About 25 years have elapsed since the first measurement by a FW-CW (called fast sweeping) reflectometer of the electronic density in magnetized fusion plasma. Substituting tube sources with solid-state components has resulted in a decrease of the sweeping time from the millisecond to the microsecond range. Based on voltage control oscillators and on active frequency multipliers, four profile reflectometers covering the range 33–155 GHz are in operation on Tore-Supra tokamak. Their originality is the use of one source for the launched and reference signal, although the detection is heterodyne. Indeed, a single side band modulator shifts the launched frequency ahead of frequency multipliers. With a sweeping time comparable to the plasma turbulence characteristic time the density profile is frozen. The density profile is then reliably measured with high radial and temporal resolution.

In this paper, the benefits of adaptive preselect filtering are investigated by analyzing mote-to-mote throughput in the presence of interference. In a city-wide deployment of a sensor network, of the 150 wireless sensor nodes deployed in our urban test system, five nodes were electrically “lost”. Surprisingly, the limiting factor was not the signal strength, but the neighboring cell towers that caused nearby interference. Therefore, we explored the effect of an adaptive front end to mitigate these nearby interferers. The sensor motes operated at a fixed band, the unlicenced band of 902 to 928 MHz, and did not have the frequency adaptability of future cognitive radios. However, the effect was demonstrative of the potential benefits of adaptive preselect filtering. The measured result shows substantial improvements over the fixed band system by even slight tuning of the bandwidth and/or the center frequency of the preselect filter. Experimentally and numerically, we show that both tuning in the filter bandwidth and/or center frequency can significantly improve the packet reception rate. Guidelines for achieving an optimized filtering technique are given to provide a broad understanding of how the adaptable preselect filtering can be utilized.

An L-band frequency and rejection-level tunable SiGe HBT differential amplifier with dual stopband is presented. To achieve frequency and rejection-level tunable performance, dual LCR-tank circuit with an active load is incorporated into the design of the series feedback loops of the differential amplifier. The active load consists of a varactor diode represented as a variable C and a common-emitter transistor represented as a variable R. The frequency and rejection level can be tuned independently by controlling a cathode bias voltage of the varactor diode or a base bias voltage of the transistor. The implemented 0.35 μm SiGe HBT amplifier with dual stopband demonstrates a frequency tuning of 0.53–1.16 GHz and a rejection-level variation up to 9.5 dB. The input and output return losses are better than 17.5 and 11 dB over 0.2–1.5 GHz, respectively. The measured P1dB is+3 dBm and IIP3 is 0 dBm with Vcc = 6 V and Ic = 8 mA.

A miniaturized and flexible frequency-selective surface (FSS) has been presented in this article with a unit cell size of 0.049 λc × 0.049 λc where λc is the free space wavelength at the lower cut-off frequency. In order to achieve an ultra-wide (−3 dB) second order pass band of 151.3% with enhanced selectivity factor of 0.887, a cascaded triple layered hybrid resonating structure has been proposed with symmetrical Minkowski island-shaped fractal geometry pair and spiral-shaped middle layer in optimized air gap coupling. Furthermore, 149.8% ultra-wide pass band also ascertains the conformal feature of the proposed structure. In addition to this, the proposed FSS provides the stable angular response for both TE and TM polarization. An equivalent circuit model has been synthesized for accurate frequency response. Finally, a sample prototype has been fabricated to verify the experimental validation. Excellent angular stability under large oblique incident and significant conformal characteristics ensure the compatibility of the proposed structure for electromagnetic stealth in 0.9–1.8 GHz GSM band, 2.10–2.14 GHz wireless medical telemetry band, 2.4–2.5 and 4.9–5.8 GHz WLAN band, 3.4–3.7 and 4.4–4.9 GHz sub-6 GHz 5 G band, and 3.7–4.2 GHz C band.

