Antennas and Propagation Measurement Techniques for UWB Radio

The progressive development of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) antennas and microelectronics allows for a wide range of future UWB radio communication applications. The paper focuses on testing and measuring various antennas and propagation aspects important in UWB radio. The ‘Delft approach’ of measuring UWB antennas using time-domain measurement techniques is explained including the diagnostics of antenna mismatch and wave scattering from the inside and the antennas environment. The approach is illustrated with measurements.The experimental time-domain set up allows instantaneous measurements up to 26GHz. After an overview of various UWB antennas some latest developments of a miniaturized antenna are reported. UWB channel measurements in ‘short-range radio’ illustrates that good insight in the propagation of short radar pulses can be obtained. Leo P. Ligthart was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on September 15, 1946. He received an Engineer's degree (cum laude) and a Doctor of Technology degree from Delft University of Technology in 1969 and 1985, respectively. He is fellow of IEE and IEEE. He received Doctorates (honoris causa) at Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation in 1999 and Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics in 2001. He is academician of the Russian Academy of Transport. Since 1992, he has held the chair of Microwave Transmission, Radar and Remote Sensing in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology. In 1994, he founded the International Research Center for Telecommunications and Radar (IRCTR) and is the director of IRCTR. Prof. Ligthart's principal areas of specialization include antennas and propagation, radar and remote sensing, but he has also been active in satellite, mobile and radio communications. He has published over 300 papers.