Broadband quasi-microstrip antenna

A new printed microwave antenna is presented. The antenna is a hybrid between a wire antenna array and a microstrip patch antenna. Although the size, cost, and efficiency are comparable to the microstrip patch, the voltage standing wave ratio 2:1 bandwidth of the antenna presented here is above 20%. The radiation pattern of the antenna does not change appreciably within the bandwidth, and the theoretical efficiency for optimal antennas remains above approximately 80% within the bandwidth. Measurements on several antennas around 2 and 4 GHz are presented, as well as theoretical results obtained using a full-wave analysis     

The visibility function in interferometric aperture synthesis radiometry

The fundamental equation of interferometric aperture synthesis radiometry is revised to include full antenna pattern characterization and receivers' interaction. It is shown that the cross correlation between the output signals of a pair of receivers is a Fourier-like integral of the difference between the scene brightness temperature and the physical temperature of the receivers. The derivation is performed using a thermodynamic approach to account for the effects of mutual coupling between antenna elements. The analysis assumes that the receivers include ferrite isolators so that the noise wave passing from the receiver toward the antenna can be modeled as uncorrelated ambient noise. The effect of wide beamwidth antennas on the polarization basis of the retrieved brightness temperature is also discussed.     

Design and experimental investigation of stripline antennas

The results of development and experimental investigation of several centimeter-wave planar antennas are presented. The antennas contain a multichannel stripline power divider and a 2D periodic array of slot radiators excited by symmetric strip lines. A single-polarization antenna, an antenna with two linear polarizations, and an antenna with two circular polarizations are analyzed. The results of measuring the basic parameters of these antennas (the gain, the radiation pattern, and the cross-polarization level) are presented. Specific features of the design of such antennas and possible means of improvement of their performance characteristics are discussed.     

Estimates of brightness temperatures from scanning radiometer data

In the analysis of antenna temperature maps of the earth obtained by satellite-borne microwave radiometers, estimates of brightness temperatures or averages of brightness temperatures over areas considerably smaller than the region sensed at a given position of the radiometer antenna are often needed. An application of the Backus-Gilbert methodology is made to obtain an objective criterion of the best resolution (in a least squares sense) obtainable from a given system and to investigate the trade-off between resolution and noise in the derived average brightness temperatures. The mathematically related problem of simultaneously analyzing antenna temperature measurements made at different frequencies by antennas with noncoincident antenna patterns is also considered.     

Broadband active microstrip antenna design with the simplified realfrequency technique

This paper deals with the design of broadband active microstrip antennas where the amplifier is integrated with the radiator. Theoretically sound definitions for gain and noise figure of the active antenna are introduced, and their relationships with the definitions for the composing circuit and radiator parts are explained. A sequential design procedure is presented that allows the straightforward and optimal design of transmitting and receiving antennas with multiple active stages, taking into account input and output matching, the gain-versus-frequency curve as well as the noise performance. The theoretical concepts are illustrated with two examples: one of a transmitting active antenna and one of a receiving antenna. The former one is a two-stage design that achieves nearly 25% of bandwidth with regard to gain and matching and 24 dB gain improvement as compared to the matched passive antenna. The second one is a receiving antenna (one stage) with a measured noise figure of 1.2 dB in a bandwidth of over 17% and a gain improvement of 11.9 dB over the corresponding passive antenna. Finally co- and cross-polar radiation patterns in E- and H-plane prove that the antennas also have favorable radiation characteristics in a wide bandwidth (at least 18%)     

Nonuniform Luneburg and two-shell lens antennas: radiationcharacteristics and design optimization

Design optimization of radially nonuniform spherical lens antennas is the focus of this paper. In particular, special attention is given to the optimal design of nonuniform Luneburg (1964) lens antennas. One of the important engineering objectives of designing an optimal Luneburg lens antenna is to use as small number of shells as possible while maintaining an acceptable gain and sidelobe performance. In a typical radially uniform design, by reducing the number of shells, the gain is decreased and the grating lobes are increased. This deficiency in the radiation performance of the uniform lens antenna can be overcome by designing the nonuniform lens antenna. This necessitates the optimum selection of each layer thickness and permittivity. A genetic algorithm (GA) optimizer with adaptive cost function is implemented to obtain the optimal design. In this manner, the GA optimizer simultaneously determines the optimal material and its thickness for each shell by controlling the gain and sidelobes envelope of the radiation pattern. Various lens geometries, including air gaps and feed offset from the lens surface, are analyzed by using the dyadic Green's functions of the multilayered dielectric sphere. Many useful engineering design guidelines have been suggested for the optimum construction of the lens. The results have been satisfactory and demonstrate the utility of the GA/adaptive cost-function algorithm. Additionally, the radiation characteristics of a novel two-shell lens antenna have been studied, and its performance is compared to the Luneburg lens     

Design procedure for a Fresnel-zone plate antenna

A design procedure for two types of Fresnel-zone plate antennas is presented: viz. antennas with absorbing/transparent zones and phase-correcting zones. Design objectives are the optimization of the gain of the lens of the antenna and the side-lobe envelope of its radiation pattern. The design rules are derived from numerical simulations.     

