Search Results (17)

Acquiring information about the surrounding environment is crucial for reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) to effectively manipulate radio wave propagation. This operation can be fully automated by incorporating an integrated sensing mechanism, leading to a hybrid configuration known as a hybrid reconfigurable intelligent surface (HRIS). Several HRIS geometries have been studied in previous works, with full-wave simulations used to showcase their sensing capabilities. However, these simulated models often fail to address the practical design challenges associated with HRISs. This paper presents an experimental proof-of-concept for an HRIS, focusing on the design considerations that have been neglected in simulations but are vital for experimental validation. The HRIS prototype comprises two types of elements: a conventional element designed for reconfigurable reflection and a hybrid one for sensing and reconfigurable reflection. The metasurface can carry out the required sensing operations by utilizing signals coupled to several hybrid elements. This paper outlines the design considerations necessary to create a practical HRIS configuration that can be fabricated using standard PCB technology. The sensing capabilities of the HRIS are demonstrated experimentally through angle of arrival (AoA) detection. The proposed HRIS has the potential to facilitate smart, autonomous wireless communication networks, wireless power transfer, and sensing systems. Full article

Reducing distortion of spectral simulation signals in infrared detection systems is essential to improve the precision of detecting fine spectra in space-based carbon monitoring satellites. The rigid-flex printed circuit board (PCB), a vital interconnection structure between detectors and signal conditioning circuits, exhibits signal quality variations due to impedance fluctuations and parasitic capacitance changes induced by its meshed return plane geometry. This periodically varying structure necessitates full-wave field solutions to include longitudinal discontinuity. Although full-wave simulations provide accurate characterization, they demand substantial computational resources and time. To address these challenges, we propose an innovative approach to effectively determine optimal meshed return plane designs across various transmission rates. The method integrates a convolutional neural network (CNN) with improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO). First, a CNN model is employed efficiently to predict scattering parameters (S-parameters) for different design configurations, thereby overcoming the inefficiencies associated with iterative full-wave simulation optimization. Then, an IPSO algorithm has been implemented to address the optimization challenge of crosstalk and inter-symbol interference (ISI) in signal transmission. Furthermore, to increase the optimization speed and evaluate the system performance under extreme conditions, we propose a fitness function construction method based on double-edge responses (DER) to rapidly generate a worst-case peak distortion analysis (PDA) eye diagram within the IPSO algorithm. The proposed methodology reduces computational complexity by two orders of magnitude relative to the full-wave simulation. Quantitative analysis conducted at a transmission rate of 5 Gbps demonstrates substantial signal quality improvements compared to empirical PCB design: the eye height increased by 49.7%, and the eye width expanded by 35.7%. The effectiveness of these improvements has been verified through commercial simulation software, proving that the method can provide design support for infrared detection systems. Full article

Structural composite materials have gained significant appeal because of their ability to be customized for specific mechanical qualities for various applications, including avionics, wind turbines, transportation, and medical equipment. Therefore, there is a growing demand for effective and non-invasive structural health monitoring (SHM) devices to supervise the integrity of materials. This work introduces a novel sensor design, consisting of three spiral resonators optimized to operate at distinct frequencies and excited by a feeding strip line, capable of performing non-destructive structural strain monitoring via frequency coding. The initial discussion focuses on the analytical modeling of the sensor, which is based on a circuital approach. A numerical test case is developed to operate across the frequency range of 100 to 400 MHz, selected to achieve a balance between penetration depth and the sensitivity of the system. The encouraging findings from electromagnetic full-wave simulations have been confirmed by experimental measurements conducted on printed circuit board (PCB) prototypes embedded in a fiberglass-based composite sample. The sensor shows exceptional sensitivity and cost-effectiveness, and may be easily integrated into composite layers due to its minimal cabling requirements and extremely small profile. The particular frequency-coded configuration enables the suggested sensor to accurately detect and distinguish various structural deformations based on their severity and location. Full article

The number of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layers is continually increasing with the increase in data transmission rates, and the Signal Integrity (SI) of high-speed digital systems cannot be ignored. Introducing Vertical Interconnect Accesses (VIAs) in PCBs can realize the electrical connection between the top layer and the inner layers, however, VIAs represent one of the most important reasons for discontinuity between the PCBs and package. In this paper, a new optimization scheme for a differential VIA stub is proposed, with 3D full-wave numerical simulation used for modeling and simulation. Results show that this scheme optimizes the return loss and insertion loss while making the signal eye diagram more ideal, which can improve the transmission effect of high-speed signals. Full article

