This paper presents the modeling, manufacturing, and testing of a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based LC tank resonator suitable for low phase-noise voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs). The device is based on a variable MEMS varactor in series with an inductive coplanar waveguide line. Two additional parallel stubs controlled by two ohmic MEMS switches have been introduced in order to increase the resonator tunability. The device was fabricated using the FBK-irst MEMS process on high resistivity (HR) silicon substrate. Samples were manufactured with and without a 0-level quartz cap. The radio frequency characterization of the devices without 0-level cap has shown a continuous tuning range of 11.7% and a quality factor in the range of 33–38. The repeatability was also tested on four samples and the continuous tuning is 11.7 ± 2%. Experimental results on the device with a 0-level cap, show a frequency downshift of about 200 MHz and a degradation of the quality factor of about 20%. This is, most likely, due to the polymeric sealing ring as well as to a contamination of the ohmic contacts introduced by the capping procedure. A preliminary design of a MEMS-based VCO was performed using Advanced Design System and a hardwired prototype was fabricated on Surface Mount Technology on RO4350 laminate. The prototype was tested resulting in a resonance frequency of 5 GHz with a phase noise of −105 and −126 dBc at 100 KHz and 1 MHz, respectively, and a measured output power of −1 dBm.

This paper presents the performance study of a 248 GHz voltage-controlled hetero-integrated signal source using indium phosphide (InP)-on-bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology. The source consists of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in 0.25 µm BiCMOS technology and a frequency multiplier in 0.8 µm transferred-substrate InP-heterojunction bipolar transistor technology, which is integrated on top of the BiCMOS monolithic microwave integrated circuit in a wafer-level based benzocyclobutene bonding process. The vertical transitions from BiCMOS to InP in this process exhibit broadband properties with insertion losses below 0.5 dB up to 325 GHz. The VCO operates at 82.7 GHz with an output power of 6 dBm and the combined circuit delivers −9 dBm at 248 GHz with 1.22% tuning range. The phase noise of the combined circuit is −85 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. The measured output return loss of the hetero-integrated source is >10 dB within a broad frequency range. This result shows the potential of the hetero integrated process for THz frequencies.

A compact dual-band bandpass filter using stub-loaded stepped impedance resonator (SLSIR) with cross-slots is presented. The symmetric SLSIR is analyzed using even- and odd-mode techniques. Design equations are derived and they are used to guide the design of the circuits. Two passbands can be easily tuned by cross-slots and open stubs. Transmission zeros among each passbands are created, resulting in high isolation and frequency selectivity. An experimental circuit is fabricated and evaluated to validate the design concept. The fabricated filter is compact with 19.76 × 12.7 mm2. The measurement results are in good agreement with the full-wave simulation results.

A fully two-dimensional theoretical study of the electromagnetic wave propagation through Metal–Liquid Crystal–Metal (M–LC–M) waveguide structure is presented. Dispersion relations corresponding to both symmetric and antisymmetric-coupled surface plasmons polaritons modes in M–LC–M structure are derived and numerically solved. The effects of LC tilt angles on the effective refractive index and propagation length are proposed. The analytical method is in good agreement with those obtained from finite-difference time-domain simulation. The obtained analytic formula can be used as an efficient element in designing tunable ultrahigh nanoscale integrated plasmonic devices.

In this paper a high gain aperture-coupled membrane antenna with a frequency selective surface (FSS) on a superstrate layer has been investigated. The base membrane antenna consists of a microstrip patch on the top of Roger RT-5580 substrate, supported by FR4 and is excited through an aperture fed by substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW). The CST Microwave Studio simulation results show that the proposed membrane structure has an impedance bandwidth (BW) of 8.85% from 75.97 to 82.96 GHz with a gain of 6.29 dBi at 79 GHz. To improve the gain, a superstrate layer is loaded above the membrane antenna, which increases the gain by 9.11 dB at 79 GHz. Furthermore by using FSS under superstrate layer, the gain is again increased by 2.5 dB. The total antenna structure provides a gain of 17.9 dBi at 79 GHz by keeping the same BW. The measured results are provided for the input matching (S11) only, the simulated results for the antenna gain and radiation patterns are obtained with the use of CST and are validated by using HFSS. The measured S11 BW of the total antenna is from 75.57 to 84.18 GHz (10.89%), which is in agreement with the simulated results.

