The objective of this research is to design well-tuned, wideband elements for thin planar or cylindrically conformal arrays of balanced elements fed over ground. These arrays have closely spaced elements to achieve wide bandwidths through mutual coupling. This dissertation develops two wideband designs in infinite, semi-infinite, and finite array configurations. The infinite array is best for element tuning. This research advances a concept of a distributed, parallel capacitance between elements and across feeds that must be mutually altered for tuning. Semi-infinite techniques limit the problem space and determine the proper resistive loads to control the low-frequency array-guided surface wave (AGSW). The tight physical placement also forms a periodic structure that, along with the array boundary, launches a wave across the array surface. Options to suppress this surface wave are resistive loading and cylindrical conformations. AGSW control is necessary to achieve a maximum bandwidth, but lower radiation or aperture efficiency results. Conformation is shown to be an ineffective method for AGSW control alone. The Wrapped Bowtie design emerges as a novel design offering nearly a 10:1 bandwidth as a finite array over ground. Some bandwidth comes from the losses in radiation efficiency, which is necessary to control the AGSW; however, its simulated VSWR < 3 bandwidth in an infinite array is 7.24:1 with full efficiency. Less than perfect efficiency is required to mitigate surface wave effects, unless bandwidth is to be compromised. That loss may be as radiation or aperture efficiency, but it is unavoidable if the infinite array bandwidth is to be maintained in finite array designs. Lastly, this research articulates a development path for tightly-coupled arrays that extends in stages from infinite to semi-infinite, and thence finite layouts. Distinctions are explained and defended for the design focus at each stage. Element design, tuning, and initial feed design occur at the infinite array stage; AGSW suppression occurs at the semi-infinite stage; and design confirmation occurs only with the finite array. / Ph. D.

Le sujet de cette thèse porte sur la réalisation d'un bloc de transposition de fréquence de 1 à 20GHz à base de composants MEMS. Cette thèse s'est traduite par la conception et la réalisation d'un nouveau type de capacité MEMS RF variable, qui se base sur des structures rotatives de type gyroscope pour l'actionnement, et sur une variation de surface pour la variation de capacité. Comparée à différentes architectures publiées à ce jour, cette structure a l'avantage d'avoir la partie actionnement (la partie MEMS) et la partie RF (la capacité) isolées électriquement, ce qui permet d'éviter le phénomène d'auto actionnement avec la puissance du signal RF traversant. Un autre avantage de la structure développée est la possibilité d'avoir simultanément 8 capacités variables sur une puce unique, avec un seul système d'actionnement. La fabrication de ces puces nécessite l'utilisation d'un wafer SOI pour la partie MEMS et d'un wafer en verre pour la partie RF, ce qui offre la possibilité d'une mise en boitier du MEMS directement pendant le procédé de fabrication. Ces travaux ont également porté sur l'étude du phénomène de pullin dans le cadre des peignes interdigités incurvés (curved combdrive), laissant apparaître les paramètres physiques critiques lors du dimensionnement. Cette étude paramétrique a été utilisée pour améliorer la structure d'actionnement en utilisant des peignes interdigités à largeur de doigt et à gap variable, pour repousser ce phénomène de pullin en dehors de la plage utile d'actionnement. Cette nouvelle capacité variable a ensuite été intégrée dans un système simple d'oscillateur accordable sur alumine pour valider ses performances RF et pourra être associée à un mélangeur pour réaliser le bloc complet de transposition de fréquence / This thesis deals with the realisation of a frequency transposition block from 1 to 20 GHz based on MEMS components. It results in the design and fabrication of a new kind of tuneable RF MEMS capacitor based on a rotational gyroscope structure for the actuation part and on a surface variation for the capacitance change. Compared to other architectures published, this structure presents the advantage to have an actuation part (the MEMS part) and a RF part (the capacitor) that are electrically separated in order to avoid the phenomenon of self-actuation with RF signal crossing power. Another advantage of this structure is the possibility to simultaneously tune 8 different capacitors on a single chip, with only one actuation system. The fabrication of the chips requires the use of a SOI wafer for the MEMS part and a glass wafer for the RF part, which offers on chip packaging opportunity. This work also focused on the study of the pull-in effect in the case of curved comb-drives, highlighting the most critical physical parameters for the design. This parametric study has been used to improve the actuation structure and more particularly the topology of the curved comb-drives by variation of the finger width and gap. These modifications were done in order to push the pull-in effect out of the actuation operating range. This new tuneable capacitor has been integrated into a simple VCO circuit on alumina to validate the RF performances and could be associated to a RF mixer in order to realize the full frequency transposition block

