Single-feed circularly polarized microstrip ring antenna and arrays

An analysis is presented for a microstrip-feed proximity-coupled ring antenna and a four-element array. Interactions between the embedded microstrip feed and the radiating element(s) are rigorously included. Results demonstrate that circular polarization of both senses can be achieved with a ring antenna with proper design of two inner stubs located at angles of ±45° with respect to the feedline. Theory and experiment demonstrate an axial ratio 3-dB bandwidth of 1% and the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) <2 bandwidth of 6.1%. The axial ratio bandwidth is typical for a microstrip antenna with perturbations, while the VSWR bandwidth is larger than for the circular or rectangular patch with perturbations. A mutual coupling study between two elements shows that the axial ratio is less than 2 dB for interelement spacing greater than 0.55λ_eff, while the VSWR <2 for all spacings considered. A comparison between theory and experiment is provided for a 2×2 element array. The benefits of sequentially rotating the antenna elements in an array environment are presented. The axial ratio and VSWR bandwidths are both increased to 6.1% and 18% for a four-element array. A single-element antenna with two orthogonal feeds to provide both senses of polarization is demonstrated. The ring antenna is small (D/λ₀=0.325), the substrate thickness is thin (H/λ₀~0.035), and the microstrip feed produces a completely planar antenna system, which is compatible with microwave and millimeter integrated circuits (MICs), and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs)     

A curved spiral antenna above a conducting cylinder

A curved spiral antenna above a finite hollow conducting cylinder is analyzed using the method of moments. The effects of cylinder length 2H and cylinder radius r_cy on the radiation characteristics of the spiral are evaluated. As 2H increases, the cross-polarization component of the radiation field in the broadside direction decreases to a constant value (approximately -18 dB). When 2H is greater than one wavelength (λ₀), the input impedance of the spiral above a cylinder of radius r_cy=0.25 λ₀ is almost constant (250-j20 Ω) with a gain of approximately 7 dB. The spiral above a cylinder of (2H, r_cy)=(2.7 λ₀, 0.25 λ₀) shows a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of approximately 23%, which is wider than a flat spiral antenna above a flat ground plane of infinite extent     

Tilted- and axial-beam formation by a single-arm rectangular spiralantenna with compact dielectric substrate and conducting plane

A single-arm rectangular spiral antenna is analyzed using the finite-difference time-domain method. The spiral is printed on a finite-size dielectric substrate backed by a finite-size conducting plane. Both the substrate and conducting planes are square with a side length L of less than 0.6λ₀ (λ₀: wavelength in free space). The radiation pattern is dependent on the outermost arm peripheral length C. The spiral whose peripheral length is within 2λ_gg (λ_g: the guided wavelength of the current) radiates a tilted beam of circular polarization. When the peripheral length is decreased to λ_gg, the spiral radiates an axial beam. The axial beam has a wide half-power beam width of approximately 102° (for L≈0.369λ₀) with a gain of approximately 6.7 dB. The axial beam shows a 15% frequency bandwidth for a 3 dB axial ratio criterion. Over this bandwidth, the voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) is less than two, as desired. The experimental results for the radiation pattern, gain, axial ratio, and VSWR are also presented     

Small circularly polarised printed antenna

A compact circularly polarised printed antenna is presented. The antenna consists of a synchronous subarray of shorted patches with the required feed network etched on a high dielectric constant substrate located below the ground-plane of the antenna. The 10 dB return loss and the 3dB axial ratio bandwidths are 8.5 and 11.3%, respectively. The overall size of the proposed antenna is 0.195 λ₀×0.195 λ₀×0.0523λ₀     

Wideband circular patch antenna operated at TM01 mode

The characteristics of a circular patch microstrip antenna with a top-loaded monopole feed are investigated. Air is used as the dielectric substrate. The distance between the radiating patch and ground plane is ~0.15λ₀. The patch is excited in the TM₀₁ mode. An impedance bandwidth (SWR<2) of 50% and an average gain of 5dBi are obtained     

Broadband triangular microstrip antenna with U-shaped slot

The broadband design of a triangular microstrip antenna with a U-shaped slot is demonstrated. With a foam substrate of thickness ~0.08 λ₀, a slotted triangular microstrip antenna with an operating bandwidth of ~18% is obtained, which is ~1.8 times that of a corresponding simple triangular patch antenna. Details of the antenna design and experimental results are presented     

A uniplanar compact photonic-bandgap (UC-PBG) structure and itsapplications for microwave circuit

This paper presents a novel photonic bandgap (PBG) structure for microwave integrated circuits. This new PBG structure is a two-dimensional square lattice with each element consisting of a metal pad and four connecting branches. Experimental results of a microstrip on a substrate with the PEG ground plane displays a broad stopband, as predicted by finite-difference time-domain simulations. Due to the slow-wave effect generated by this unique structure, the period of the PBG lattice is only 0.1λ₀ at the cutoff frequency, resulting in the most compact PEG lattice ever achieved. In the passband, the measured slow-wave factor (β/k₀) is 1.2-2.4 times higher and insertion loss is at the same level compared to a conventional 50-Ω line. This uniplanar compact PBG (UC-PBG) structure can be built using standard planar fabrication techniques without any modification. Several application examples have also been demonstrated, including a nonleaky conductor-backed coplanar waveguide and a compact spurious-free bandpass filter. This UC-PBG structure should find wide applications for high-performance and compact circuit components in microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits     

