Search Results (10)

Multi-beam and beam-scanning antennas enable extensive communication coverage while mitigating multipath fading and enhancing spectrum utilization efficiency. This paper presents a transmissive metasurface antenna design, which utilizes a microstrip square-ring patch antenna with four feed ports as the excitation source. A 7 × 7 square patch metasurface is positioned above the feed source, facilitating the generation of four independently steerable beams by switching activation among the four feed ports. Operating at 12.6 GHz, the antenna achieves a gain of 10.4 dB. The 3 dB beamwidth of the beams from all four ports exceeds 23°. The proposed design offers advantages of structural simplicity, low profile, and cost-effectiveness. By leveraging transmissive metasurfaces, this approach combines the benefits of low profile and low cost with flexible manipulation of electromagnetic wave radiation, thereby providing a novel methodology for designing multi-beam communication antennas. Full article

This paper introduces a novel design of a circularly polarized (CP) beamforming antenna that is capable of shaping the original beam into a flat-top configuration. Upon loading a metallic ring, the beamforming pattern can transition into an isoflux pattern. The proposed compact lens antenna comprises a multi-layer honeycomb-like unit lens structure, with a patch and support platform situated beneath the lens. Positioned above the lens, a loadable metallic ring is employed to assist in beamforming. Through a specially designed dielectric lens structure, the lens can control the radiation of electromagnetic waves to achieve the desired beam pattern, while the loadable metallic ring plays a role in optimizing the field across the aperture plane of the lens. This work utilizes a multi-port feed network to drive the patch. To validate the proposed antenna design method, a prototype is fabricated for measurement. The measured result is nearly identical to the simulated result. Within the frequency range spanning from 4.8 GHz to 5.2 GHz (which represents a 10% bandwidth), the antenna demonstrates effective beamforming ability and achieves effective pattern switching. This renders it a promising candidate for scenarios where uniform signal strength coverage is required. Full article

This paper proposes a dual-band antenna to support 5G communication with linear polarization and the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) band with circular polarization. A single inverted T-shaped patch antenna with a defective ground was designed on the Schott Foturan II (Ceramized 560 degrees) substrate. Then, an L-shaped stub and slot were inserted into the ground to achieve the 5G and GNSS bands. The antenna was then designed as a 1 × 2 multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna to increase the directivity. A square ring-shaped frequency selective surface (FSS) was intended on the FR-4 substrate to improve the gain of the MIMO antenna. The FSS MIMO antenna increased the 3D gain from 2.8 to 5.4 dBi for the GNSS band and from 4.9 to 6.43 dBi for the 5G n79 band. The proposed antenna can receive and transmit the frequency bands covering sub-6 GHz 5G band n79 (4400–5000 MHz) and GNSS band E6 (1260–1300 MHz), respectively. A multi-port unmanned aerial vehicle antenna was fabricated, and its performance was characterized in terms of bandwidth, axial ratio, and gain. Full article

In this paper, a compact direction-finding system based on a deep neural network (DNN) with a single-patch multi-beam antenna is proposed. To achieve multiple beams, the patch is divided into four sectors by metal vias, and the pattern is tilted in the theta direction due to the coupled mode of the divided patch structure. This design allows a single-patch multi-beam antenna to generate eight beams using a combination of four excitation ports assigned to the four-divided sectors. This approach increases the amount of training data required for DNN-based direction finding without requiring multiple antennas, thus improving the accuracy of estimation probability. Furthermore, compared to our previous work, the parasitic elements are applied to improve the estimation probability by reducing the beamwidth of the antenna. The size of the antenna for the proposed direction-finding system is 0.44λ × 0.44λ × 0.008λ with a 97.7% estimation probability. The direction-finding performance has been validated and compared through the experiment to show higher accuracy with compactness than previously studied works. Full article

The approaching sixth-generation (6G) communication network will modernize applications and satisfy user demands through implementing a smart and reconfigurable system with a higher data rate and wider bandwidth. The controllable THz waves are highly recommended for the instantaneous development the new technology in wireless communication systems. Recently, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), also called codded/tunable programmable metasurfaces, have enabled a conspicuous functionality for THz devices and components for influencing electromagnetic waves (EM) such as beam steering, multi-beam-scanning applications, polarization variation, and beam focusing applications. In this article, we proposed a graphene plasmonic two-port MIMO microstrip patch antenna structure that operates at a 1.9 THz resonance frequency. An E-shape MTM unit cell is introduced to enhance the isolation of the antenna from −35 dB to −54 dB. An implementation of controllable and reconfigurable surfaces based on graphene meta-atoms (G-RIS) placed above the radiating patches with a suitable separated distance to control the radiated beam to steer in different directions (±60°). The reconfigurable process is carried out via changing the (ON/OFF) meta-atoms states to get a specific code with a certain beam direction. The gain enhancement of the antenna can be implemented through an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) based on graphene material. The G-AMC layer is located underneath the (MIMO antenna, G-RIS layer) to improve the gain from 4.5 dBi to 10 dBi. The suggested antenna structure results are validated with different techniques CST microwave studio and ADS equivalent circuit model. The results have asymptotic values. So, the proposed design of the MIMO antenna that is sandwiched between G-RIS and G-AMC is suitable for IoT applications. Full article

