Future Deep Space (DS) ground stations envisioned by running projects funded by major space agencies are based on arrays of reflector antennas operating in different frequency bands. Therefore, a multi-band feeding system is required for each antenna, and a possible solution foresees the use of dichroic mirrors to separate/combine different beams. This paper presents a low-cost and fast manufacturing process for the fabrication of dichroic mirrors, usually referred to as punching technique or metal stamping. In particular, the specific advantages and limits of this fabrication technique are outlined and discussed, showing both electrical performance and manufacturing accuracy measurements from a test prototype. In addition, a typical scenario for future DS ground stations is described, showing the impact of these low-cost dichroic mirrors on the final ground station performance and cost, compared to the standard approach for dichroic mirror manufacturing based on more expensive and time-consuming technologies (e.g. milling machining).

Multi-satellite missions, such as the next generation of METEOSAT geostationary satellites, require a ground station able to support an arbitrary number of satellites that can fly wherever within a pre-determined sky region, called control box. The use of high frequencies, around 26 GHz, imposes on the ground station high antenna gains to compensate for the noise temperature collected at those frequencies to obtain the specified G/T. Regardless of the narrow beamwidths that emerged from the adoption of high antenna gains, it is also required to operate with fixed (i.e. without any kind of tracking) antennas. This paper shows how all these specifications drive a new type of ground station with respect to current solutions. The proposed architecture is based on a multi-reflector system able to provide a set of interleaved beams, which generates an almost uniform coverage of the control box. The architecture is analyzed and designed, optimizing all the main antenna parameters, and presenting the analytical results.

This paper describes the design of a 12-monopole linear array to perform a radiation pattern in the array alignment plane. This antenna can be used for HyperLAN2 telecommunications in transit vehicles. The design is based on a rigorous method which synthesizes the feeds weights by considering the strong cumulative coupling between monopoles. The originality of this paper consists in considering the couplings to obtain the objective pattern. Without this approach, a significant performance alteration is observed. The array and the feed network have been designed and successfully measured.

This paper presents measured results for two-stage and three-stage high-voltage/high-power (HiVP) amplifiers implemented in a commercial 0.12 μm silicon germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) bipolar Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (BiCMOS) process at millimeter wave. The HiVP configuration provides a new tool for millimeter-wave silicon designers to achieve large output voltage swings, high output power density, customizable bias, and a way to minimize, if not eliminate, matching circuitry at millimeter-wave frequencies. The two-stage amplifier has achieved a PSAT = 5.41 dBm with a power added efficiency (PAE) of 8.06% at center frequency 30 GHz. The three-stage amplifier has achieved a PSAT = 8.85 dBm with a PAE of 11.35% with a total chip area of 0.068 mm2 at center frequency 30 GHz. Simulation, layout, fabrication, and measurement results are presented in this paper.

In this article, the development of a high-efficiency power amplifier (PA) with the inverse class-F configuration and a novel 3/4 spiral defected ground structure (DGS) is presented. The proposed DGS structure has improved rejection characteristic and its resonance frequencies are more convenient to adjust than conventional symmetric and asymmetric spiral structure. The electromagnetic-simulated result shows that the proposed circuit has improved harmonic control performance with simplified structure and less return loss than the conventional microstrip harmonic control circuit. The 3/4 spiral harmonics control circuit (HCC) can be modeled by three parallel RLC resonators. Using the proposed structure a high-performance harmonic control circuit is designed for implementing an inverse class-F PA. For comparison, two inverse class-F PAs operating at 2.4 GHz have been implemented by the microstrip HCC and the proposed HCC, respectively. According to the experiment results, the size of the proposed inverse class-F PA is reduced by 20%, the power-added efficiency and the gain are increased by 4.8% and 1.5 dB, respectively.

This paper reports a 15 GHz quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (QVCO) designed in a 130 nm CMOS technology. The phase noise performance of the QVCO and of a phase locked loop (PLL) where the QVCO was inserted were compared with the literature and with telecom standards and commercial products for broadcast satellite applications.

