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Micromachines
Special Issues
Micro Manufacturing for 5G Communications
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Micro Manufacturing for 5G Communications

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D：Materials and Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 15145

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Valeria Marrocco

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
STIIMA CNR, Institute of Intelligent Industrial Technologies and Systems for Advanced Manufacturing, National Research Council, 70124 Bari, Italy
Interests: micro-manufacturing; micro-EDM; additive manufacturing; 5G communications; antennas
Dr. Vito Basile

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
STIIMA CNR, Institute of Intelligent Industrial Technologies and Systems for Advanced Manufacturing, National Research Council, 70124 Bari, Italy
Interests: micro-manufacturing; additive manufacturing; micro-assembly; material science

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fifth-Generation (5G) communications are currently attracting attention from the scientific community and the wider public due to their potential to enhance and accelerate the interconnection between devices and people. Nonetheless, despite their recent development, the design and manufacturing of highly efficient antennas and devices are significant challenges to implementing high data rates with negligible losses. Additionally, as mm-wave and sub-THz ranges fall within 5G communications, the development of next-generation lightweight and multi-band payloads aimed at space applications is another topical concern. Micro-manufacturing, comprising both subtractive and 3D printing technologies, is certainly the way to fabricate such devices, which generally envisage high dimensional resolution and accuracy constraints. In particular, the choice of proper fabrication technology makes a significant difference for the final 5G device performance. This Special Issue will collect contributions in the form of research papers and review articles that focus on the following main aspects related to the micro-manufacturing of 5G communication devices:

  • Technological challenges and novel solutions required by the component design
  • Component/device manufacturing and characterization, with particular attention to the evaluation of dimensional resolution and surface accuracy
  • Impact of the selected micro-manufacturing technologies on the device performance: hypothesis /proof about the correlation between component manufacturing and performance
  • Device assembly challenges and novel solutions: for instance, solutions/tools development for alignment and micro-positioning of components

Dr. Valeria Marrocco
Dr. Vito Basile
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • 5G communications
  • mm-waves
  • lightweight devices
  • additive manufacturing
  • subtractive-manufacturing