In this work, a new reconfigurable discrete 1D beam-steering Fabry–Perot cavity antenna with enhanced radiation performance is presented. It consists of a probe-fed patch antenna printed on the ground plane and a reconfigurable metasurface acting as the upper partially reflective surface to realize beam steering. By utilizing 6 × 6 proposed reconfigurable unit cells on the superstrate, the beam-steering angle can be effectively enhanced from ±7° to ±17° with fewer active elements and a much simpler biasing network. The proposed antenna was fabricated to validate the feasibility. Good agreement between the simulated and measured results is achieved. Moreover, the measured realized gains are over 11 dBi with a gain variation from the boresight direction to the tilted direction <0.2 dBi.

In this paper, a truncated patch antenna based on the electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure has been proposed. The fabricated antenna has five operating frequencies at 10.4, 15.68, 19.68, 27.2, and 35.04 GHz. The fabricated prototype of the antenna constitutes a truncated rectangular patch etched with the shape of a symmetrical slot (on top) and an EBG loaded on the ground plane of the dielectric substrate. The optimized volume of the antenna is 20 × 15 × 1.57 mm3. The proposed antenna gives a good radiation pattern for the E-H field in all covered bandwidth and also achieved better performances related to the reference papers. A multiband antenna also covered the 5 G bandwidth, which resonates at 27.2 GHz from 24.2 GHz to 27.84 GHz bandwidth and at 35.04 GHz from 33.84 GHz to 36.2 GHz bandwidth, which can be used in the Internet of Medical Things. On the other hand, X/Ku/K frequency bands have been committed for wireless communication where the multiband antenna can be used to help in monitoring, especially in the case of data transmission from radio frequency sensors to health-care system in real-time applications.

In this paper, the antenna reconfigurable technology is used to redesign a whip antenna in different sub-bands of high frequency (HF). According to the electrical characteristics of the antenna, on the one hand, two different radiation whip heights are designed to solve the problem of pattern up-warping in the high-frequency band; on the other hand, a common upper loading network and several different adjusting inductors and matching networks are designed for each sub-band to achieve high gain and efficiency when keeping good voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) characteristics. Five sub-bands of the 10-m HF whip antenna are reconfigured through the actual selection of radiation height, adjusting inductance, and matching network by radio frequency (RF) switch. The antenna load and matching network are optimized by grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA), and integrated into the antenna body by using the printed circuit technology. The scaled prototype of 1 m frequency reconfigurable antenna is manufactured and tested, which shows that the VSWR is all <3 with an average value of 2.14; the gain is all >−2.5 dB with an average value of 3.90 dB; the efficiency is all >18.2% with an average value of 71.59%, and the patterns all keep horizontal omnidirectional without the phenomenon of up-warping.

A Ka-band carrier generator using phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer is presented in this paper. The design uses integer-N PLL chip PE83336 as the important hardware support. The key idea of generating Ka-band frequency signal with low-phase noise is to generate a high-quality X-band frequency signal using PLL frequency synthesizer and employ a frequency multiplier to deliver the high-frequency output at the desired frequency band. Experimental measurements of the frequency synthesizer demonstrate the excellent performance, which is achieved with the Ka-band output with a frequency resolution of 5.7 MHz and phase noise better than −70 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz.

A microstrip-based lowpass filter (LPF) containing modified ring structures has been presented. Ring resonators are used to form a sharp transition region. In addition, rectangular- and tapered-shaped suppressing cells are used to create an ultra-wide stopband region. By combining the designed ring resonator and suppressors, an LPF has been designed with −3 dB cut-off frequency at 1.83 GHz. A sharp transition region has been achieved from 1.83 (at −3 dB) to 2.1 GHz (at −60 dB). A stopband region has been concluded from 2 to 21 GHz (with the corresponding attenuation level of at least 20 dB). The measured insertion loss is better than 0.1 dB (equal to a return loss of 18.1 dB) in the passband region. The proposed circuit is fabricated and measured. The measured results have an appropriate adaption with the simulated results.

This paper outlines an original shape optimization library backed by a three dimensional (3D) full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulator, combining several efficient structural optimization techniques and suitable for viable computer-aided design (CAD) of complex microwave components. The microwave components are modeled by finite element method (FEM) and their dimensions and shape are optimized using four techniques: design of experiments (DOE), level-set method (LS), topology gradient (TG) method, and genetic algorithm (GA). The various methods allow determining the optimal geometry, shape or topology of 2D or 3D objects within the microwave device, by minimizing iteratively a cost function related to the desired specifications. Typical demonstration illustrates the versatility of the proposed library based on the design of a dual mode dielectric resonator filter in order to improve its unloaded quality factor by keeping the same frequency isolation, their accuracy and efficiency are verified by the available measured results.

