Orthogonal Printed Microstrip Antenna Arrays for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications

This article presents the design of a planar MIMO (Multiple Inputs Multiple Outputs) antenna comprised of two sets orthogonally placed 1 × 12 linear antenna arrays for 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) applications. The arrays are made of probe-fed microstrip patch antenna elements on a 90 × 160 mm2 Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 grounded dielectric substrate. The antenna demonstrates S11 = −10 dB impedance bandwidth in the following 5G frequency band: 24.25–27.50 GHz. The scattering parameters of the antenna were computed by electromagnetic simulation tools, Ansys HFSS and CST Microwave Studio, and were further verified by the measured results of a fabricated prototype. To achieve a gain of 12 dBi or better over a scanning range of +/−45° from broadside, the Dolph-Tschebyscheff excitation weighting and optimum spacing are used. Different antenna parameters, such as correlation coefficient, port isolation, and 2D and 3D radiation patterns, are investigated to determine the effectiveness of this antenna for MIMO operation, which will be very useful for mmWave cellphone applications in 5G bands.

Compact line source generator for feeding continuous transverse stub arrays

Based on a substrate integrated lens (SIL), a compact line source generator (LSG) for feeding continuous transverse stub (CTS) arrays with linear-polarized (LP) beam scanning and dual-polarized (DP) operations is presented in this paper. The SIL consists of metamaterial cells with different sizes being arranged as concentric annulus and is printed on the center surface of two substrate layers. The SIL can convert the cylindrical wave generated by the feed probe of SIW-horn to the planar wave for feeding the CTS array. This rotationally symmetric SIL can be used conveniently to design LSG for feeding CTS arrays with the continuous beam scanning and DP operations, which has been verified by the fabrications and measurements. By simply rotating the SIW-horn along the edge of SIL, the 10-element LP-CTS array obtains a measured beam scanning range of ±35° with the highest gain of 20.6 dBi. By setting two orthogonal SIW-horns at the edge of the proposed SIL, the nine-element DP-CTS array with orthogonal radiation stubs is excited. The DP array obtains the gain of 20.3 dBi at the center frequency with the isolation of 28 dB and the cross-polarization level <−25 dB.

Flat telescope based on an all-dielectric metasurface doublet enabling polarization-controllable enhanced beam steering

A flat telescope (FTS), which incorporates an all-dielectric metasurface doublet (MD) based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon nanoposts, is proposed and demonstrated to achieve flexibly magnified angular beam steering that is sensitive to both light polarization and deflection direction. Specifically, for transverse-electric-polarized incident beams, the MD exhibits deflection magnification factors of +5 and +2, while for transverse magnetic polarization, the beam is steered in reverse to yield magnification factors of −5 and −2 in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. The proposed MD comprises cascaded metalenses, which can invoke polarization-selective transmission phases. The MD which emulates a set of convex and concave lenses renders positively increased beam deflection, whereas the case corresponding to a pair of convex lenses facilitates negatively amplified beam deflection. The essential phase profiles required for embodying the MD are efficiently extracted from its geometric lens counterpart. Furthermore, the implemented FTS, operating in the vicinity of a 1550 nm wavelength, can successfully enable enhanced beam steering by facilitating polarization-sensitive bidirectional deflection amplifications. The proposed FTS can be applied in the development of a miniaturized light detection and ranging system, where the beam scanning range can be effectively expanded in two dimensions.