Radio frequency identification (RFID) represents an emerging platform for passive RF-powered wireless sensing. Differential Multi-port RFID systems are widely used to enable multiple independent measurands to be gathered, or to overcome channel variations. This paper presents a dual-port/dual-integrated circuit (IC) RFID sensing tag based on a shared aperture dual-polarized microstrip antenna. The tag can be loaded with different sensors where the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of one IC is modulated using a sensor, and the other acts as a measurand-insensitive reference, for differential sensing. The 868 MHz tag maintains a minimum unloaded read range of 14 m insensitive to deployment on metals or lossy objects, which represents the longest reported range of a multi-port RFID sensing tag. The tag is loaded with a light-dependent resistor (LDR) to demonstrate its functionality as a battery-less wireless RFID light sensor. Following detailed RF characterization of the LDR, it is shown that the impedance, and consequently the RSSI, of the sensing tag are modulated by changing the light intensity, whereas the reference port maintains a mostly unchanged response for a correlated channel. The proposed tag shows the potential for channel variations-tolerant differential RFID sensing platforms based on polarization-diversity antennas. Full article

The main challenge faced by RF energy harvesting systems is to supply relatively small electrical power to wireless sensor devices using microwaves. The solution is to implement a new device in a circularly polarized rectenna with circular polarization sensitivity integrated with a thin-film solar cell. Its dual-feed antennas are connected to a 2 × 4 asymmetric hybrid coupler and a multi-stage voltage doubler rectifier circuit. This configuration has a 2 × 4 asymmetric hybrid coupler used to produce 4 outputs with a 90-degree waveform phase difference. The two ports can independently be connected to the wireless sensor circuit: radiofrequency harvesting of hybrid energy solar and information equipment can be carried out with these two antennas. The Dual-Feed circular patch antenna has a two-port bandwidth of 137 MHz below −15 dB and an axial ratio of less than 3 dB, with a center frequency of 2.4 GHz with directional radiation and a high gain of 8.23 dB. It can be sensitive to arbitrary polarization of the input voltage multiplier waveform to overcome uncertainty in empirical communication environments. A parallel structure is arranged with a thin film solar cell integration from the transmitter with an output voltage of 1.3297 V with a compact composition and RF energy. The importance of adopting a wireless sensor strategy with circular polarization sensitivity and integrated RF solar energy harvesting rather than a single source method makes this research a significant novelty by optimizing the analysis of multiple wireless sensor signal access. Full article

In this article, a novel metamaterial inspired UWB/multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a circular metallic part which formed the patch and a partial ground plane. Metamaterial structure is loaded at the top side of the patches for bandwidth improvement and mutual coupling reduction. The proposed antenna provides UWB mode of operation from 2.6–12 GHz. The characteristic mode theory is applied to examine each physical mode of the antenna aperture and access its many physical parameters without exciting the antenna. Mode 2 was the dominant mode among the three modes used. Considering the almost inevitable presence of mutual coupling effects within compact multiport antennas, we developed an additional decoupling technique in the form of perturbed stubs, which leads to a mutual coupling reduction of less than 20 dB. Finally, different performance parameters of the system, such as envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), channel capacity loss (CCL), diversity gain, total active reflection coefficient (TARC), mean effective gain (MEG), surface current, and radiation pattern, are presented. A prototype antenna is fabricated and measured for validation. Full article

This paper proposes a beam-reconfigurable antenna for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with wide beam coverage by applying beam-combining technology to multiple antennas with different beam patterns. The proposed multi-antenna system consists of a circular patch antenna and a low-profile printed meandered monopole antenna. For beam combining, a coplanar waveguide with ground (CPW-G) structure feeding network is proposed, and it consists of two input ports, a 90° hybrid coupler, a microstrip 90° phase delay line, and a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch. It performs the role of power distribution and phase adjustment, and synthesizes the broad-side beam of the monopole antenna and the end-fire beam of the patch antenna to form the directive broadside beams in four different directions. The proposed antenna system operates at 5–5.5 GHz which covers both UAV ground control frequencies (5.03–5.09 GHz) and UAV mission frequencies (5.091–5.150 GHz). The peak gain, total efficiency, and half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of the antenna system are approximately 5.8 dBi, 76%, 145° in the elevation plane, and 360° in the azimuth plane respectively. Its electrical size and weight are ${\lambda }_0\times {\lambda }_0\times 0.21{\lambda }_0$ at 5.09 GHz and 19.2 g, respectively. Full article

In this paper, a miniaturized Ultra High Frequency Radio Frequency Identification (UHF-RFID) tag-based sensor antenna using a magneto- dielectric substrate (MDS) for wireless identification and sensor applications is presented. Two models of RFID tag-based sensors are designed, fabricated and measured. The first model uses two RFID tags; both of the tags are incorporated with two RFID chips. A passive sensor is also integrated in one of the proposed tags to serve as a sensor node, while the other tag is used as a reference node. Based on the difference in the minimum power required to activate the reference and sensor nodes, the sensed data (temperature or humidity) can be determined. The magneto-dielectric substrate layer is placed underneath the patch antenna to reduce the size of the proposed sensor by about 75% compared to a conventional RFID tag-based sensor. The magneto-dielectric layer is thin enough to embed in the planer circuit. To reduce the size of the proposed sensor, a multi-port tag for including the reference and sensor node in one antenna is also presented. The proposed RFID tag-based sensors have several features such as small size, they are completely capable for two objectives at the same time and easy to integrate with a planer circuit. Full article