A. Awang Md Isa

Design of integrated rectangular SIW filter and microstrip patch antenna

This paper presents a new class of integrated rectangular Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) filter and microstrip patch antenna for RF/microwave front-end subsystems. To validate this concept, the integrated microwave filter and antenna based upon a cascaded approach at center frequency of 2 GHz is demonstrated and verified through simulation and measurement. Experimental results show good agreement with simulated results. This study also proposes a new technique to integrate the rectangular SIW filter and the microstrip patch antenna based upon the multilayered approach. The simulation is implemented using FR-4 on a 1.6 mm dielectric substrate thick with dielectric constant εr= 4.6. The simulation performance shows promising results that could be further proved during the experimental works. This study is useful for any microwave system design where the reduction of overall physical volume and weight as well as cost is very important.

In-Flight Prayer Times and Qiblat Direction - A Preliminary Study

Muslims need to obey their obligation to perform Solat (Muslims prayer) regardless of where they are: on the ground or in-flight. Muslims traveling abroad on airplanes (which usually takes hours journey) are still required to perform prayers, even though they may encounter difficulties to do so. In fact, it is extremely difficult to determine prayer times and Qiblat direction (direction to Kabah in Mecca while performing prayers) during a flight, due to the high velocity of the airplane as well as the uncertainties linked to its orientation. Another factor would involve the altitude of the airplanes as this affects the angle of the sun. This paper presents a preliminary study on how to develop a GUI-based software, which can determine real time in-flight prayer times and the current Qiblat direction with additional features such as flight tracking system, universal time display, latitude/longitude display, athan recital and Gregorian/Hijr calendar