Two different topologies of radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF MEMS) series ohmic switches (cantilever and clamped–clamped beams) in coplanar waveguide (CPW) configuration have been characterized by means of DC, environmental, and RF measurements. In particular, on-wafer checks have been followed by RF test after vibration, thermal shocks, and temperature cycles. The devices have been manufactured on high resistivity silicon substrates, as building blocks to be implemented in different single-pole 4-throw (SP4 T), double-pole double-throw (DPDT) configurations, and then integrated in Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC) technology for the realization of large-order Clos 3D networks.

A 240-GHz monostatic circular polarized SiGe frequency-modulated continuous wave radar system based on a transceiver chip with a single on-chip antenna is presented. The radar transceiver front-end is implemented in a low-cost 0.13 µm SiGe HBT technology version with cut-off frequencies fT/fmax of 300/450 GHz. The transmit block comprises a wideband ×16 frequency multiplier chain, a three-stage PA, while the receive block consists of a low-noise amplifier, a fundamental quadrature down-conversion mixer, and a three-stage PA to drive the mixer. A differential branch-line coupler and a differential dual-polarized on-chip antenna are added on-chip to realize a fully integrated radar transceiver. All building blocks are implemented fully differential. The use of a single antenna in the circular polarized radar transceiver leads to compact size and high sensitivity. The measured peak-radiated power from the Si-lens equipped radar module is +11 dBm (equivalent isotropically radiated power) at 246 GHz and noise figure is 21 dB. The characterization bandwidth of the radar transceiver is 60 GHz around the center frequency of 240 GHz, and the simulated Tx-to-Rx leakage is below −20 dB from 230 to 260 GHz. After system calibration the resolution of the system to distinguish between two targets at different distance of 3.65 mm is achieved, which is only 21% above the theoretical limit.

A high impedance surface (HIS) consisting of metallic square patches electrically connected one to each other with resistors is shown. Tunability of the absorption factor is achieved by the resistor value. The absorbing band of the loaded HIS is determined by the phase of the signal reflected by this structure. The main contribution of the paper is to demonstrate the absorption behavior over a wide range of incidence angle for both Transverse Electric (TE) and Transverse Magnetic (TM) polarizations. Using an equivalent circuit the resistor effect is investigated. It is shown that at resonance, the judicious choice of the resistor may lead to a significant absorption. The use of a waveguide simulator to characterize the performance of the loaded HIS is investigated. These methods have been used to design an ultra-thin absorber about λ8.4 GHz/35 thick.

In this article, a novel motion model-based particle filter implementation is proposed to classify human motion and to estimate key state variables, such as motion type, i.e. running or walking, and the subject's height. Micro-Doppler spectrum is used as the observable information. The system and measurement models of human movements are built using three parameters (relative torso velocity, height of the body, and gait phase). The algorithm developed has been verified on simulated and experimental data.

A novel, broadband, nonlinear behavioral model, based on support vector regression (SVR) is presented in this paper. The proposed model, distinct from existing SVR-based models, incorporates frequency information into its formalism, allowing the model to perform accurate prediction across a wide frequency band. The basic theory of the proposed model, along with model implementation and the model extraction procedure for radio frequency transistor devices is provided. The model is verified through comparisons with the simulation of an equivalent circuit model, as well as experimental measurements of a 10 W Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistor. It is seen that the efficiency prediction throughout the Smith chart, for varying fundamental and second harmonic loads, across a wideband frequency range, show excellent fidelity to the measured results. Device dc self-biasing is also modelled to allow prediction of power amplifier (PA) efficiency, which is shown to be highly accurate when compared with corresponding measured data. Finally, a class-J PA is constructed and measured across the frequency with a large-signal input tone. The resulting measured and modelled values of key PA performance figures are shown to be in excellent agreement, indicating the model is suitable for broadband PA design.

