Performance Improvement of Aperture Coupled MSA through Si Micromachining

In recent times rectangular patch antenna design has become the most innovative and popular subject due to its advantages, such as being lightweight, conformal, ease to fabricate, low cost and small size. In this paper design of aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna (MSA) on high index semiconductor material coupled with micromachining technique for performance enhancement is discussed. The performance in terms of return loss bandwidth, gain, cross-polarization and antenna efficiency is compared with standard aperture coupled antenna. Micromachining underneath of the patch helps in to reduce the effective dielectric constant, which is desirable for the radiation characteristics of the patch antenna. Improvement 36 percent and 18 percent in return loss bandwidth and gain respectively achieved using micromachined aperture coupled feed patch, which is due to the reduction in losses, suppression of surface waves and substrate modes. In this article along with design, fabrication aspects on Si substrate using MEMS process also discussed. Presented antenna design is proposed antenna can be useful in smart antenna arrays suitable in satellite, radar communication applications. Two topologies at X-band are fabricated and comparison between aperture coupled and micromachined aperture coupled are presented. Index Terms—Microstrip Patch Antenna, Aperture Coupled, Micromachining, High Resistivity Silicon

Franklin Collinear Antenna 2 Levels Different Sides using Array Method 4 Stacking Units 360ᵒ with Integrated Reflector and Power Combiner for ADS-B S-Receiver Mode

In this study, an antenna system that could cover the 360ᵒ detection area using the microstrip method was created. The antenna design proposed uses the franklin collinear method with the addition of an array of arms to the left and right of the antenna and the addition of reflectors as a gain enhancer. The four antenna array units are combined using a power divider (combiner) as a unifying antenna. Antenna design with end fire radiation pattern cannot be used in receiving the ADS-B antenna system, because it works only in certain sectors with certain beamwidth, so it needs to be modified by adding an array of 4 units that make up 360◦ radiation of directional diagrams. The addition of the reflector is done by testing the optimum width. The most optimum width is obtained by the width of the side addition on the side of the antenna aperture cross section width of 80 mm. Based on the results of experiments that have been carried out for the design of receiver antennas for ADS-B applications that are required in the form of a radiation pattern in all directions using the reflector technique, the most appropriate gain increase is to use a phase difference for the antennas that are closest both left and right by 90o in ¼ λ conditions in the integration process using a 4 way power combiner. Response return loss at frequency 1.0752 GHz and 1.109 GHz is -15 dB, it means antenna has 33.8 MHz bandwidth with maximum response return loss at -23.22 dB and gain of 7.586 dBi, this antenna design is very suitable for use in the ADS-B application. Design and simulation at this antenna used CST software.

Design and Evaluation of Transmitting Antennas for Solar Power Satellite Systems

This study attempts to identify, design, and evaluate transmitting antennas for Solar Power Satellite (SPS) systems. The design approach aimed at meeting the SPS operational requirements at ISM bands, namely 2.4-2.5GHz for the NASA and 5.725-5.875GHz for the JAXA models. The primary attributes of SPS antennas for transmitting Beamed High-Power Microwaves (BHPMs) are high power handling capability, efficiency, and directivity with narrow beamwidth and lower sidelobe levels. Using a planar end-fed 20×20 SWA module, the whole planar Slotted Waveguide Antenna Arrays (SWAAs) were designed for both the NASA and JAXA reference models having 1km diameter antenna aperture, peak power level over 1GW, directivity over 80dBi, Side Lobe Level (SLL) less than 20dB, and pencil beam with HPBW less than 0.01°. The proposed slotted waveguide transmitting antenna arrays fulfilled the operational requirements for both the NASA and JAXA SPS reference models. Due to the higher operating frequency, the results showed that the proposed planar SWA array performs better on the JAXA than on the NASA SPS model.

Issues of technical implementation of ground-based microwave radiometric system calibration

The theoretical bases of a method of carrying out calibration of microwave radiometric system on a noise signal of the external noise generator are analysed, the parameters setting value of gain of antenna temperature at introduction in structure of system of such external source of a calibration signal are determined. The questions of technical realization of an external source of a calibration signal for microwave radiometric system are considered, the structural scheme is presented, the place of its arrangement in structure of the antenna is determined. The necessity of using a horn antenna to create directional radiation towards the mirror antenna emitter is shown. The data on the design of such a calibration signal source for the case of its use in a three-band microwave radiometric system with the reception of a noise signal at the common antenna aperture and a sequential separation of the input signals of the three bands in the feeder path of the common mirror irradiator are presented. The influence of the design and, accordingly, the directional properties of the horn antenna of a microwave radiometric system calibration signal source on the coefficient characterizing the radiation divergence created by the noise generator horn, as well as the frequency properties of this coefficient are analysed. The results of measurements of radio-thermal radiation by a three-band microwave radiometric system when two calibration periods with reception of a radio-noise signal from an external calibration signal source located at the base of the antenna mirror are presented.

Accurate Optimization Technique for Phase-Gradient Metasurfaces used in Compact Near-Field Meta-Steering Systems

Near-field Meta-Steering (NFMS) is a constantly evolving and progressively emerging novel antenna beam-steering technology that involves an elegant assembly of a base antenna and a pair of phase-gradient metasurfaces (PGMs) placed in the near-field region of the antenna aperture. The upper PGM in a Near-Field Meta-Steering system receives an oblique incidence from the lower PGM at all times, a fact that is ignored in the traditional design process of upper metasurfaces. This work proposes an accurate optimization method for metasurfaces in NFMS systems to reduce signal leakage by suppressing the grating lobes and side lobes that are innate artifacts of beam-steering. We detail the design and optimization approach for both upper and lower metasurface. Compared to the conventionally optimized compact 2D steering system, the proposed system exhibits higher directivity and lower sidelobe and grating lobe levels within the entire scanning range. The broadside directivity is 1.4 dB higher, and the sidelobe level is 4dB lower in comparison. The beam-steering patterns for the proposed 2D compact design are experimentally validated, and the measured and predicted results are in excellent concurrence. The versatile compatibility of truncated PGMs with a low gain antenna makes it a compelling technology for wireless backhaul mesh networks and future antenna hardware.