No description available.

Broadband wireless communications require wideband antennas to support large number of users and higher data rates. Desirable features of a wideband antenna are low-profile, dual-polarization and wide bandwidth in a compact size. Many existing wideband antennas are large in size and some have only circular polarization. On the other hand low-profile, dual-polarized antennas frequently have limited bandwidth. This dissertation reports on results from original research into several new wideband antennas. All are compact and planar, and many are low-profile and dual-polarized. Since 1994, Virginia Tech Antenna Group (VTAG) has performed research on the wideband, low-profile and dual-polarized antennas of compact size. This research resulted in the following antenna innovations: the Fourpoint, Fourtear, PICA (Planar Inverted Cone Antenna), diPICA (dipole PICA) and LPdiPICA (Low-Profile diPICA) antennas. They are all planar in geometry so one can easily construct them in a compact size. The antennas were characterized and investigated with extensive simulations and measurements. The computed and measured data demonstrates that some of the antennas appear to have the characteristics of the self-complementary antenna and most of the proposed antennas provide more than a 10:1 impedance bandwidth for a VSWR < 2. Patterns, however, are degraded at the high end of the frequency. Several tapered ground planes were proposed to improve the radiation pattern characteristics without degrading the impedance performance. A simulation result proposed a possibility of another antenna inventions providing 10:1 pattern bandwidth with the 10:1 impedance bandwidth. Research into wideband antennas demonstrated that the newly invented antennas are closely related each other and are evolved from a primitive element, PICA. Not only the comprehensive investigation but also a practical antenna design has been done for commercial base-station array antennas and to phased array antennas for government applications. This dissertation presents results of comprehensive investigation of new planar wideband antennas and its usefulness to the broadband wireless communications. / Ph. D.

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless communication systems employ large bandwidths and low transmitted power spectral densities, and are suitable for operation as underlay systems which reuse allocated spectrum. The subject of this dissertation is Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) UWB for high data-rate communication. We address four main questions: (1) What are the theoretical performance limits and practical system performance of MB-OFDM? (2) What extensions can be used to increase the system power efficiency and range? (3) Is it possible to estimate the system error rate without resorting to time-consuming simulations? and (4) What is the effect of interference from narrowband systems on MB-OFDM, and can this interference be mitigated? As for questions 1 and 2, we investigate the MB-OFDM performance, and propose system enhancements consisting of advanced error correcting codes and OFDM bit-loading. Our methodology includes the development of information-theoretic performance measures and the comparison of these measures with performance results for MB-OFDM and our proposed extensions, which improve the power efficiency by over 6 dB at a data rate of 480 Mbps. To address question 3, we develop novel analytical methods for bit error rate (BER) estimation for a general class of coded multicarrier systems (of which MB-OFDM is one example) operating over quasi-static fading channels. One method calculates system performance for each channel realization. The other method assumes Rayleigh distributed subcarrier channel gains, and leads directly to the average BER. Both methods are also able to account for sum-of-tones narrowband interference. As for question 4, we first present an exact analysis of the uncoded BER of MB-OFDM in the presence of interference from incumbent systems such as IEEE 802.16 ("WiMAX"). We also present a Gaussian approximation for WiMAX interference, and establish its accuracy through comparison with exact analysis and simulations. We then propose a two-stage interference mitigation technique for coded MB-OFDM, consisting of interference estimation during silent periods, followed by metric weighting during decoding, which provides substantial gains in performance in return for modest increases in complexity, and without requiring any modifications to the MB-OFDM transmitter.