This paper addresses the increasing demand for computing power and the challenges associated with adding more core units to a computer processor. It explores the utilization of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology, which integrates Terahertz (THz) wave communication capabilities for intra- and inter-chip communication, using the concept of Wireless Network-on-Chips (WNoCs). Various types of network topologies are discussed, along with the disadvantages of wired networks. We explore the idea of applying wireless connections among cores and across the chip. Additionally, we describe the WNoC architecture, the flip-chip package, and the THz antenna. Electromagnetic fields are analyzed using a full-wave simulation software, Ansys High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The simulation is conducted with dipole and zigzag antennas communicating within the chip at resonant frequencies of 446 GHz and 462.5 GHz, with transmission coefficients of around −28 dB and −33 to −41 dB, respectively. Transmission coefficient characterization, path loss analysis, a study of electric field distribution, and a basic link budget for transmission are provided. Furthermore, the feasibility of calculated transmission power is validated in cases of high insertion loss, ensuring that the achieved energy expenditure is less than 1 pJ/bit. Finally, employing a similar setup, we study intra-chip communication using the same antennas. Simulation results indicate that the zigzag antenna exhibits a higher electric field magnitude compared with the dipole antenna across the simulated chip structure. We conclude that transmission occurs through reflection from the ground plane of a printed circuit board (PCB), as evidenced by the electric field distribution. Full article

An ultra-wideband common-mode (CM) filter for a gigahertz (GHz) data rate signal is proposed in this paper. The proposed filter was designed only on the printed circuit board (PCB) ground plane; no additional components wererequired. We took advantage of producing second-order transmission zero by an asymmetrical magnified coupled DGS to extend the suppression bandwidth. Full-wave simulations and equivalent circuit models of the DGS resonator were established to predict the suppression performance. The measured differential-mode insertion loss (S_dd21) from direct current (DC) to 12.35 GHz was obtained within the −3 dB definitionin the frequency domain. The CM noise was suppressed by more than10 dB in the frequency range from 2.9 GHz to 16.2 GHz. The fractional bandwidth (FBW) reached 139.3%. The proposed filter blocked 62.3% of the CM noise magnitude in the time domain measurement. In addition, the eye diagram measurement proved that good transmission quality was maintained. The proposed filter can be widely implemented to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) in radio frequency (RF) andWi-Fi (wireless fidelitystandard) 5 and 6E wireless communication applications. Full article

A deep neural network (DNN)-based method is proposed for the fast synthesis of a high-dimensional electromagnetic bandgap structure (HD-EBG) suppressing the power/ground noise in high-speed packages and printed circuit boards (PCBs). In recent EBG structures, a highly flexible design with high dimensionality is required, which is challenging to rapidly achieve an optimal solution. The proposed synthesis method is developed to solve this issue efficiently. The DNN hyperparameter optimization (HPO) associated with the HD-EBG structure is devised using the orthogonal array of the Taguchi method. By using this approach, the search space for HPO is reduced. For the efficient synthesis of the HD-EBG structure, an inverse modeling approach based on a DNN forward model and genetic algorithm optimization is proposed. The proposed DNN inverse modeling (DIM) is applied to two design examples where the HD-EBG structures with a constant fractional bandwidth and stopband bandwidth extension are synthesized. In the demonstration cases, the proposed DIM achieves the fast and accurate synthesis of the HD-EBG structures compared to the conventional method. With the proposed method, the synthesis time is maximally reduced up to 99.8% compared to conventional synthesis based on the forward model of full-wave simulation. Full article

A novel wideband common-mode (CM) suppression filter is proposed for high-speed transmission. The filter is embedded in 3 10 mm × 10 mm layers of a printed circuit board (PCB) that combines a mushroom structure and a defected corrugated reference plane structure (MDCRP). Using the novel MDCRP structure generates more resonance frequencies in the CM current return path. This generates a wider CM noise suppression performance. We used a simulation method to obtain the best geometric parameters for the MDCRP structure. The experimental results proved that the full-wave simulation results were consistent with the actual measurement results. This novel filter shows good signal integrity according to actual measurements, and the insertion loss can be kept to less than −2.306 dB from DC to 21 GHz in differential mode (DM). The CM noise can be suppressed by over −10 dB from 5.09 GHz to 20.62 GHz. The fractional bandwidth is 120.8%, and the CM noise improves by 64.5%. An eye diagram proves that the filter can support a 20 Gb/s transmission rate with complete differential signal transmission capability. The MDCRP structure filter can support HDMI 2.0, PCI Express 4.0, USB 3.2, and SATA Express. Therefore, the filter meets current computer and server system products’ design needs. Full article