A broad-band coupled-strips microstrip antenna

A coupled-strip microstrip antenna with increased bandwidth and increased polarization purity is presented. We have demonstrated the underlying principle of its operation using even/odd modes of the coupled strips. An optimized parameter set for three coupled strips is obtained. The VSWR=2, impedance bandwidth of this antenna is 23% for antenna thickness of 0.083λ₀     

Modified planar inverted F antenna

The design of a modified planar inverted F antenna (PIFA) which is more compact (antenna length <λ₀/8 and antenna height <0.01 λ₀) and has a much wider antenna bandwidth (greater than 10 times that of a simple PIFA) is demonstrated. The reduction in antenna length is achieved by meandering the radiating patch, while the enhanced bandwidth with low antenna height is obtained using a chip-resistor load in place of the shorting post. A typical design of the modified PIFA in the 800 MHz band has been implemented, and experimental results are presented and discussed     

A dual-beam micro-CPW leaky-mode antenna

A quasi-planar leaky-mode antenna employing the second higher order leaky mode of even symmetry in its leaky-wave regime has been proposed for a new antenna configuration consisting of a microstrip and a coplanar waveguide (CPW) on both sides of the substrate. The new antenna, also known as the micro-CPW antenna, is directly fed by a CPW line without matching circuit. One particular K-band antenna of 36 mm long [about 2.7 free-space wavelengths (λ₀) at 22.1 GHz] shows 5.3% impedance bandwidth for VSWRs less than 2.0 for frequencies between 21.927-23.110 GHz, 11.0-dB antenna gain, and 90.02% efficiency. Detailed analyses show that the dual-beam antenna is linearly polarized along two slanted lines, which lie in the longer axes of the ellipses that approximate the radiation contours. Both theoretical and experimental data for the micro-CPW antenna agree very well for the particular design. The proposed micro-CPW antenna is suitable for active integrated antenna integration at higher microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies     

Microstrip antennas on synthesized low dielectric-constantsubstrates

Micromachining techniques using closely spaced holes have been used underneath a microstrip antenna on a high dielectric-constant substrate (ϵ_r=10.8) to synthesize a localized low dielectric-constant environment (ϵ_r=2.3). The measured radiation efficiency of a microstrip antenna on a micromachined 635-μm thick ϵ_r=10.8 Duroid 6010 substrate increased from 48±3% to 73±3% at 12.8-13.0 GHz (including 3.3-cm feed line losses). We believe that this technique can be applied to millimeter-wave antennas (microstrip, dipoles, slots, etc.) on silicon and GaAs substrates to result in relatively wideband (3-6%) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) active antenna modules for phased-arrays and collision-avoidance systems     

Surface wave excitation on a microstrip ring antenna

A theoretical analysis of the excitation of surface waves on a microstrip ring antenna is presented. The problem is formulated using dyadic Green's functions in a layered medium with magnetic-type equivalent current sources. The integral equation for the fields is solved in the wave number complex plane so that the fields from space and surface waves are obtained separately. The space wave radiation efficiency is calculated for the TM₁₁, TM₁₂, and TM₁₃ modes for various values of the normalized dielectric substrate thickness, d/λ₀. It is noted that the TM₁₃ mode radiates more efficiently than the TM₁₁ and TM₁₂ modes. The results are of importance in the design of these antennas     

Wave propagation through curved shells and the validity of theplane-slab approximation

A variety of results is presented for the transmission of microwaves through curved shells. Cylindrical shells with line sources and spherical shells with dipole sources, located in the shell cavity, are considered, and ray theory is applied in systematic computation following G.H. Deschamps' procedure (1972). The ray tracing procedure implemented in the program includes the contribution of multiple reflections between the shell dielectric and free-space medium interface. These results are compared with the local plane-slab approximation described by G. Tricoles (1964). Errors <1% in magnitude are found for radii of curvature >10 λ₀, and thickness <1% λ₀. For the extreme case of shells with radii <5 λ₀ and thickness greater than 1 λ₀, the plane-slab approximation appears to have significant error. Typically, for a shell of radius 5 λ₀ and thickness of 1 λ₀, the error in the normalized far field is less than 4%. The procedure of P.D. Einziger and L.B. Felsen (1983) is extended to provide a basis for the plane-slab approximation     

Analysis and measurements for improved crank-line antennas

This paper describes the radiation characteristics of crank-line antennas radiating a circularly polarized wave. First, the radiation efficiency versus substrate permittivity is evaluated. Second, a 12-cell crank-line antenna of substrate permittivity ε_r=1 and antenna height B=λ_11.85 is investigated as a reference antenna, where λ_11.85 is the wavelength at a frequency of 11.85 GHz. It is found that the main beam direction of the reference antenna varies 7° over a frequency range of approximately 6%, with an axial ratio of less than 3 dB and a gain of approximately 21 dB. Third, attention is paid to the gain behavior versus the antenna height. A way to increase the gain by modifying the antenna height is proposed. An increase of 1.5 dB from the gain of the reference antenna is demonstrated. Finally, the axial ratio, gain, and decoupling factor for crank-line antenna arrays are presented and discussed     