This paper reports on a microwave heater at 20 GHz for digital microfluidics. It allows rapid heating of nanoliter fluid samples and simultaneous temperature monitoring by correlating the reflection coefficient of the heater with the temperature dependency of the relative permittivity of the lossy fluid under consideration, in this case demineralized water. Microwave heating was performed with power levels of 20 and 23 dBm at the on-wafer probe tips on samples of 500 nL. Temperature measurements were carried out with a miniaturized type K thermocouple, and a platinum resistor to monitor the reference temperature. Microwave and thermal performances have been characterized using multi-physics software, and measurements obtained with a large signal vector network analyzer showed good agreement with simulated data. An average heating rate of 20 °C/s was observed during the first 4 s of the heating process.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have acquired enormous importance in computing of the performance parameters of microstrip antennas due to their generalized and adaptive features. However, recently the concept of support vector machines (SVMs) has become very much popular in performance parameters computation due to several attractive features over ANNs. Specifically, SVMs outreach ANNs noticeably in terms of execution time. Likewise, ANNs are having multiple local minima problem, whereas a global and unique solution is provided by SVMs. In this paper, several performance parameters like: resonant frequency, gain, directivity, and radiation efficiency of slotted microstrip antennas with modified ground plane are computed with the help of SVM formulation. Comparisons of different parameters of simulated and computed values are illustrated. The achieved radiation patterns at particular resonant frequency in different planes are included as well. A prototype of the optimized antenna is also fabricated and characterized. A good agreement is attained among the computed, simulated, and measured results.

A compact printed 2 × 2 ultrawideband (UWB) multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna with a single circular patch as a common radiator for both the antenna elements is presented in this paper. A single circular patch is excited by two tapered CPW feeds for dual polarization. To improve the isolation between two ports, a rectangular slot of dimension L1 × W1 is created in the radiator. The UWB MIMO antenna has impedance bandwidth of 3–12 GHz with a isolation better than 17 dB between the two ports. The envelope correlation coefficient and the capacity loss are evaluated to ensure the good diversity performance of UWB MIMO antenna. The antenna has a compact size of 45 × 45 mm2 and is fabricated on low cost FR4 substrate and measured using Agilent VNA. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed UWB antenna is good candidate for UWB MIMO applications.

This work presents the design, manufacturing, and testing of three 5-bit K-band Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) phase shifters based on similar architectures (combination of switched line and loaded line) but employing different MEMS switch typologies (cantilevers and air bridges) and RF junctions (SP2T and SP4T). All devices have been monolithically manufactured on 200 µm thick high resistivity silicon substrate (4″) by using the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) RF MEMS process. The performance of the different devices has been compared in order to identify the best configuration to be implemented in electronically steerable phased array antennas for satellite COTM (communication on the move) terminals. Excellent performances were measured for the dielectric-free pad RF MEMS switches as well as the single bits constituting the phase shifter. The three 5-bit devices show return losses better than 15 dB for all states, with average insertion loss of 3.5 dB for the clamped–clamped, SP2T-based design, 2.2 dB for the cantilever, SP2T-based device and 2.1 dB for the cantilever, SP4 T-based design. A low-cost Surface Mountable Technology (SMT) one-level package has been developed as well to allow the phase shifter integration into phased array antennas by using automatic surface mounting techniques. The design and simulation of the SMT package are also presented together with its measured RF performance.

A 160-GHz SiGe-HBT (Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor) down-conversion receiver front-end for use in active millimeter-wave imaging arrays and D-band communication applications is presented. The monolithic front-end consists of a three-stage low-noise amplifier providing 24 dB of gain and a Gilbert-cell mixer capable of operating from a −8-dBm LO signal. A fully differential architecture compatible with balanced on or off-chip antennas is used to avoid the need for on-chip baluns in antenna-integrated applications. The implemented downconversion front-end consumes 50 mA from a 3.3 V supply and requires a 0.1 mm2 die area (excl. pads) per channel. With a 160-GHz input signal and an Intermediate Frequency (IF) of 1 GHz, the implemented front-end yields a 25-dB conversion gain, a −30-dBm input compression point, and a 9-dB/7-dB (with/without auxiliary on-chip input balun) system noise figure.