This work proposes a novel coupling mechanism for a complementary split-ring resonator as a planar near-field microwave sensor for dielectric materials. The resonator is etched into the ground plane of a microstrip line. This mechanism is based on the inductive coupling synthesized by utilizing a via that connects the power plane of the microstrip line to the central island of the resonator. The proposed coupling makes the coupling capacitance between the transmission line and the resonator relatively small and insignificant compared to the capacitance of the resonator, making it more sensitive to changes in the dielectric constant of the materials under test. In addition, the coupling is no longer dependent solely on the capacitive coupling, which significantly reduces the coupling degradation caused by loading the resonator with dielectric materials, so the inductive coupling plays an important role in the proposed design. Therefore, the proposed coupling mechanism improves the sensitivity and enhances the coupling between the transmission line and the resonator. The sensor is evaluated for sensitivity, normalized resonance shift, and coupling factor using a full-wave numerical simulation. The sensitivity of the proposed sensor is 12% and 5.6% when detecting dielectric constants of 2 and 10, respectively. Compared to recent studies, the sensitivity improvement when detecting similar permittivity is 20% (1.32 times) and 9.8% (1.1 times). For verification, the proposed sensor is manufactured using PCB technology and is used to detect the presence of two dielectric laminates. Full article

A dual-band linear-to-circular planar polarization converter based on a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) is proposed and demonstrated. Each cell of the periodic surface is formed by six substrate layers separated by five foam spacers. The three top layers are identical and contain an ‘I’-type strip, while the three layers on the bottom side are realized with three identical Jerusalem crosses (JC). A linearly polarized (LP) wave tilted 45° relative to the x- and y-axis of the converter is used to illuminate the polarizer. In this configuration, right-handed circularly polarized (RHCP) waves are generated at the Ka-band while left-handed circularly polarized (LHCP) waves are generated at the K-band. An equivalent circuit model based on transmission lines is proposed and used to design the polarizer together with full-wave simulations. The simulated/measured axial ratio (AR) remains below 3 dB in the bands 19.4–21.8 GHz (12.5%) and 27.9–30.5 GHz (8.7%) with an insertion loss better than 0.5 dB. Full article

The paper presents a computationally efficient and accurate numerical approach to evaluating RF–DC power conversion efficiency (PCE) for energy harvesting circuits in the case of multi-tone power-carrying signal with periodic envelopes. This type of signal has recently received considerable attention in the literature. It has been shown that their use may result in a higher PCE than the conventional sine wave signal for low to medium input power levels. This reason motivated the authors to develop a fast and accurate two-frequency harmonic balance method (2F-HB), as fast PCE calculation might appreciably expedite the converter circuit optimization process. In order to demonstrate the computational efficiency of the 2F-HB, a comparative study is performed. The results of this study show that the 2F-HB significantly outperforms such extensively used methods as the transient analysis (TA), the harmonic balance method (HB), and the multidimensional harmonic balance method (MHB). The method also outperforms the commercially available non-linear circuit simulator Keysight ADS employing both HB and MHB. Furthermore, the proposed method can be readily integrated into commonly used commercially available non-linear circuit simulation software, including the Keysight ADS, Ansys HFSS, just to name a few—minor modifications are required. In addition, to increase the correctness and reliability of the proposed method, the influence of PCB is considered by calculating Y parameters of its 3D model. The widely employed voltage doubler-based RF–DC converter for energy harvesting and wireless power transfer (WPT) in sub-GHz diapason is chosen to validate the proposed method experimentally. This RF–DC converter is chosen for its simplicity and capability to provide sufficiently high PCE. The measurements of the PCE for a voltage doubler prototype employing different multi-tone waveform signals were performed in laboratory conditions. Various combinations of the matching circuit element values were considered to find the optimal one in both—theoretical model and experimental prototype. The measured PCE is in very good agreement with the PCE calculated numerically, which attests to the validity of the proposed approach. The proposed PCE estimation method is not limited to one selected RF–DC conversion circuit and can also be applied to other circuits and frequency bands. The comparison of the PCE obtained by means of the proposed approach and the measured one shows very good agreement between them. The PCE estimation error reaches as low as 0.37%, and the maximal estimation error is 32.65%. Full article