Use of frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs) is proposed to shield rooms against electromagnetic fields in order to achieve secure indoor communications and reduce human exposure to external fields. The secure room is designed using two-layer FSSs with an FR4 substrate to cover 10–12 GHz frequency band. Different elements in each layer and shift in the position of elements are the reasons for more than 3 GHz bandwidths in X band. The performance of the structure is also stable versus the misaligned position of layers. An equivalent circuit model is proposed for the structure and results show −20 dB isolation between inside and outside of the room in the desired frequency band. Bio tissue is located inside the cubic structure with FSS walls and the results of the specific absorption rate are demonstrated and compared in two rooms with FSS cover on concrete walls and a room with concrete walls. The 17 × 17 cm2 two-layer FSS is fabricated for the measurement and the results are presented. The designed FSS can be used in the construction of wave-isolated room for any application.

This paper proposes a novel T-shape electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure to suppress simultaneous switching noise (SSN) in mixed-signal systems. Noise is generated due to simultaneous switching multiple drivers in the digital ICs. It is called as SSN. It could propagate between power and ground planes of underlying PCB platform and interfere with the functionality of nearby RF/Analog ICs. So, the RF modules are isolated from the digital module for proper functioning of entire mixed-signal system. A high-impedance surface, called T-shape EBG has been implemented between digital and RF modules. It will exhibit the characteristics of bandgap for a wide frequency range to suppress the propagation of switching noise. A single unit-cell of T-EBG is periodically patterned over one side of the PCB and the other side is kept continuous. In this paper different characteristics of T-EBG have been simulated and verified with the measurement results. A 3 × 3 T-EBG layout provides an isolation of −40 dB from 0.72 to 6.39 GHz. A scaled version of T-EBG is used to shift the bandgap towards higher frequency range from 2.22 to 7.19 GHz. Also, a novel layout methodology has been proposed to broaden the bandgap from 2.02 to 18.84 GHz without reducing the thickness of dielectric substrate.

This paper presents a position gauging system of welding joints. While the principle measurement concept was already introduced by Schrattenecker et al. in 2014, here it is focused on different types of practically used welding materials. The sensor used is based on the frequency-modulated continuous-wave principle operating in the W-band. Position estimation (PoE) of different welding geometries is carried out with polarimetric scattering effects introduced by geometrical discontinuities. For the real-time calculation of the signal models a field simulation tool we developed is used. Aside from a variety of geometries, we introduce a geometrical optimization approach that increases the achievable accuracy of the measurement concept. The optimization and PoE of the different welding materials were examined in various simulations and the results were verified by measurements in the laboratory and in an industrial environment. Simulation and measurement were in good agreement.

In this paper, a three layered stacked circularly polarized rectangular dual band microstrip antenna with a defected ground structure (DGS) and a feed network with stub (showing dual wideband characteristic) is designed, fabricated, and tested for WLAN, Zig bee, Wi-Max, and IMT band applications. The proposed antenna is fabricated on an FR4 substrate with dielectric constant (εr) of 4.4; tanδ of 0.0024 and a height of 1.57 mm.The antenna has a surface area of 4.8 × 4.1 cm2 and a total height of 5.1 mm. The designed antenna covers two wireless bands from 2.39 to 2.64GHz and 3.39–3.76 GHZ with impedance bandwidths (VSWR < 2) of 250 MHz (9% bandwidth centered at 2.515 GHz) and 370 MHz (10% bandwidth centered at 3.57 GHz), respectively. This antenna is capable of covering IEEE 802.11b/g/n standards of WLAN from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz, bluetooth applications from 2.4 to 2.483 GHz, ZigBee applications from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz, IEEE 802.16/ Wi-MaX applications from 3.4 to 3.69 GHz and international mobile telecommunications (IMT) band from 3.4 to 3.6 GHz. As the antenna is circularly polarized, the misalignment of the receiver with transmitter does not affect the performance of the system. The antenna designing was done using CST MWS V'10 and the prototype of the designed antenna was tested for the validation of S11 (dB) and gain results against the simulated ones experimentally. The proposed antenna shows a gain of 4.08 dBi at 2.5 GHz and a gain of 5.024 dBi at 3.51 GHz.