Wireless domestic applications involving high data rates are required to work on millimeter wave band. Signal propagation at this frequency range is affected by walls and oxygen absorption which limits communication distances to few meters in one room. Radio coverage can be extended to other rooms by optical links. Performances of such photonic systems are dependent on optoelectronic devices, electrical driving, and receiver circuits. In this paper, radio-over-fiber (RoF) links based on the intensity modulation and direct detection technique are investigated for transmission of a broadband OFDM signal. Direct and external modulations are exploited to analyze system performances according to the ultra wideband (UWB) millimeter-band standard. To avoid component tolerances at high frequencies, an intermediate frequency modulation of the optical transducers is chosen. Optoelectronic and optical components of RoF links are modeled by equivalent electrical circuits with consideration of noise and nonlinearities. These models are validated in system simulation by error vector magnitude evaluation with a measurement setup according to the UWB centimeter-band standard.

This article presents a compact rectangular impedance resonator (RIR)–based ultra-wideband bandpass filter with an improved reflection coefficient within the passband and controllable cut-off frequencies. The proposed filter consists of anti-parallel coupled RIR coupled with rectangular open-loop defected ground structure (ROL-DGS) etched on the ground plane. The ROL-DGS ensures better in-band and out-off-band characteristics with reduced size due to its high Q-factor. The short- and open-circuit stubs control the lower (fCL) and upper (fCU) 3-dB cut-off frequencies, respectively, by originating transmission zeros independently with the help of variations in design parameters. As a result, the filter having a compact size of 0.216λCL × 0.176λCL is achieved, where λCL is the corresponding guided wavelength at the lower cut-off frequency fCL of 2.95 GHz. Further, an equivalent circuit is also modeled to explain the working of the proposed filter, and equivalent lumped parameters were extracted. Simulated results reveal that the reported filter passes the frequencies effectively within 2.95–11.44 GHz with fractional bandwidth of 117.9%. The simulated insertion loss values within the passband are less than 1.17 dB, and the reflection coefficient is better than −19.6 dB. Further, the proposed filter is fabricated, and it was found that the measured and simulation results are in well agreement.

Nowadays, as indoor localization is getting more popular, there is a growing need for reliable and accurate techniques of position determination. Recently, ultrawideband (UWB)-based systems are gaining popularity, since they make achieving positioning errors in the range of dozens of centimeters or even single centimeters, possible. The Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA)-based systems are especially attractive because they allow to simplify tags, in which functionality can be limited to transmission of packets. However, one of TDOA-based solution drawbacks is a need for strict synchronization between anchor nodes, which may be hard to provide in indoor environment. In the paper, a novel method for simplifying synchronization in TDOA-based UWB localization system is described. The paper presents two system architectures based on pairs of synchronized nodes. Results of simulations and experiments included in the article allow for evaluation of both solutions.

This paper presents a fully digital transmitter chain from baseband to antenna, including a modulator, two truly digital (i.e. fully switched) microwave power amplifiers and a transmit/receive switch. Both, amplifier and switch monolithic microwave integrated circuits were implemented in a GaN HEMT process. The novel amplifier design provides greatly reduced complexity, needing only three voltage sources. Measurements were conducted using 5, 20, and 100 MHz wide baseband signals. Carrier frequencies cover the 900 and 2000 MHz bands. For the 5 MHz BB signal an ACLR of over 52 dB is reached, fulfilling the 3GPP specs for base station use while still maintaining a final-stage drain efficiency of 46% at 6.5 dB peak to average power ratio. Full-scale output power at 30 V supply voltage was measured to exceed 3 W at 80% drain efficiency. Further features of this digital amplifier approach include small form factor and frequency agility, making it an ideal candidate for software defined radio.

