system designs have been provided. It is shown that CRLH-TLs with negative permittivity (ε <; 0) and negative permeability (μ <; 0) have unique properties that do not occur naturally. Therefore, they are referred to as artificial structures called “metamaterials”. These artificial structures include series left-handed (LH) capacitances (C L ), shunt LH inductances (L L ), series right-handed (RH) inductances (LR), and shunt RH capacitances (CR) that are realized by slots or interdigital capacitors, stubs or via-holes, unwanted current flowing on the surface, and gap distance between the surface and ground-plane, respectively. In the most cases, it is also shown that structures based on CRLH metamaterial-TLs are superior than their conventional alternatives, since they have smaller dimensions, lower-profile, wider bandwidth, better radiation patterns, higher gain and efficiency, which make them easier and more cost-effective to manufacture and mass produce. Hence, a broad range of metamaterial-based design possibilities are introduced to highlight the improvement of the performance parameters that are rare and not often discussed in available literature. Therefore, this survey provides a wide overview of key early-stage concepts of metematerial-based designs as a thorough reference for specialist antennas and microwave circuits designers. To analyze the critical features of metamaterial theory and concept, several examples are used. Comparisons on the basis of physical size, bandwidth, materials, gain, efficiency, and radiation patterns are made for all the examples that are based on CRLH metamaterialTLs. As revealed in all the metematerial design examples, foot-print area decrement is an important issue of study that have a strong impact for the enlargement of the next generation wireless communication systems. / This work was supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) under Grant RTI2018-095499-B-C31, in part by the Innovation Programme under Grant H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424, and in part by the financial support from the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant EP/E022936/1.

[pt] As descargas atmosféricas são de grande importância para o setor elétrico, sendo frequentemente responsáveis por desligamentos de linhas de transmissão, que podem desencadear uma sequência de eventos que levem o sistema elétrico interligado ao colapso. As longas extensões de linhas de transmissão, expostas a intemperes climáticas, determinam uma probabilidade significativa de incidência direta de descargas atmosféricas nestes equipamentos. Devido ao caráter estratégico das linhas para o fornecimento de energia e a constatação de que descargas atmosféricas estão entre as principais causas de desligamentos, torna-se importante o estudo do comportamento das descargas atmosféricas, antes do instante da ocorrência do desligamento das linhas de transmissão, para compreender os padrões característicos potenciais causadores destes desligamentos. Os estudos encontrados atualmente estão orientados na eficiência das redes de detecção de descargas atmosféricas e na identificação de condições climáticas que indiquem a ocorrência de raios de forma preditiva, sem correlação a ocorrências em linhas de transmissão. Assim, essa dissertação consiste na determinação do risco de desligamentos de linhas de transmissão por descargas atmosféricas, visando fornecer informações antecipadas e possibilitar ações operativas para manter a segurança do sistema elétrico. O modelo desenvolvido nesse estudo, denominado Risco de Desligamentos de Linhas de Transmissão por Raios (RDLR), é composto de dois módulos principais, sendo o primeiro o agrupamento do conjunto amostral de descargas atmosféricas, realizado através de um método baseado em densidade. Nesse módulo, os ruídos são eliminados de forma eficiente e são formados grupos representativos de descargas atmosféricas. O segundo módulo consiste em uma etapa classificatória, baseado em redes neurais artificiais para identificar padrões de grupos de descargas que representem riscos de desligamentos de linhas de transmissão. Visando a otimização do modelo, foi aplicado um método de seleção das variáveis, através de componentes principais, para determinar aquelas que mais contribuem na caracterização desses eventos. O modelo RDLR foi testado com dados reais dos registros de desligamentos de linhas de transmissão, associado a outro banco com dados reais contendo milhões de registros de descargas atmosféricas oriundos das redes de detecção de raios, sendo obtidos excelentes resultados na determinação dos riscos de desligamentos de linhas de transmissão por descargas atmosféricas. / [en] Atmospheric discharges are of great importance to power systems, and are often responsible for outages of transmission lines, which can trigger a sequence of events that leads to a system collapse. The long extensions of transmission lines, exposed to climatic conditions, create significant probability of direct incidence of atmospheric discharges in these equipments. Due to the strategic nature of power supply lines and the fact that atmospheric discharges are among the main causes of outages, it is important to study atmospheric discharges characteristics before failure of transmission lines and understand patterns that are responsible for interruptions. Current studies focus on efficiency of lightning detection networks and on identification of climatic conditions that indicate lightning occurrence in a predictive approach, without any correlation with transmission lines outages. Therefore, this thesis consists on real-time risk determination of transmission lines outage by lightning, providing early information to enabling operational procedures for power system safety. The proposed model, named Transmission Lines Outage Risk by Lightning (TLORL) is composed of two main modules: Atmospheric Discharge Data Clustering and Classification. In the atmospheric discharges data-clustering module, performed by a density-based method, the outages are efficiently eliminated and representative groups of atmospheric discharges are formed. The second module consists of a classification step, based on artificial neural networks, to identify patterns of discharges groups that represent risks to cause transmission lines outages. Aiming at improving the proposed model, principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to determine the input variables that most contribute to the events characterization. The TLORL model was tested with real data transmission line outages, associated to another database with millions lightning records from the detection networks, producing excellent results of transmission lines outages caused by atmospheric discharges.