A compact antenna for ultrawide-band applications

A novel compact and ultrawide-band (UWB) antenna is presented in this paper. The basis for achieving such an UWB operation is through proper magnetic coupling of two adjacent sectorial loop antennas in a symmetrical arrangement. A large number of coupled sectorial loop antennas (CSLA) with different geometrical parameters are fabricated and their measured responses are used to experimentally optimize the geometrical parameters of the antenna for achieving the maximum bandwidth. Through this optimization process an antenna with a VSWR of lower than 2.2 (S/sub 11/<-8.5 dB) across an 8.5:1 frequency range is designed. The maximum dimension of this antenna is smaller than 0.37/spl lambda//sub 0/ at the lowest frequency of operation and provides an excellent polarization purity. Furthermore, the antenna exhibits a relatively consistent radiation pattern. Modified versions of the CSLA are also designed to reduce the overall metallic surface and weight of the antenna while maintaining its wide-band characteristics. This allows modifying its dimensions to design low frequency light-weight UWB antennas.     

一种圆柱共形的全向微带天线

提出了一种全向的圆柱共形矩形微带天线。阐述了这种在薄圆柱形介质基片上的矩形微带天线的分析方法和设计方法，并给出了理论和实验结果，证实了这种天线在垂直于柱体轴的平面内辐射出全向性的方向图。     

Heating patterns generated by phase modulation of a hexagonal arrayof interstitial antennas

In this paper, we investigate an array of six interstitial microwave antennas used for hyperthermia cancer treatment. The purpose is to generate both uniform and controlled nonuniform heating patterns in biological tissue by phase modulating the signals applied to each antenna. The array consists of six antennas positioned on the corners of a hexagon. The distance between two diagonal antennas is 4 cm. The distributions of absorbed power per unit mass within the array are computed, and then converted into temperature distributions through a thermal conduction simulation. The SAR and temperature patterns are presented in both the lateral plane (perpendicular to the antennas) and the axial plane (parallel with the antennas). By proper phase modulation of microwave signals applied to each antenna, a uniform heating pattern can be produced within the entire array volume. Also, a peripheral heating pattern may be generated around the array; again, by using the proper phase modulation. The modulation schemes for generating both types of heating patterns are discussed.     

Improved radiation pattern performance of Gaussian profiled horn antennas

A new horn antenna profile is presented. This new profile based on Gaussian techniques offers the best solution when the requirements related to the radiation pattern are very stringent. Short-horn antennas with high-conversion efficiency to a fundamental Gaussian beam, and therefore, very low sidelobe and cross-pol levels in a wide-frequency band, could be obtained by using the design technique presented here. Once the theoretical principles of the Gaussian profiled horn antennas (GPHA) are presented, some other possibilities involving Gaussian profiles are studied and compared with their conventional counterparts. Finally, as an example of the design technique proposed, a particular design of a GPHA for HISPASAT 1C and now also valid for the new HISPASAT 1D satellite is presented, showing the excellent agreement between the theoretical and experimental results.     

Application of rectangular and elliptical dielcore feed horns toelliptical reflector antennas

The pattern characteristics of elliptical reflector antennas are investigated when they are fed by rectangular and elliptical horns partially filled with a dielectric. The bandwidth characteristics of these dielcore horns are superior to those of their corrugated horn counterparts. Representative reflector patterns are computed to properly demonstrate the utility of these feeds for reflector antennas with elliptical apertures. This reflector antenna exhibits high efficiency and low cross polarization, and may be suitable for radar and satellite antenna applications. The antenna configuration may become useful in relatively small antennas where more than 10% cross-polar bandwidth is required. The efficient dielcore horns may also be used as feeds for elliptical nonshaped dual-reflector antennas     

High-frequency asymptotic formulation for prompt response of parabolic reflector antennas

This work presents some important concepts for the temporal characterization of reflector antennas based on the determination of the transient antenna response together with a useful definition of the early-time antenna radiation pattern. The concepts are useful in the analysis and design of reflector antennas intended for high resolution radars and for high capacity digital, and UWB communication systems.     

Development of PSO-ANN Ensemble Hybrid Algorithm and Its Application in Compact Crown Circular Fractal Patch Antenna Design

The traditional methods of designing antennas are not suitable in case of fractal antennas due to non availability of accurate mathematical design expressions. Recently, ANN model relating the physical and electromagnetic parameters of the fractal antenna to be designed is used as objective function of the optimization algorithm and it has been shown as an effective approach. In presented paper, ANN ensemble model has been used as the objective function of a PSO algorithm to calculate the optimal dimensions of a circular fractal antenna for desired resonant frequency. It has been established that ANN ensemble has better performance than the constituent ANN models. The design accuracy of the proposed hybrid algorithm is validated through the simulation and experimental results of the designed antenna. The size reduction capability of the proposed fractal antenna is used to design an antenna for 5.8 GHz WLAN band with a size reduction of 41.64% compared to simple circular microstrip antenna. The miniaturization of the antenna will lead to the design of compact devices for wireless communication systems.     