The goal of this paper is to present a compact low-cost and low-power prototype of a pulsed Ultra Wide Band (UWB) oscillator and an UWB elliptical dipole antenna integrated on the same Radio Frequency (RF) Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and its digital control board for Real Time Locating System (RTLS) applications. The design is compatible with IEEE 802.15.4 high rate pulse repetition UWB standard being able to work between 6 GHz and 8.5 GHz with 500 MHz bandwidth and with a pulse duration of 2 ns. The UWB system has been designed using the CST Microwave Studio transient Electro-Magnetic (EM) circuit co-simulation method. This method integrates the functional circuit simulation together with the full wave (EM) simulation of the PCB’s 3D model allowing fast parameter tuning. The PCB has been manufactured and the entire system has been assembled and measured. Simulated and measured results are in excellent agreement with respect to the radiation performances as well as the power consumption. A compact, very low-power and low-cost system has been designed and validated. Full article

Because modern electronic systems are likely to be exposed to high intensity radiated fields (HIRF) environments, there is growing interest in understanding how electronic systems are affected by such environments. Backdoor coupling in particular is an area of concern for all electronics, but there is limited understanding about the mechanisms behind backdoor coupling. In this work, we present a study on printed circuit board (PCB) backdoor coupling and the effects of via fencing. Existing work focuses on ideal stackups and indicates that edge radiation is significantly reduced by via fencing. In this study, both full wave electromagnetic modeling and experimental verification are used to investigate both ideal and practical PCB stackups. In the ideal scenario, we find that via fencing substantially reduces coupling, which is consistent with prior work on emissions. In the practical scenario, we incorporate component footprints and traces which naturally introduce openings in the top ground plane. Both simulation and experimental data indicate that via fencing in the practical scenario does not substantially mitigate coupling, suggesting that PCB edge coupling is not the dominant coupling mechanism, even at varying angles of incidence and polarization. Full article

This manuscript reports the first leaky-wave antenna (LWA) array excited by a photomixer as well as its potential application for alignment in wireless links. The designed array is manufactured in printed circuit board (PCB) technology, works at the E-band (from 75 to 85 GHz), and provides a directive beam of about 18 dBi with a frequency scanning span of 22°. The antenna element consists of a microstrip line periodically loaded with stubs, and it has been designed employing a hybrid approach combining full-wave simulations and transmission line theory. This approach enables the optimization of the periods when the open-stopband of the LWA is mitigated or removed at the frequency of broadside emission. The proposed antenna was first tested using a ground signal ground (GSG) probe; the measured return loss and radiation patterns of the fabricated prototype were in good agreement with full-wave simulations. Then, the LWA array was integrated with the photomixer chip using conductive epoxy threads. Measurements of the radiated power yielded a maximum of 120 µW at 80.5 GHz for a 9.8 mA photocurrent. Finally, the antenna was used in a 25 cm wireless link, obtaining a 2.15 Gbps error-free data rate. Full article

In this study, we propose and analyze a dual-perforation (DP) technique to improve an electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure in thin and low-cost printed circuit boards (PCBs). The proposed DP–EBG structure includes a power plane with a square aperture and a patch with an L-shape slot that overcomes efficiently the problems resulting from the low-inductance and the characteristic impedance of the EBG structure developed for parallel-plate noise suppression in thin PCBs. The effects of the proposed dual-perforation technique on the stopband characteristics and unit cell size are analyzed using an analytical dispersion method and full-wave simulations. The closed-form expressions for the main design parameters of the proposed DP–EBG structure are extracted as a design guide. It is verified based on full-wave simulations and measurements that the DP technique is a cost-effective method that can be used to achieve a size reduction and a stopband extension of the EBG structure in thin PCBs. For the same unit cell size and low cut-off frequency, the DP–EBG structure increases the stopband bandwidth by up to 473% compared to an inductance-enhanced EBG structure. In addition, the unit cell size is substantially reduced by up to 94.2% compared to the metallo–dielectric EBG structure. The proposed DP–EBG technique achieves the wideband suppression of parallel plate noise and miniaturization of the EBG structure in thin and low-cost PCBs. Full article