This article presents the design and performance analysis of a printed microstrip ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna consisting of the slots in the ground plane and radiating patch. A meandered S-shaped slot has been introduced on the patch and an inverted U-shaped slot has been incorporated in the ground plane to realize the band-notch effect for WiMAX (3.2–3.8 GHz) and WLAN (5.1–5.8 GHz) bands respectively. The total dimension of the proposed design is 44 × 44 mm2. The fabricated antenna exhibits wide impedance bandwidth of 10 GHz (2.4–12.4 GHz), i.e., 135% of center frequency. The design prototype is fabricated, and the measured results have good agreement with simulated values. The effects of the slots have been analyzed by simulated surface current distribution. The designed antenna shows almost omnidirectional radiation patter and stable gain. The proposed hexagonal antenna may be suitable for UWB applications removing WiMAX and WLAN bands.

The paper presents a 1 × 2 B-shaped antenna array for dual-band operation at 4 and 8 GHz. The antenna design consists of a rectangular patch with two annular-strip lines fabricated on the top layer and finite ground plane on the bottom layer. The array is formed by designing an optimum T-shaped microstrip line for impedance matching. The dimensions of the antenna array are 78 × 36 × 1.6 mm3. Full-wave simulations have been conducted and the measured results are in good consent with the simulated results. The measured impedance bandwidth (reference −10 dB) has been observed at 3.84–4.16 and 7.78–8.38 GHz. Measured peak gain and radiation efficiency at 4 and 8 GHz are 8.3, 9.4 dB and 82.5 and 81.2%, respectively.

Antenna on chip (AoC) and antenna in package (AiP) solutions for millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications and their characterization are presented in this paper. Antenna integration on low resistivity (LR) and high resistivity (HR) silicon substrate are expected. And, in a packaging approach, the combination of antenna on silicon with a material, which has the effect of a “lens”, allowing increasing gain is presented. In a second part, to satisfy beamforming capabilities, a hybrid integration of the antenna on silicon and glass substrates is proposed.

A fully integrated transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) front-end chipset, produced in 0.25 µm SiGe:C bipolar and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology, is presented. The front-end is intended for high-speed wireless communication in the unlicensed ISM band of 9 GHz around 60 GHz. The TXand RX features a modified heterodyne topology with a sliding intermediate frequency. The TX features a 12 GHz in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) mixer, an intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier, a phase-locked loop, a 60 GHz mixer, an image-rejection filter, and a power amplifier. The RX features a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a 60 GHz mixer, a phase-locked loop (PLL), and an IF demodulator. The measured 1-dB compression point at the TX output is 12.6 dBm and the saturated power is 16.2 dBm. The LNA has measured noise figure of 6.5 dB at 60 GHz. Error-free data transmission with a 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal and data rate of 3.6 Gbit/s (without coding 4.8 Gbit/s) over 15 m was demonstrated. This is the best reported result regarding both the data rate and transmission distance in SiGe and CMOS without beamforming.

This paper presents an overview on novel microwave micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) device concepts developed in our research group during the last 5 years, which are specifically designed for addressing some fundamental problems for reliable device operation and robustness to process parameter variation. In contrast to conventional solutions, the presented device concepts are targeted at eliminating their respective failure modes rather than reducing or controlling them. Novel concepts of MEMS phase shifters, tunable microwave surfaces, reconfigurable leaky-wave antennas, multi-stable switches, and tunable capacitors are presented, featuring the following innovative design elements: dielectric-less actuators to overcome dielectric charging; reversing active/passive functions in MEMS switch actuators to improve recovery from contact stiction; symmetrical anti-parallel metallization for full stress-control and temperature compensation of composite dielectric/metal layers for free-standing structures; monocrystalline silicon as structural material for superior mechanical performance; and eliminating thin metallic bridges for high–power handling. This paper summarizes the design, fabrication, and measurement of devices featuring these concepts, enhanced by new characterization data, and discusses them in the context of the conventional MEMS device design.

This paper presents a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) for ultra-wide band (UWB) communication, which is printed on a dielectric substrate of FR4-epoxy with 4.4 relative permittivity (ɛr), 2 mm thickness. This antenna is designed to be used in a 2.9–10.7 GHz frequency band, and a very wide bandwidth is realized by the addition of a parasitic element and a J-shaped slot to the PIFA. The effects of varying the parameters of the antenna on the performance have been investigated.