The electromagnetic coupling of a microstrip transmission line (MS-TL) to a metamaterial backward wave Negative-Refractive-Index transmission line (NRI-TL) is the primary investigation of this dissertation. The coupling of forward waves in the MS-TL to the backward waves in the NRI-TL results in the formation of complex modes, characterized by simultaneous phase progression and attenuation along the lossless lines. Through network-theoretic considerations, we investigate the properties of these modes in the complex-frequency plane of the Laplace domain to help unravel the confusion that has existed in the literature regarding the independent excitation of a pair of conjugate complex modes. We show that it is possible to arbitrarily suppress one of the modes over a finite bandwidth and completely eliminate it at a discrete set of frequencies using proper source and load impedances. Hence we use conjugate modes with independent amplitudes in our eigenmode expansion when we analyse various coupling configurations between the two types of lines (MS/NRI-TL coupler). We derive approximate closed-form expression for the scattering parameters of the MS/NRI-TL coupler and these are complemented by design charts that allow the synthesis of a wide range of specifications. Moreover, these expressions reveal that such couplers allow for arbitrary backward coupling levels along with very high-isolation when they are made half a guided wavelength long. The MS/NRI-TL coupler offers some interesting applications which we highlight through the design and testing of a 3-dB power splitter, a high-directivity signal monitor and a compact corporate power divider. We have included design, simulation and experimental data for the fabricated prototypes exhibiting good agreement and thereby justifying the theory that has been developed in this work to explain the coupling between a right-handed MS-TL and a left-handed NRI-TL.

The electromagnetic coupling of a microstrip transmission line (MS-TL) to a metamaterial backward wave Negative-Refractive-Index transmission line (NRI-TL) is the primary investigation of this dissertation. The coupling of forward waves in the MS-TL to the backward waves in the NRI-TL results in the formation of complex modes, characterized by simultaneous phase progression and attenuation along the lossless lines. Through network-theoretic considerations, we investigate the properties of these modes in the complex-frequency plane of the Laplace domain to help unravel the confusion that has existed in the literature regarding the independent excitation of a pair of conjugate complex modes. We show that it is possible to arbitrarily suppress one of the modes over a finite bandwidth and completely eliminate it at a discrete set of frequencies using proper source and load impedances. Hence we use conjugate modes with independent amplitudes in our eigenmode expansion when we analyse various coupling configurations between the two types of lines (MS/NRI-TL coupler). We derive approximate closed-form expression for the scattering parameters of the MS/NRI-TL coupler and these are complemented by design charts that allow the synthesis of a wide range of specifications. Moreover, these expressions reveal that such couplers allow for arbitrary backward coupling levels along with very high-isolation when they are made half a guided wavelength long. The MS/NRI-TL coupler offers some interesting applications which we highlight through the design and testing of a 3-dB power splitter, a high-directivity signal monitor and a compact corporate power divider. We have included design, simulation and experimental data for the fabricated prototypes exhibiting good agreement and thereby justifying the theory that has been developed in this work to explain the coupling between a right-handed MS-TL and a left-handed NRI-TL.

La technologie MID (Molded Interconnect Device), fait de leur performance électrique, la flexibilitédans les circuits RF, le potentiel de réduire le nombre de composants, les étapes du processus et laminiaturisation du produit final, a conduit à de nouvelles contraintes à la RF (Radio Frequency) et ledomaine des micro-ondes. Composants moulés sont interconnectées avec des substratsthermoplastiques et les pistes conductrices sont injectés sur la surface. L'objectif de cette thèse estd'étudier la compatibilité de MID pour les applications RF. Les avantages de la technologie MID dansle domaine RF est exploitée pour les lignes de transmission, filtres passifs, coupleurs directionnels etantennes réalisation. La caractérisation RF de différents matériaux de substrat MID et l'étude de laperformance des composants RF ci-dessus sur la base de différentes technologies de fabrication MIDsont inclus dans la thèse. Enfin, le concept d'une étude d'amélioration de la permittivité de certainsthermoplastiques sont également étudiés. / MID (Molded Interconnect Devices) technology, owing to their electrical performance,flexibility in RF circuits, its potential to reduce the number of components, process steps andminiaturization of the final product, has led to some new constraints to the RF (RadioFrequency) and microwave domain. Molded components are interconnected withthermoplastic substrates and conductive traces are injected on the surface. The objective ofthis thesis is to study the compatibility of MIDs for RF applications. The advantages of MIDtechnology in the RF domain is exploited for transmission lines, passive filters, directionalcouplers and planar and 3D antennas realization. The RF characterization of various MIDsubstrate materials and the study of the performance of the above RF components based onvarious MID fabrication technologies are included in the thesis. Finally, an permittivityimprovement study of some thermoplastics are also studied.