Ultrawideband (UWB) is one of the most promising communication technologies in recent times with the promise of high data rates and spectral reuse. This work analyses the outdoor and outdoor-to-indoor propagating characteristics of the UWB pulse, which can be of the order of a few gigahertz in bandwidth. The aim of the thesis is to provide the parameters needed in order to develop a channel model for such cases. The channel model would then play an important role in determining physical layer (PHY) solutions to optimally exploit these characteristics. The measurements carried out on the Virginia Tech campus are used to compute parameters such as path loss, penetration loss and delay statistics. These are carried out in multiple frequency bands and the results are compared across frequency bands to determine effect of different frequency levels on the parameters. Finally the results are analyzed with respect to similar parameters obtained in other measurement campaigns in an attempt to evaluate the performance of Ultrawideband vis-à-vis narrowband systems. / Master of Science

A direction of arrival (DoA) estimation technique for broadband microwave signals is proposed using a single ultrawideband antenna. It is inspired by the sound source localization ability of a human auditory system using just one ear (monaural localization). By exploiting the incident angle-dependent frequency response of a wideband antenna, the DoA of a broadband microwave signal can be estimated. The DoA estimation accuracies are evaluated for two antenna configurations and microwave signals with different signal-to-noise ratios. Encouraging the DoA estimation performance of the proposed technique is demonstrated in both simulation and experiment.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ClarissaLN.pdf: 3152047 bytes, checksum: a2e14bfa9e4c314444ebb4284dc7608b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-21 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / This work presents a theoretical and experimental investigation about the properties of microstrip antennas for ultra-wideband systems. Configurations of elliptic monopoles with different eccentricities and circular monopoles are considered. Two prototypes for each antenna configuration were built, one with the typical microstrip configuration and the other is similar to the first, except for a small aperture in the ground plane. Therefore, this work proposes to modify the configuration of the ground plane of the monopoles designed adding a rectangular stub, in order to optimize and improve the performance of such structures. The obtained results show that the introduction of that rectangular aperture in the ground plane allows an improvement of the frequency response for the considered antenna propotypes. It is observed a good agreement between the measured and simulated results. Finally, some proposals for future works are presented / Este trabalho apresenta uma investiga??o te?rica e experimental sobre as propriedades de antenas de microfita para sistemas de banda ultra larga. S?o consideradas configura??es de monopolos el?pticos com excentricidades diferentes, e monopolos circulares. Foram constru?dos dois prot?tipos para cada configura??o de antena, um com a configura??o t?pica de microfita e outro similar ao primeiro, mas com uma pequena abertura no plano de terra. Assim, este trabalho objetiva modificar a configura??o do plano de terra dos monopolos projetados atrav?s da inser??o de um recorte retangular, para fins de otimiza??o e melhoria nos desempenhos das estruturas. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a introdu??o dessa abertura retangular no plano de terra permite melhorar a resposta em freq??ncia das antenas consideradas. Observa-se uma boa concord?ncia entre os resultados medidos e simulados. Algumas propostas para a realiza??o de trabalhos futuros s?o apresentadas

This thesis presents various integrated antenna solutions for different types of systems and applications, e.g. wireless sensors, broadband handsets, advanced base stations, MEMS-based reconfigurable front-ends, automotive anti-collision radars, and large area electronics. For wireless sensor applications, a T-matched dipole is proposed and integrated in an electrically small body-worn sensor node. Measurement techniques are developed to characterize the port impedance and radiation properties. Possibilities and limitations of the planar inverted cone antenna (PICA) for small handsets are studied experimentally. Printed slot-type and folded PICAs are demonstrated for UWB handheld terminals. Both monolithic and hybrid integration are applied for electrically steerable array antennas. Compact phase shifters within a traveling wave array antenna architecture, on single layer substrate, is investigated for the first time. Radio frequency MEMS switches are utilized to improve the performance of reconfigurable antennas at higher frequencies. Using monolithic integration, a 20 GHz switched beam antenna based on MEMS switches is implemented and evaluated. Compared to similar work published previously, complete experimental results are here for the first time reported. Moreover, a hybrid approach is used for a 24 GHz switched beam traveling wave array antenna. A MEMS router is fabricated on silicon substrate for switching two array antennas on a LTCC chip. A concept of nano-wire based substrate integrated waveguides (SIW) is proposed for millimeter-wave applications. Antenna prototypes based on this concept are successfully demonstrated for automotive radar applications. W-band body-worn nonlinear harmonic radar reflectors are proposed as a means to improve automotive radar functionality. Passive, semi-passive and active nonlinear reflectors consisting of array antennas and nonlinear circuitry on flex foils are investigated. A new stretchable RF electronics concept for large area electronics is demonstrated. It incorporates liquid metal into microstructured elastic channels. The prototypes exhibit high stretchability, foldability, and twistability, with maintained electrical properties. / wisenet

The prevalence of wireless standards and the introduction of dynamic standards/applications, such as software-defined radio, necessitate the next generation wireless devices that integrate multiple standards in a single chip-set to support a variety of services. To reduce the cost and area of such multi-standard handheld devices, reconfigurability is desirable, and the hardware should be shared/reused as much as possible. This research proposes several novel circuit topologies that can meet various specifications with minimum cost, which are suited for multi-standard applications. This doctoral study has two separate contributions: 1. The low noise amplifier (LNA) for the RF front-end; and 2. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The first part of this dissertation focuses on LNA noise reduction and linearization techniques where two novel LNAs are designed, taped out, and measured. The first LNA, implemented in TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 0.35Cm CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) process, strategically combined an inductor connected at the gate of the cascode transistor and the capacitive cross-coupling to reduce the noise and nonlinearity contributions of the cascode transistors. The proposed technique reduces LNA NF by 0.35 dB at 2.2 GHz and increases its IIP3 and voltage gain by 2.35 dBm and 2dB respectively, without a compromise on power consumption. The second LNA, implemented in UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) 0.13Cm CMOS process, features a practical linearization technique for high-frequency wideband applications using an active nonlinear resistor, which obtains a robust linearity improvement over process and temperature variations. The proposed linearization method is experimentally demonstrated to improve the IIP3 by 3.5 to 9 dB over a 2.5–10 GHz frequency range. A comparison of measurement results with the prior published state-of-art Ultra-Wideband (UWB) LNAs shows that the proposed linearized UWB LNA achieves excellent linearity with much less power than previously published works. The second part of this dissertation developed a reconfigurable ADC for multistandard receiver and video processors. Typical ADCs are power optimized for only one operating speed, while a reconfigurable ADC can scale its power at different speeds, enabling minimal power consumption over a broad range of sampling rates. A novel ADC architecture is proposed for programming the sampling rate with constant biasing current and single clock. The ADC was designed and fabricated using UMC 90nm CMOS process and featured good power scalability and simplified system design. The programmable speed range covers all the video formats and most of the wireless communication standards, while achieving comparable Figure-of-Merit with customized ADCs at each performance node. Since bias current is kept constant, the reconfigurable ADC is more robust and reliable than the previous published works.