On the RLSA antenna optimum design for DBS reception

An optimal design for the RLSA (radial line slot array) antenna useful for DBS reception is presented. Classical geometries and structures given in the literature are first used. It is found that in some cases these are not suitable. So, optimization techniques by using the right objective functions have been applied. Two different methods were developed and three antennas were designed. Numerical results and comparisons with other similar antennas give the advantages of our design     

Size reduction of cavity-backed slot antennas

A technique for reducing the dimensions of the cavity of a cavity-backed slot antenna (CBSA) is presented, which facilitates proper fabrication and integration of miniaturized slot antennas on multilayer substrates. This is accomplished by replacing the solid metal around the traditional slot antennas with a specific metallic pattern that can be viewed as a series of parallel strip lines placed around the slot antenna. This metallic pattern is then modified by designing the parallel strips in a compact fashion to reduce the overall antenna dimensions and obtain a reduced-size CBSA. It is shown that, for a simple straight slot antenna, the overall occupied volume of the modified cavity backing the slot antenna can be reduced by more than 65% without affecting the high radiation efficiency of the antenna. A number of traditional cavity backed slot antennas and the proposed modified CBSAs are designed, fabricated, and measured. The reduced-size CBSAs show a very low input VSWR, low cross-polarized radiation levels, and high radiation efficiency. Despite their small ground plane size, the proposed cavity backed slot antennas have front-to-back ratio (FTBR) values in the range of 6-7 dB.     

一种赋形阵列天线的优化设计

给出一种S 波段波束赋形阵列天线的优化设计过程,由带状耦合结构的印刷阵子天线并排组成16 元直线阵列。为使天线的辐射波束达到给定方向图的主瓣和副瓣要求,采用联合应用DFP 和BFGS 公式的变度量优化算法,对阵列天线各单元的馈电幅度和相位同时进行优化,并考虑阵列中各单元之间的互耦对阵列的影响,通过全波电磁仿真软件HFSS 进行了验证,所得的方向图与理论计算十分吻合。根据仿真优化的结果,制作了天线阵实物并进行了测试,得到的测试结果与仿真结果一致。     

Parallel particle swarm optimization and finite- difference time-domain (PSO/FDTD) algorithm for multiband and wide-band patch antenna designs

This paper presents a novel evolutionary optimization methodology for multiband and wide-band patch antenna designs. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) and the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) are combined to achieve the optimum antenna satisfying a certain design criterion. The antenna geometric parameters are extracted to be optimized by PSO, and a fitness function is evaluated by FDTD simulations to represent the performance of each candidate design. The optimization process is implemented on parallel clusters to reduce the computational time introduced by full-wave analysis. Two examples are investigated in the paper: first, the design of rectangular patch antennas is presented as a test of the parallel PSO/FDTD algorithm. The optimizer is then applied to design E-shaped patch antennas. It is observed that by using different fitness functions, both dual-frequency and wide-band antennas with desired performance are obtained by the optimization. The optimized E-shaped patch antennas are analyzed, fabricated, and measured to validate the robustness of the algorithm. The measured less than - 18 dB return loss (for dual-frequency antenna) and 30.5% bandwidth (for wide-band antenna) exhibit the prospect of the parallel PSO/FDTD algorithm in practical patch antenna designs.     

Direct GA-based optimisation of resistively loaded wire antennas inthe time domain

An optimisation procedure based on the genetic algorithm is applied to design resistively loaded wire antennas. The broadband characteristic of the antenna is realised through a maximisation of the fidelity factor directly in the time domain. The performance characteristics of the resulting antenna are presented and contrasted with those of the Wu-King design     

Design and Analysis of a 3-Arm Spiral Antenna

A novel 3-arm spiral antenna structure is presented in this paper. This antenna similar to traditional two-arm or four-arm spiral antennas exhibits wideband radiation characteristic and circular polarization. Advantages offered by the new design are two fold. Unlike the traditional spiral antennas the three-arm spiral can be fed by an unbalanced transmission line, such as a coaxial line or coplanar waveguide, and therefore an external balun is not needed at the feed point. Also by proper choice of arms' dimensions the antenna can be directly matched to any practical transmission line characteristic impedance and therefore external matching networks are not required. This is accomplished by feeding the antenna at the outer radius by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line and tapering it towards the center. The antenna can also be fed from the center using a coaxial or CPW line perpendicular to the plane of the spiral antenna. A full-wave numerical simulation tool is used to optimize the geometry of the proposed 3-arm spiral to achieve a compact size, wide bandwidth operation, and low axial ratio. The antenna is also designed over a ground plane to achieve a unidirectional radiation and center loading is examined that improves the axial ratio. Simulated results like return loss, radiation pattern, gain, and axial ratio are compared with those obtained from measurements and good agreements are shown. Because of its unique feed structure and compact size, application of the proposed 3-arm spiral antenna for wideband array applications is demonstrated