A Low-Sidelobe-Level Variable Inclination Continuous Transverse Stub Antenna with a Nonlinear Slow-Wave Structure

The sidelobe level (SLL) is an essential performance factor for satellite communication antennas. A low-SLL design can effectively suppress adjacent satellite interference. A low-SLL design method for a variable inclination continuous transverse stub (VICTS) antenna is proposed in this paper. The VICTS antenna is composed of three rotatable parts: a feeding plate, a radiation plate, and a polarization plate. The radiation plate comprises two groups of stubs with different radiation ratios. Combined with the nonlinear slow-wave structure attached to the feeding plate, the radiation ratio of the unit can be adjusted. The aperture field of the VICTS antenna using this method can be tapered in order to suppress the SLL. To verify the effectiveness of this method, the antenna prototype is fabricated and measured in a microwave anechoic chamber. The simulation and the measurement are in good agreement. The reflection coefficient of the antenna is kept below −15 dB and between 13.75 GHz and 14.5 GHz. When the radiation plate and the feeding plate rotate relative to each other, the pattern beam can be scanned from 5° to 70 ° . In the scanning range, the typical SLL can reach −18 dB.

Coherently Radiating Periodic Structures to Reduce the Number of Phase Shifters in a 2-D Phased Array

This paper illustrates the application of CORPS (coherently radiating periodic structures) for feeding 2-D phased arrays with a reduced number of phase shifter (PS) devices. Three design configurations using CORPS are proposed for 2-D phased arrays. The design model of phased array for these configurations considers the cophasal excitation required for this structure to set a strategic way for feeding the antenna elements and reducing the number of PS devices. Blocks of 2 × 3 and 4 × 7 CORPS networks depending on the configuration in the 2-D phased array are set strategically in the feeding network to generate the cophasal excitation required in the antenna elements. These design configurations used for feeding the antenna elements in the planar array geometry provide several advantages with respect to others in the scanning capability and the reduction of the number of PS devices of the array system. The full-wave simulation results for the proposed configurations in 2-D phased arrays provide a reduction in the number of PSs of until 69% for a scanning range of ±25° in elevation and ±40° in azimuth. The application of the raised cosine amplitude distribution could generate radiation patterns with a SLL_PEAK ≈ −19 dB and SLL_PEAK ≈ −23 dB for the design proposed configurations in all the scanning range.

Large-scale two-photon calcium imaging in freely moving mice

We developed a miniaturized two-photon microscope (MINI2P) for fast, high-resolution, multiplane calcium imaging of over 1,000 neurons at a time in freely moving mice. With a microscope weight below 3g and a highly flexible connection cable, MINI2P allowed imaging to proceed with no impediment of behavior in half-hour free-foraging trials compared to untethered, unimplanted animals. The improved cell yield was achieved through a new optical system design featuring an enlarged field of view (FOV) and a new micro-tunable lens with increased z-scanning range and speed that allowed for fast and stable imaging of multiple, interleaved planes as well as 3D functional imaging. A novel technique for successive imaging across multiple, adjacent FOVs enabled recordings from more than 10,000 neurons in the same animal. Large-scale proof-of-principle data were obtained from cell populations in visual cortex, medial entorhinal cortex, and hippocampus, revealing spatial tuning of cells in all areas, including visual cortex.

A Miniaturized Quad-Stopband Frequency Selective Surface with Convoluted and Interdigitated Stripe Based on Equivalent Circuit Model Analysis

This paper presents a miniaturized frequency selective surface (FSS) based on the convoluted and interdigitated stripe with multiple narrow passbands/wide stopbands in the L-/S-/C-/X-/Ku-/K-band. By using the convoluted and interdigitated stripe, the coupling inside is well controlled, so that the spatial efficiency is maximized to provide a high miniaturization. An equivalent circuit model is presented to reveal the working mechanism of the proposed FSS. The proposed structure forms four transmission band rejections of 3 dB in 1–6.65 GHz, 8.35–16.9 GHz, 18.0–24 GHz, and 24.50–27.84 GHz. The size of the unit cell is 0.09λ0 × 0.09λ0, where λ0 is the wavelength of the first resonance frequency. The proposed FSS has a good angle stability and polarization stability in a scanning range up to 60°. For verification, an FSS prototype has been fabricated and measured. The measured results were in agreement with the simulated results. The proposed FSS can be used in practical applications such as radomes, antenna reflectors, and spatial filters.