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6336 KiB  
Article
Waveguide Manufacturing Technologies for Next-Generation Millimeter-Wave Antennas
by Lucas Polo-López, Pablo Sanchez-Olivares, Eduardo García-Marín, Jorge A. Ruiz-Cruz, Juan Córcoles, José L. Masa-Campos, José R. Montejo-Garai and Jesús M. Rebollar
Micromachines 2021, 12(12), 1565; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12121565 - 16 Dec 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4185
Abstract
Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and additive approaches. All the designs [...] Read more.
Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and additive approaches. All the designs have used the latest developments in the field of manufacturing to guarantee the required accuracy for operation at millimeter-wave frequencies, where tolerances are extremely tight. Different designs will be presented, including a monopulse antenna combining a comparator network, a mode converter, and a spline profile horn; a tunable phase shifter that is integrated into an array to implement reconfigurability of the main lobe direction; and a conformal array antenna. These prototypes were manufactured by diverse approaches taking into account the waveguide configuration, combining parts with high-precision milling, electrical discharge machining, direct metal laser sintering, or stereolithography with spray metallization, showing very competitive performances at the millimeter-wave band till 40 GHz. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Manufacturing for 5G Communications)
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15 pages, 7959 KiB  
Article
Rapid Prototyping of Bio-Inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas for Sub-6 GHz Applications
by Valeria Marrocco, Vito Basile, Ilaria Marasco, Giovanni Niro, Luigi Melchiorre, Antonella D’Orazio, Marco Grande and Irene Fassi
Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1046; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12091046 - 29 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2946
Abstract
Bio-inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs) are engaging more and more attention from the scientific community due to their exceptional wideband characteristic, which is especially desirable for the implementation of 5G communications. Nonetheless, since these antennas exhibit peculiar geometries in their micro-features, high dimensional [...] Read more.
Bio-inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs) are engaging more and more attention from the scientific community due to their exceptional wideband characteristic, which is especially desirable for the implementation of 5G communications. Nonetheless, since these antennas exhibit peculiar geometries in their micro-features, high dimensional accuracy must be accomplished via the selection of the most suitable fabrication process. In this study, the challenges to the manufacturing process presented by the wideband Spiral shell Dielectric Resonator Antenna (SsDRA), based on the Gielis superformula, are addressed. Three prototypes, made of three different photopolymer resins, were manufactured by bottom-up micro-Stereolithography (SLA). This process allows to cope with SsDRA’s fabrication criticalities, especially concerning the wavy features characterizing the thin spiral surface and the micro-features located in close proximity to the spiral origin. The assembly of the SsDRAs with a ground plane and feed probe was also accurately managed in order to guarantee reliable and repeatable measurements. The scattering parameter S11 trends were then measured by means of a Vector Network Analyzer, while the realized gains and 3D radiation diagrams were measured in the anechoic chamber. The experimental results show that all SsDRAs display relevant wideband behavior of 2 GHz at −10 dB in the sub-6 GHz range. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Manufacturing for 5G Communications)
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9 pages, 2251 KiB  
Article
Realizing UWB Antenna Array with Dual and Wide Rejection Bands Using Metamaterial and Electromagnetic Bandgaps Techniques
by Ayman A. Althuwayb, Mohammad Alibakhshikenari, Bal S. Virdee, Pancham Shukla and Ernesto Limiti
Micromachines 2021, 12(3), 269; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12030269 - 6 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2573
Abstract
This research article describes a technique for realizing wideband dual notched functionality in an ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna array based on metamaterial and electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) techniques. For comparison purposes, a reference antenna array was initially designed comprising hexagonal patches that are interconnected to [...] Read more.
This research article describes a technique for realizing wideband dual notched functionality in an ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna array based on metamaterial and electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) techniques. For comparison purposes, a reference antenna array was initially designed comprising hexagonal patches that are interconnected to each other. The array was fabricated on standard FR-4 substrate with thickness of 0.8 mm. The reference antenna exhibited an average gain of 1.5 dBi across 5.25–10.1 GHz. To improve the array’s impedance bandwidth for application in UWB systems metamaterial (MTM) characteristics were applied it. This involved embedding hexagonal slots in patch and shorting the patch to the ground-plane with metallic via. This essentially transformed the antenna to a composite right/left-handed structure that behaved like series left-handed capacitance and shunt left-handed inductance. The proposed MTM antenna array now operated over a much wider frequency range (2–12 GHz) with average gain of 5 dBi. Notched band functionality was incorporated in the proposed array to eliminate unwanted interference signals from other wireless communications systems that coexist inside the UWB spectrum. This was achieved by introducing electromagnetic bandgap in the array by etching circular slots on the ground-plane that are aligned underneath each patch and interconnecting microstrip-line in the array. The proposed techniques had no effect on the dimensions of the antenna array (20 mm × 20 mm × 0.87 mm). The results presented confirm dual-band rejection at the wireless local area network (WLAN) band (5.15–5.825 GHz) and X-band satellite downlink communication band (7.10–7.76 GHz). Compared to other dual notched band designs previously published the footprint of the proposed technique is smaller and its rejection notches completely cover the bandwidth of interfering signals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Manufacturing for 5G Communications)
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15 pages, 9153 KiB  
Article
Low Cost AIP Design in 5G Flexible Antenna Phase Array System Application
by Wei-Shin Tung, Wei-Yuan Chiang, Chih-Kai Liu, Chiung-An Chen, Pei-Zong Rao, Patricia Angela R. Abu, Wan-Ming Chen, Faisal Asadi and Shih-Lun Chen
Micromachines 2020, 11(9), 851; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11090851 - 13 Sep 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4456
Abstract
In this paper, a low cost 28 GHz Antenna-in-Package (AIP) for a 5G communication system is designed and investigated. The antenna is implemented on a low-cost FR4 substrate with a phase shift control integrated circuit, AnokiWave phasor integrated circuit (IC). The unit cell [...] Read more.
In this paper, a low cost 28 GHz Antenna-in-Package (AIP) for a 5G communication system is designed and investigated. The antenna is implemented on a low-cost FR4 substrate with a phase shift control integrated circuit, AnokiWave phasor integrated circuit (IC). The unit cell where the array antenna and IC are integrated in the same plate constructs a flexible phase array system. Using the AIP unit cell, the desired antenna array can be created, such as 2 × 8, 8 × 8 or 2 × 64 arrays. The study design proposed in this study is a 2 × 2 unit cell structure with dimensions of 18 mm × 14 mm × 0.71 mm. The return loss at a 10 dB bandwidth is 26.5–29.5 GHz while the peak gain of the unit cell achieved 14.4 dBi at 28 GHz. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Manufacturing for 5G Communications)
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