In this work, the design of the wideband millimeter-wave power amplifier for multiband communication is presented. In order to achieve compact, simple and robust design, a differential cascade transformer-coupled topology is used. The amplifier is implemented in 90 nm low-leakage CMOS technology and achieves 3 dB bandwidth of 8 GHz (from 60 to 68 GHz) and a peak gain of 18 dB. The PO1dB is better than 5 dBm from 58 to 80 GHz, and peak output power is 11.9 dBm with 1 dB flatness from 62 to 77 GHz. The chip consumes an area of 0.25 mm2 including bond pads and DC current of 125 mA from a 2.2 V supply.

In this manuscript, serial-shunt of square ring resonators with step-impedance open circuited stub resonators to produce a new on-off switchable bandpass to bandstop response in the same ultra-wideband microstrip filter structure is proposed. The closed ring of series-shunt square ring resonators with a combine stubs are introduced to excite the bandpass response while bandstop characteristic excited when gaps are embedded in the corners of the square ring resonators. The main advantage of this microstrip filter is its capability to switch from bandpass-to-bandstop operation using open-short gap, respectively. A microwave simulator is utilized to show the switchable case by replacing Skyworks radio frequency diodes (RF-PIN) instead of those gaps. The entire filter models have been simulated using the computer simulation technology (CST) Microwave Studio. The computed results for the proposed filters were compared with the measured results of the both prototype structures (bandpass- and bandstop-filter). The codes also showed good agreement between them. Other advantages include being small in size, and low in effective cost.

To provide short-range super-resolution ultra-wideband (UWB) radar under multi-scattering conditions, a superior wavefront extraction algorithm is proposed in this paper. Conventional correlation-based pulse separation methods based on SAGE, CLEAN or the previously introduced superior dynamic correlation method (DCM) are revised, validated, and compared. In this paper, the DCM is improved significantly by applying the Pauli scattering matrix decomposition onto the radar data. This novel wavefront extraction algorithm is called polarimetric dynamic correlation method (PDCM) and is suitable to resolve several overlapping pulses, which consist of both strong echoes and weak echoes which are masked by the strong ones. The performance of the PDCM and the comparison with alternative algorithms is carried out by a subsequent feature extraction algorithm for visual verification. Experimental validations are performed with two complex test objects, a maximum length sequence radar device (4.5–13.5 GHz) and compact dual-polarized UWB antennas.

The safe operating area (SOA) of InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors has been studied using two-dimensional Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) tool. Comprehensive physical models, including hydrodynamic transport-based impact ionization and self-heating models were implemented. The simulations for two DC modes (constant Ib and Vb modes) captured all the SOA features observed in measurements and some failure mechanisms were revealed for the first time by TCAD simulations. The simulated results are also in agreement with analytical modeling. The simulation not only gives us insight to the detailed failure mechanisms, but also provides guidance for the design of devices with better ruggedness and improved SOA performances.

The paper presents the idea of the application of passive radar on board of an airplane. The aim of the passive coherent location (PCL) system is to provide surveillance information to the pilot (or autopilot), to detect the targets in the surveillance space, and to protect the platform from collisions and other threats. The PCL system can use the available emitters of opportunity, mainly digital terrestrial TV (DVB-T) transmitters. Other sources of illuminations, such as analogue (FM) or digital radio (DAB) can be used as well.

This paper describes the outcome of the “Small user TErminal multi band DIplexer” project where the goal is the validation of novel SMD-compliant planar diplexer. The real application scenario concerns an integrated multi-band radio terminal for ground-segment satellite links. The advantageous and novel approach involves the simultaneous use of three different well-established concepts: a microstrip low-pass filter, a substrate integrated waveguide high-pass filter, and the thin-film technology as manufacturing process. The proposed topology applied to a planar alumina-based design guarantees a 15 × 11.1 mm2 footprint and the best integration with surface mountable soldering process over standard PCB technology. Achieved performance and resilience to environmental toughness are suitable for consumer-oriented satellite links or man-pack applications. The designed component targets the Ku 10.7–12.75 (RX) and Ka 27.5–30 (TX) GHz bands but the layout can be easily tuned across the spectrum. The described solution has been manufactured and validated. Thermal cycling and mechanical tests have been carried out to prove the high technology readiness level of the proposed device.