 This thesis focuses on three research topics on the design about planar ultrawide-band (UWB) monopole antennas, namely, the design of band notches for UWB monopole antennas, the ground-plane and cable effects on the measurement of compact UWB monopole antennas, and the design of a chipless UWB radio-frequency-identification (UWB-RFID) system. The designs of single, dual, triple and quadruple band-notched UWB monopole antennas using coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators, quarter-wavelength (λ/4)-resonators and meander lines (MLs) are presented. The center frequencies and bandwidths of the individual notches in all these designs can be adjusted independently by varying the dimensions of the resonators. Studies of the designs are carried out by computer simulations using the EM software tool, CST MWS. For verification of the simulation results, these antennas are fabricated and measured using the antenna measurement system, Satimo Starlab. The frequency-domain performances, in terms of return loss, peak gain, efficiency and radiation pattern, and the time-domain performances, in terms of pulse responses and fidelity, are investigated by simulation and measurement. Results show that these UWB antennas have approximately omnidirectional radiation patterns with good band-notched characteristics and fidelities of more than 85% in the pulse responses. Results of studies show that, using a small ground plane in the design of the compact UWB antennas, there will be larger discrepancies between the measured and simulated radiation patterns, radiation efficiencies and peak gains at low frequencies. The discrepancies are due to diffraction of the electric fields at the edges of the small ground plane, which leads to currents flowing back to the measuring cable and hence secondary radiation. Computer simulation and measurement are used to study the ground-plane effects using a group of nine UWB antennas. These antennas have the same radiator but with rectangular ground planes of different sizes. Results show that the width of the ground plane affects the efficiency more than the length, while the length affects the lower cut-off frequency. The cable effects are further studied by modeling the measuring cables. Results show that, by using the cable model, the simulation and measurement efficiencies agree extremely well. The design of a novel chipless UWB-RFID system is presented. The system employs uniplanar chipless tags and a pair of high-gain reader antennas. The chipless tag is composed of two UWB monopole antennas connected by a CPW. Tag identification (ID) is represented by a spectral signature in the UWB and created by using a multi-resonator embedded on the CPW. Detection of spectral signature is based on only the amplitude of the spectral signature. Vertically and horizontally polarized signals are used to reduce mutual coupling between the uplink and downlink signals. Further reduction of the mutual coupling is achieved by using a copper plate in the reader to separate the uplink and downlink signals. Results of studies in an anechoic chamber show that the proposed RFID system can achieve a read range larger than 30 cm, indicating that the proposed system has great potentials for short-range item tracking at low-cost. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless communication systems employ large bandwidths and low transmitted power spectral densities, and are suitable for operation as underlay systems which reuse allocated spectrum. The subject of this dissertation is Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) UWB for high data-rate communication. We address four main questions: (1) What are the theoretical performance limits and practical system performance of MB-OFDM? (2) What extensions can be used to increase the system power efficiency and range? (3) Is it possible to estimate the system error rate without resorting to time-consuming simulations? and (4) What is the effect of interference from narrowband systems on MB-OFDM, and can this interference be mitigated? As for questions 1 and 2, we investigate the MB-OFDM performance, and propose system enhancements consisting of advanced error correcting codes and OFDM bit-loading. Our methodology includes the development of information-theoretic performance measures and the comparison of these measures with performance results for MB-OFDM and our proposed extensions, which improve the power efficiency by over 6 dB at a data rate of 480 Mbps. To address question 3, we develop novel analytical methods for bit error rate (BER) estimation for a general class of coded multicarrier systems (of which MB-OFDM is one example) operating over quasi-static fading channels. One method calculates system performance for each channel realization. The other method assumes Rayleigh distributed subcarrier channel gains, and leads directly to the average BER. Both methods are also able to account for sum-of-tones narrowband interference. As for question 4, we first present an exact analysis of the uncoded BER of MB-OFDM in the presence of interference from incumbent systems such as IEEE 802.16 ("WiMAX"). We also present a Gaussian approximation for WiMAX interference, and establish its accuracy through comparison with exact analysis and simulations. We then propose a two-stage interference mitigation technique for coded MB-OFDM, consisting of interference estimation during silent periods, followed by metric weighting during decoding, which provides substantial gains in performance in return for modest increases in complexity, and without requiring any modifications to the MB-OFDM transmitter.