A new SiGe heterojunction bipolar phototransistor (HPT) based on a commercially available process was designed, realized, and experimentally characterized. Its internal characteristics, mainly the collector-to-base capacitance, vary significantly with the received light power, making it suitable as an active element of a light-controlled photo-oscillator. It can also be a key component of optical network-on-chip (ONoC). Its responsivity was improved and its transition frequency remains in the range of 30 GHz.

In this paper, an accurate neuro-fuzzy-based model is proposed for efficient computer-aided design (CAD) modeling and optimization of microwave circuits and devices. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach is used to determine the scattering parameters of a microstrip filter and is applied to the optimization design of this microstrip filter. The ANFIS has the advantages of expert knowledge of fuzzy inference system and learning capability of artificial neural networks. The neuro-fuzzy model has been trained and tested with different sets of input/output data. Finally, different results, which confirm the validity of the proposed model, are reported.

The design of agile active antennas requires an efficient modeling methodology in order to quantify the impact of other components on the array radiation pattern, and especially the influence of power amplifiers (PA). Therefore, the performance prediction of PA on TX chains is of prime importance. This article describes two different approaches for active antenna applications. The first one concentrates on PA macro-modeling, which takes into account a large output load impedance mismatch with a voltage standing wave ratio up to 4:1. A PA behavioral model based on nonlinear scattering functions was developed and extracted from CW measurements. The model validity was checked by comparison with the measured data. The second one describes a novel technique for synthesizing a given radiation pattern, whereas taking into account the mutual coupling and calculated matching impedances (ZL ≠ 50 Ω) of each antenna in the array according to frequency and pointing angle.

This paper focuses on the behavioral modeling of the passive RF blocks from frequency-domain samples. This work is based on vector fitting (VF) approach which is a robust method for MIMO system identification in the frequency domain. This paper addresses firstly the problem of convergence using envelope transient (ET) on complex circuits, i.e. power amplifiers (PAs), where linear sub-circuits are widely described through S-parameters matrices derived from ElectroMagnetic (EM) simulations. An alternative way leads to combine VF method with an RLC synthesis process at the circuit level. This approach is validated on a simple circuit case and generalized to MIMO systems. Second application is the behavioral modeling of MIMO blocks at system level in a high-level spice-like system simulation tool which allows “Control Flow” simulations. The proposed approach combines on one hand the VF method with and impulse responses evaluation on the other hand. In consequence, bilateral behavioral models of MIMO system can be efficiently achieved irrespective of the number of access. This method is validated at once on simple and complex MIMO blocks. As a result, the topological behavioral modeling of complex PAs, which distinguish linear sub-circuits and nonlinear ones, is now possible in a high-level time-domain CAD tool.

This paper reports the effect of suspended periodic defect structure in switching the frequency of ring resonator. It has been observed in simulations and experiments that this non-intrusive method can switch the frequency by 31 MHz for square lattice of suspended periodic defect and by 124 MHz for a triangular lattice of suspended periodic defect structure.

In this paper a dual-band bandpass filter with sharp rejection is proposed. The filter is realized by using two half-wavelength stepped impedance resonators to operate at the passbands 2.5 and 3.5 GHz. To increase the band width further to about 45 MHz at the lower passband and 115 MHz at the higher passband, interdigital capacitors are introduced between resonator and input and output combining network. Measured insertion loss is about 1.45 and 1.7 dB at first and second passbands, respectively. A finite transmission zero in between two passbands at 2.84 GHz is realized to improve the selectivity of the filter. The design procedure to get highly selective response of the proposed filter is explicitly explained. An equivalent circuit model of proposed filter is developed that matches well with measured results.