A coplanar waveguide-fed planar hexagonal monopole ultra-wideband antenna with dual-band rejection characteristics is proposed in this paper. The desired notch frequencies at 3.5 and 5.5 GHz are realized by incorporating mushroom structures. The input impedance and surface current distributions are used for analysis and explanation of the effects of mushroom cells. The prototype and proposed antennas are fabricated and tested. From the measured results, the proposed antenna provides an operating band of 2.81–14.32 GHz for 2 ≤ voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), while the dual-band stop function is in the frequency bands of 3.3–3.7 GHz and 5.10–5.88 GHz. Moreover, the antenna model also exhibits constant group delay and linear phase in the pass band. The proposed antenna has appreciable gain and efficiency over the whole operating band except the notch bands.

This paper of lettering reveals about a modified Koch snowflake fractal multiband antenna for cognitive radio applications. Multiband antennas can be employed for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio. This new microstrip-modified Koch fractal antenna exhibits multiple actions in four dissimilar resonant frequencies at 3.2, 5.2, 6, and 9.5 GHz correspondingly that covers the frequency bands such as S, C, and X bands. Its multiband behavior was analyzed by designing and simulating in ADS EMDS software. Three iterations were carried out to study the performance of modified Koch snowflake fractal antenna. The outer ring and a small rectangular slot in the center of the antenna are used for 50 Ω impedance matching and to increase the number of resonant frequencies. The fractal antenna parameters such as gain, directivity, and its radiation pattern are also analyzed in this paper. The measured results show good agreement with the simulated results.

Patch antennas with a meandering slot and different distributions of grounded metallic vias are presented in this paper. The meandering slot is adopted to stimulate dual-band operation, while the number and position of the grounded metallic vias are suggested to achieve different radiation performances. The characteristics are analyzed in detail where we find that the existence of the vias also improves the impedance matching. Four samples are designed, where dual-band with both linear polarization, dual-band with circular- and linear-polarization, and single band with linear polarization are obtained, respectively. The samples are finally fabricated and the measurement results agree well with the simulation results.

This paper describes a new configuration of frequency-selective structure (FSS) structures to reduce mutual coupling between the radiating elements. Also, the antenna performance before and after the implementation of FSS have been investigated. The proposed configuration provides an improvement in mutual coupling by 14 dB (measured value) with a reduced edge-to-edge spacing of 23 mm. The reduction of mutual coupling between antenna elements is interesting in the electromagnetic and antenna community. The use of electromagnetic band-gap structures constructed by microstrip technology is a way to appease the mutual coupling problem. Periodic structures such as FSS can help in the reduction of mutual coupling using their ability of suppressing surface waves propagation in a given frequency range. The goal of this present study is to use it in patch antenna arrays, keeping both the element separation smaller than λ0 for grating lobes evasion and the patch antenna size large enough to have good antenna directivity. The results showed that the proposed configuration eliminates disadvantages of similar structures presented in the previous works.

A simple and compact printed ultra-wideband antenna with dual-band-notched characteristics is presented. The proposed antenna is composed of a rectangular patch and a modified ground plane. The rectangular patch is etched onto a lossy FR4 substrate. A circular ring strip parasitizes the rectangular patch embedded by a U-shaped slot. Two inverted-L slits and a rectangular slit are embedded onto the ground plane. Some bandwidth enhancement and band-notched techniques are applied in the antenna structure for broadening the bandwidth and generating notches. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna offers a very wider bandwidth ranging from 3.04 to 17.30 GHz, defined by the return loss less than −10 dB, with dual-notched bands of 3.30–4.20 and 5.10–5.85 GHz covering the 3.3/3.7 GHz WiMAX, 3.7/4.2 GHz C-band, and 5.2/5.8 GHz wireless local area network systems. Furthermore, the proposed antenna presents relatively high antenna gain and quasi-omnidirectional radiation patterns.

Wideband dipole antennas are proposed using the multi-mode resonance concept. By symmetrically introducing one-pair or two-pair of stubs at the nulls of current distribution of the second odd-order mode, two radiation modes are excited in a single, center-fed dipole resonator. Using these stubs, the second odd-order mode gradually moves down to its first counterpart, resulting to achieve a wideband radiation with two resonances. Prototype antennas are then fabricated to experimentally validate the design approach. Compared with a reference dipole with a bandwidth of 17%, the proposed dipole's bandwidth can be effectively increased to 49.7%.

A coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed circular-shaped fractal antenna with third iterative orthogonal elliptical slot for ultra-wideband applications is presented. The bandwidth is enhanced by using successive iterations of radiating patch, CPW feedline, and tapered ground plane. An impedance bandwidth of 2.9–20.6 GHz is achieved. The designed antenna has omnidirectional radiation patterns along with average peak realized gain of 3.5 dB over the entire frequency range of operation. A good agreement is observed between the simulated and experimental results. This antenna structure has the advantages of miniaturized size and wide bandwidth in comparison to previously reported fractal structures.

In this report, a compact antenna system with dual-band-notched characteristics is proposed for ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) applications. Two antenna elements are placed side by side and fed with matched microstrip lines on a substrate with an area of 35 × 30 mm2. Notched characteristics at WiMAX (3.4–3.6 GHz) and WLAN (5.725–5.825 GHz) have been achieved using complementary split ring resonator (SRR) slots etched in both the antenna elements. Electromagnetic isolation between the two elements close to each other is achieved using a ground T-stub and slots etched in the ground plane. Antenna system has been tested and measured results are close to the desired ones. Measured isolation >20 dB is obtained in most of the UWB bands. The proposed antenna system meets the requirements well for MIMO applications.

In this paper, a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with a parasitic gap-coupled microstrip resonator (MSR) is investigated; analytically, and experimentally. The proposed antenna uses an open-ended half-wavelength MSR patch as a hybrid radiator. Radiating modes are identified for both the radiators. Two separate and fully independent modes are merged together to get an enhanced bandwidth. The antenna can offer three modes of operation, mode 1 (only DRA is active), mode 2 (only MSR is active), and the mode 3 (both DRA and MSR are active). In mode 3, the antenna offers a single wideband operation with ≈11% bandwidth by merging modes 1 and 2 with a broadside radiation pattern. Two switches are proposed to realize the three modes of operation. A p–i–n diode is utilized as switching element in simulations. Multiple antennas have been fabricated using a small metal strip as a switch to validate the proposal. Analytical, simulated, and measured results are found in harmony. A parametric study is done to describe the antenna characteristics. An approximate lumped element model is also extracted and presented.

To restrict electromagnetic interference at WiMAX (3.3–3.7 GHz) and wireless local area network (WLAN) (5.15–5.825 GHz) bands operating within ultra wide bandwidth (UWB) band, a novel design of lamp-shaped UWB microstrip antenna with dual band-notched characteristics is presented. The proposed antenna is composed of a lamp-shaped radiating patch with two rectangular ground planes on both the sides of the radiator with the gap of 0.57 mm. To improve impedance mismatch at middle frequencies, two triangular strips one at each of the ground plane are added; whereas a rectangular slot is etched in the radiating patch to remove impedance mismatch at higher frequencies of the UWB band. Furthermore, an L-shaped slot in the radiator and two L-shaped slots in the ground plane are used to restrict electromagnetic interference (EMI) at WiMAX and WLAN bands, respectively, without affecting the electrical performance of the UWB antenna. Effects of the key parameters on the frequency range of the notched bands are also investigated. The proposed design shows a measured impedance bandwidth of 12.5 GHz (2.7–14.4 GHz), with the two band-notched bands of 3.0–3.9 and 4.9–5.8 GHz. The antenna is suitable to be integrated within the portable UWB devices without EMI interference at WiMAX and WLAN bands.

In this paper, a novel design and experimental study of microstrip-line-fed rhombus-shaped slot antenna is presented. The proposed antenna shows an ultra-wide band (UWB) operation with good impedance matching by choosing appropriate rhombus-shaped slot and feeding structure. The proposed antenna has a simple structure and compact size as compared with many reported antennas. The measured results validate the design and the impedance bandwidth can operate from 2.78 to 12.92 GHz (10.14 GHz), which evidently covers entire UWB (3.1–10.6 GHz). Furthermore, the key parameters of the antenna are also discussed to study their persuade on the antenna performance.