A novel 1 × 4 phased array elliptical inverted T-shaped slotted sectored patch antenna with defected ground structure (DGS), resonate at proposed ultra-wide tetra band at 28, 43, 51, and 64 GHz with high gain and beam-steering capabilities is presented. An inverted T-shaped slotted stub is used with the sectored patch to achieve ultra-wideband properties. In order to resonate the antenna at four different bands, DGS of round bracket slot is etched on the ground. The 1 × 4 phased arrays are used at the top edge and bottom edge of mobile PCB with high gain. The simulation results show that the antenna has four ultra-wide bands: 25.8–29.7, 40.6–44.6, 49.2–53.1, and 62.2–74 GHz with a maximum gain of 16.5 dBi at 51 GHz. The phased array antenna is capable to steer its main beam within ±30° at the 26, 28, and 43 GHz, using appropriate phase shifts of each antenna element. The proposed millimeter wave antenna is particularly suitable for cellular infrastructures and can be a candidate for emerging 5G mobile applications. The availability of an additional 11.8 GHz (62.2–74 GHz) of contiguous unlicensed spectrum will allow the launching of new exciting wireless services.

A wideband four element triangular dielectric resonator antenna (TDRA) has been designed and fabricated by using 50 Ω coaxial probe feed. The input and radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna have been extracted through Ansoft HFSS and CST Microwave Studio simulation software and compared with the experimental results. The simulated results have been in good agreement with the experimental results. The proposed antenna characteristics have also been compared with the same dimensions of the single element TDRA, and found enhancement in bandwidth with lower resonant frequency. Its performance has also been compared with same area (equal to proposed antenna) of single element TDRA. The proposed antenna provides nearly 37% bandwidth (|S11| < −10 dB) at a resonant frequency of 5.45 GHz with 4.76 dBi peak gain. The symmetry and uniformity in the radiation patterns is obtained consistently for the entire operating bandwidth. The proposed antenna shows consistently symmetric monopole type radiation pattern with low cross polarization for WLAN (IEEE 802.16) and WiMAX applications. The performance of the proposed antenna has been compared with some similar type of dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) shapes and it has been observed that TDRA is taking very less radiation area for giving better performance than other DRA shapes.

This paper presents the design of an elliptical shape ultra-wide band antenna for imaging of wood. The antenna is constructed comprising an elliptical shape of patch loaded by a stub to resonate at lower bands, strip loading at the back, and chamfered ground. Despite having miniaturized dimensions of 20 mm × 20 mm, the proposed antenna shows better results compared to recent studies. The simulation results depict a good ultra-wide bandwidth from 2.68 to 16 GHz, and 18.2–20 GHz. Besides, the proposed antenna has two low-frequency bands at 0.89–0.92 and 1.52–1.62 GHz, maximum gain of 5.48 dB, and maximum directivity of 6.9 dBi. The measurement outcomes are performed in air, plywood, and high-density wood and show a good agreement with the simulated results done using electromagnetic simulator CST. In addition to that, the measurement results of S-parameters, transmitted and received signals show a good agreement with the simulated results. Besides, the measured results illustrate a good isolation and uniform illumination among arrays as well as the received signals' shapes do not change in different environments, but only the amplitude. Hence, the proposed antenna seems to be adequate for microwave imaging of wood.

A printed multiband Multi-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna is proposed in this paper. This MIMO antenna system comprises two symmetric printed monopole antennas. Each antenna element consists of multiple bend lines, producing four resonant modes and covering the GSM900, PCS, LTE2300, and 5G bands. Simulated and measured results prove that the proposed MIMO antenna can be applied to traditional 2G, 3G, 4G, and present 5G mobile communication. By etching four inverted L-shaped grooves on its ground plate, mutual coupling between the adjacent antenna elements has been suppressed. This makes the |S21| at all four resonant modes is lower than −40 dB. In addition, its low coupling mechanism has been analyzed by surface current distribution. The designed multiband MIMO antenna provides an idea of reference to realize low mutual coupling between antenna elements, which is also realizable in infrared or optical regimes with appropriate designs.