A novel wideband transition from finite ground-conductor backed-CPW (FG-CB-CPW) to microstrip has been demonstrated in 8–23 GHz band. Proposed transition provides a very low-loss alterative to microstrip/coplanar lines at higher frequencies. Simulated results are detailed for both alumina and silicon substrates. Simulated results are validated on alumina substrate providing more than 100% bandwidth with maximum insertion loss of around 1.5 dB in the targeted frequency range. Comparison of the results along with design procedures is detailed in this article.

In this paper, it is proposed to use a cylindrical cell for the characterization of dielectric material. The extraction of complex permittivity is based on inverse gradient approach where the full-wave simulation results are mapped to experimental data to extract the complex permittivity. As the operational frequency of radio frequency (RF)/microwave devices is increased, it becomes difficult to accurately model waveguide transitions using traditional methods based on meshing such as finite-element method (FEM) where mesh size is determined according to the wavelength. Moreover, these techniques usually require extensive computational resources. Mode matching technique (MMT) is the full-wave tool implemented in this current work. It is used to compute the generalized scattering matrices (GSMs) of the different discontinuities of test setup. These GSMs model precisely discontinuities as they include the effects of all higher-order modes propagating and evanescent. Simulation and experimental results are included to validate the proposed approach for the rigorous modeling of those discontinuities and hence the extraction of complex permittivity.

Two new designs of the L-shaped Planar Inverted–F Antenna (PIFA) antennas with single and dual polarization operating at the frequency band for IEEE 802.11b/g standard with satisfactory radiation characteristics are presented. We further propose a genetic algorithm (GA) embedded in CST Microwave Studio for optimizing these antenna parameters. The agreement of simulation and measurement results shows the performance of our joint model. Also, they show that our dual-polarization antenna is suitable for indoor Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless environment applications.

An alternative approach is based on statistically computed signal analysis technique for the design of antenna array exhibiting lower side lobes in their radiation pattern. New and generalized expressions for the array factor of all physically realizable linear antenna arrays are introduced. An algorithm based on the statistically computed signal analysis is designed. By considering the random elements, distance between the sensors, their mean, variance, average amplitude pattern and correlation of the amplitude between the two angles, some mathematical formulations have been done and shown with the help of MATLAB. Based on these generalized expressions, a new way of synthesizing arrays with reduced side lobes is available. It applies to end fire antenna array, which may have either even or odd numbers of sensors with restricted elements spacing. Final expressions shown are a clear relationship between elements excitation and null location in the radiation patterns.

This paper deals with the numerical dosimetry for adult and children models exposed to CW signals of several wireless communication systems (UMTS, WiMax, and Bluetooth) within a partly shielded environment represented by a realistic car model. More than 20 mono- and multi-source exposure scenarios are considered. Computational results demonstrate that, for all considered exposure scenarios, the specific absorption rate (SAR) is at least 40 times (whole-body average) and 10 times (local SAR) lower than the exposure limits fixed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The whole-body average SAR values for children are found to be typically 1.1–1.3 times higher than those of adults. Under several exposure scenarios, the local SAR in the limbs of children models is 2–3 times higher than corresponding values in adult models. The power density distributions within the car have been also analyzed for one, two, and three simultaneously emitting devices. The results show that the homogeneity of the power density distribution increases with increasing number of simultaneously operating transmitters. These data suggest that the use of several wireless communication devices within a car leads to exposure levels that are several orders of magnitude below international exposure limits, even for the multi-exposure scenarios for both adult and children models.

In this paper, we have analyzed the performance of correlated Nakagami-m fading channel by using the maximal-ratio-combing diversity at the receiver. A closed-form mathematical expression is derived for the average bit error rate (BER) for binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) and average symbol-error-rate (SER) for M-Quardrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) scheme in terms of the higher transcendental function such as Appell hypergeometric function by using the well-known moment generating function (MGF)-based approach with arbitrary fading index for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication systems. Moreover, we also derived an expression for the outage probability and the proposed numerical results are compared with the reported literature.