Investigations on Monolithic Radome Interactions with Active Electronically Scanned Array on Fighter Platform

The conventional fighter aircrafts are often equipped with fire control radar (FCR) using mechanically scanned antenna (MSA) with passive slots enclosed with monolithic conical radome. When the fighter platforms get upgraded with the modern active electronically steered array (AESA) FCR for better mission capabilities, even though radome change is desirable for optimum performance of AESA, it may not be feasible due to development time. This necessitate the evaluation of AESA radar with the existing monolithic radome. Hence active antenna aperture radiation pattern is required to be assessed with monolithic radome. To address this issue, simulation is preferred over physical testing, due to the reduced cost, time and complexity in measurements and ability to verify compatibility. In the present paper, the influence of monolithic radome on the active antenna radiation patterns are simulated and analysed. The characterisation studies helped for better optimisation of active aperture, optimum size for new radome development and additional space on fighter platforms that can be used for integration of new subsystems. Simulations are performed at two different locations of antenna inside radome. Experimental validations have been carried out to prove the efficacy of simulated results, which are in agreement.

A Sparse Denoising-Based Super-Resolution Method for Scanning Radar Imaging

Scanning radar enables wide-range imaging through antenna scanning and is widely used for radar warning. The Rayleigh criterion indicates that narrow beams of radar are required to improve the azimuth resolution. However, a narrower beam means a larger antenna aperture. In practical applications, due to platform limitations, the antenna aperture is limited, resulting in a low azimuth resolution. The conventional sparse super-resolution method (SSM) has been proposed for improving the azimuth resolution of scanning radar imaging and achieving superior performance. This method uses the L1 norm to represent the sparse prior of the target and solves the L1 regularization problem to achieve super-resolution imaging under the regularization framework. The resolution of strong-point targets is improved efficiently. However, for some targets with typical shapes, the strong sparsity of the L1 norm treats them as strong-point targets, resulting in the loss of shape characteristics. Thus, we can only see the strong points in its processing results. However, in some applications that need to identify targets in detail, SSM can lead to false judgments. In this paper, a sparse denoising-based super-resolution method (SDBSM) is proposed to compensate for the deficiency of traditional SSM. The proposed SDBSM uses a sparse minimization scheme for denoising, which helps to reduce the influence of noise. Then, the super-resolution imaging is achieved by alternating iterative denoising and deconvolution. As the proposed SDBSM uses the L1 norm for denoising rather than deconvolution, the strong sparsity constraint of the L1 norm is reduced. Therefore, it can effectively preserve the shape of the target while improving the azimuth resolution. The performance of the proposed SDBSM was demonstrated via simulation and real data processing results.

Design and Testing of a Low-Tech DEW Generator for Determining Electromagnetic Immunity of Standard Electronic Circuits

This article describes the effect of high-power electromagnetic environments (HPEMs) on the operation of all basic elements of electrical power networks. Frequency bands are defined for the HPEM environments. Attention is focused particularly on directed energy weapons (DEWs) and intentional electromagnetic interference (IEMI). A classification of DEW and IEMI generators in terms of E-field level and target distance from the DEW or IEMI generator antenna aperture is also described. The main focus of this article is on the design and testing of a low-tech DEW generator used to determine the electromagnetic immunity of standard electronic circuits. In addition, verification of electromagnetic immunity for a simple electronic circuit without adequate protection against the E-field is also explained. The outcome of this article is the determination of the E-field limits for fault-free operation, for malfunctioning states of the tested circuits and for irreversible destruction of the circuits. The measured E-field was compared to basic microwave radiation theory and to simulation results in COMSOL Multiphysics software (COMSOL, Inc. 100 District Avenue Burlington, MA 01803 USA).

Antenna Array with TEM-Horn for Radiation of High-Power Ultra Short Electromagnetic Pulses

An antenna array with short shielded transverse electromagnetic horns (S-TEM-horns) for emitting high-power radiation of ultra-short electromagnetic pulses (USEMP) has been created and researched. The antenna unit consists of an ultra-wideband antenna array with four S-TEM horns, with each connected to a two-wire HF transmission line, and these four lines are connected to an antenna feeder. This feeder is connected to a semiconductor generator with the following parameters: a 50 Ohm connector, 10–100 kV high-voltage monopolar pulses, a rise time of about 0.1 ns, FWHM = 0.2–1 ns, and pulse repetition rates of 1–100 kHz. The antenna array was designed and optimized to achieve a high efficiency of about 100% for the antenna aperture by using a 2 × 2 array with S-TEM-horns, with shielding rectangular plates for the return current. The transient responses were studied by simulation using the electromagnetic 3D code “KARAT” at the time domain and experimentally with the use of our stripline sensor for measurement of the impulse electrical field with a 0.03 ns rise time and a 7 ns duration at the traveling wave. The radiators were emitting USEMP waves with a hyperband frequency spectrum of 0.1–6 GHz. The radiation with an amplitude of 5–30 kV/m of the E-field strength at a distance of up to 20 m was successfully applied to test the electronics for immunity to electromagnetic interference.