A new Ultra-Wideband (UWB) pattern diversity antenna is proposed, designed and investigated in this thesis. The antenna is capable of radiating in directive and omni-directional modes. Three different versions of the design are studied to show the performance for different applications. The first design consists of a single radiating element fed from two sides by coaxial probes over a shaped ground plane. In-phase excitation of the ports produces omni-directional radiation patterns and out-of-phase excitation results in directive radiation in the boresight of the antenna. The shape of the radiator is a disk, which is modified in geometry to improve the isolation of the ports. The antenna shows impedance bandwidth from 6.8 GHz to more than 15 GHz. The second design is a dual-element version of the same antenna to equalize the radiation patterns in the E- and H-planes. The antenna requires four ports and has an impedance bandwidth from 7.4 GHz to more than 15 GHz. A microstrip power divider is then included, in the third design, which in addition to decreasing the number of extra circuits for feeding, decreases the lower frequency to 4.5 GHz, without changing the radiation patterns significantly throughout the bandwidth. A prototype of this antenna was fabricated and measured, and the results are presented. In the fifth chapter, an electromagnetic polarization filter is designed for the single element UWB antenna, to reduce the cross-polarization level. 7 dB reduction in the maximum level of cross-polarization is achieved, throughout the frequency band 8 - 11 GHz. The following chapter is dedicated to the study and performance of the microstrip-fed UWB antenna, when used as a feed for prime-focus reflectors. It is shown that the designed antenna is capable of feeding the reflector with efficiency as high as 75%, and more than 60%, over a wide bandwidth of 5.5 - 9 GHz.

Medical hyperthermia refers to heating of tumors to temperature levels which are lethal to the cells for sufficient periods of time or rendering the cancerous cells more sensitive to ionizing radiation or chemotherapy. In order to increase the temperature in cancerous tissues, high power solid state microwave amplifiers need to be used. Recently ultra wide-band and continuous wave microwave methods have received increasing attention. Using adaptive focusing annular phase array applicators the radiation pattern can be adjusted according to tumor size and seating depth. For this purpose power amplifiers operating across 300MHz-1000MHz having a minimum output power of 150W needed to be designed. By varying the operating frequency the penetration depth can be controlled. Since currently 12 (with plans to increase the number to 18) of these amplifiers will be operating simultaneously in the designed system, the power added efficiency of the amplifier will be important both to regarding the cost of electricity and also allow for easier cooling requirements and thus a more compact system. The aim in this project is to have an efficiency of 60% across the band. In this thesis a power amplifier working in a push-pull configuration, designed using an NXP LDMOS device (BLF-647P) capable of delivering 200W RF power is demonstrated. During this thesis, different power combining topologies were studiedusing a nonlinear model that was developed in ADS using basic data provided by NXP. Using the developed model, load pull simulations have been performed and the input, two output matching networks are designed based on results from the load pull simulations. The design was manufactured and mounted on a copper base plate designed for this work which allowed efficient water cooling as well as serving as a fixture to firmly attach the matching circuits to the transistor and connectors. The measurements show that the design is capable of delivering more than 125 W from 360-940 MHz in pulsed mode operation with a mean efficiency of 50% which was measured in continuous mode. This work has demonstrated a high power wideband amplifier with high efficiency needed to drive future hyperthermia systems. The high efficiency of the amplifier allows for modern hyperthermia systems to be built in a more compact configuration with lower operating cost, which would not be possible with commercially available amplifiers.

Thesis (MS)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Richard Wolff. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-112).