Small eletric monopole mode dielectric resonator antenna

A novel dielectric resonator (DR) antenna is reported. The lowest order mode of the proposed antenna radiates like an electric monopole. The dimensions of the antenna are much smaller than a previously reported structure radiating in a similar mode, e.g. for an antenna fabricated out of ε_r=20 material, the diameter and height of the DR are ~0.08 λ₀ each     

Self-phase modulation and dispersion in high data rate fiber-optictransmission systems

The theoretical transmission limits imposed by the interaction of first- and second-order group velocity dispersion and intensity-dependent self-phase modulation (SPM) effects for a range of wavelengths around the zero dispersion wavelength (λ₀) for fibers in which polarization dispersion is negligible are investigated. It is found that increasing the peak input power to 30 mW reduces the transmission distance for data rates greater than 50 Gb/s, if operating at wavelengths shorter than λ₀. Operating at wavelengths longer than λ₀ improves the performance due to the cancellation of first-order dispersion by self-phase modulation. For example, at 50 Gb/s and 30 mW peak input power, the maximum transmission distance is 255 and 162 km, if operating at wavelengths 1 nm longer or shorter than λ₀, respectively. Above 100 Gb/s, higher-order dispersion limits the transmission distance even at wavelengths equal to, or longer than, λ₀. Linear dispersion compensation using a grating-telescope combination can significantly improve system performance for wavelengths where first-order dispersion dominates     

An active integrated retrodirective transponder for remoteinformation retrieval-on-demand

A retrodirective transponder based on a novel compact phase-conjugating mixer with conversion gain has been developed. The active circuit uses one port for both incoming and outgoing signals, enabling a reduction of circuit size, and the balanced structure provides suppression of undesired signals. By using a modulated local oscillator, the circuit can modulate the received signal in order to retransmit local information to the remote site. A microstrip antenna is integrated with the phase conjugator and the whole system was fabricated on a single substrate, enabling a one-card system. A four-element prototype array with 0.5λ₀ array spacing demonstrated excellent measured retrodirectivity. Additionally, a simplified binary-phase-shift-keying signal transmitted by the array is recovered successfully at the source location, demonstrating great potential for remote tagging and wireless sensor applications     

A compact circularly polarized subdivided microstrip patch antenna

A compact circularly polarized subdivided microstrip patch antenna is proposed. The antenna is composed of the interconnection of four corner patches alternating with four strips and a fifth central patch. It presents the very small size of 0.28λ_g by 0.28λ_g at resonance (5.85 GHz), which represents a surface reduction of 60% compared with a conventional microstrip square patch antenna. The proposed antenna exhibits a gain of 4.3 dBi to 5 dBi and an axial ratio lower than 1.8 dB in the range of its bandwidth, which is of 30 MHz     

New converses in the theory of identification via channels

New converses for identification via arbitrary single-user and multiple-access channels, with finite first- and second-type probabilities of error, are developed. For the arbitrary single-user channel, it is shown that (λ₁, λ₂)-identification capacity is upper-bounded by λ-capacity, and optimistic (λ₁,λ₂ )-identification capacity is upper-bounded by optimistic λ-capacity, for any λ>λ₁+λ₂. The bounds become tight at the limit of the vanishing probabilities of error, thus generalizing previous results by Han and Verdu (1992), who showed that the identification capacity is equal to transmission capacity for channels satisfying the strong converse of the channel coding theorem. A by-product of the new identification converses is a general formula for optimistic λ-capacity. An outer bound on the (λ₁, λ₂)-identification capacity region of an arbitrary multiple-access channel is developed. A consequence of this bound is that the identification capacity region is equal to the transmission capacity region for any stationary, finite-memory multiple-access channel. The key tool in proving these bounds is the partial resolvability of a channel, a new notion in resolvability theory, which deals with approximation of the output statistics on a suitably chosen part of the output alphabet. This notion of approximation enables us to get sharp bounds on identification for arbitrary channels, and to extend these bounds to the multiple-access channel     

Effect of microstrip antenna substrate thickness and permittivity:comparison of theories with experiment

A set of measurements of patch antennas on substrates of varying thickness and permittivity, using three types of feeds, is presented. Resonant frequency and resonant resistance are compared with calculated values from the representative theories. The measurements show that erratic results may be obtained for substrates thicker than about 0.02 λ₀, where λ₀ is the free-space wavelength at the resonant frequency. These problems may be related to coax-to-microstripline transitions, but their cause is not yet definitely known. The theoretical models that are compared give reasonably good results for resonant frequency, but none give impedance results that are consistently reliable. It thus appears that further work is needed to develop analytical models that can adequately predict the impedance performance of microstrip antennas on thick and/or high dielectric constant substrates