Arokiaswami Alphones

Radio-over-fiber transport for the support of wireless broadband services [Invited]

Some of the work carried out within the EU Network of Excellence ISIS on radio-over-fiber systems for the support of current and emerging wireless networks is reviewed. Direct laser modulation and externally modulated links have been investigated, and demonstrations of single-mode fiber and multimode fiber systems are presented. The wireless networks studied range from personal area networks (such as ZigBee and ultrawideband) through wireless local area networks to wireless metropolitan area networks (WiMAX) and third-generation mobile communications systems. The performance of the radio-over-fiber transmission is referenced to the specifications of the relevant standard, protocol operation is verified, and complete network demonstrations are implemented.

Quarter-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide and Its Application to Antennas Design

A quarter-mode substrate integrated waveguide (QMSIW) which is the quadrant sector of a square waveguide resonator is proposed and investigated in this paper. The QMSIW is realized by bisecting the half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) into two parts along the fictitious quasi-magnetic wall when it operates with TE101 and TE202 modes as the way bisecting the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) to HMSIW. The QMSIW can almost preserve the field distribution of original SIW and leaky wave is achieved from the dielectric aperture of the QMSIW. When the feeding port is placed at one corner of the QMSIW, a linearly polarized radiation is obtained when the QMSIW resonates in TE101QM mode, and when the QMSIW resonates in TE202QM mode, a circularly polarized (CP) wave is achieved. An antenna is designed, fabricated, and measured based on the proposed QMSIW. The measurement results match with the simulation results very well.

RIS-Based Compact Circularly Polarized Microstrip Antennas

Compact, asymmetric\symmetric-slotted\slit-microstrip patch antennas on reactive impedance surface (RIS) are proposed and studied for circularly polarized (CP) radiation. The antennas consist of a slotted-slit-microstrip patch on a RIS substrate. The CP radiation with compact size is achieved by asymmetric\symmetric-slot-slit cut along the orthogonal\diagonal directions of the patch radiator. The asymmetric\symmetric-slotted\slit microstrip patches on the RIS structure are used for further miniaturization of the antenna with improvement in CP radiation. The measured results of the compact asymmetric-cross slotted square patch antenna are 1.6% (2.51-2.55 GHz) for 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth, 5.2% (2.47-2.60 GHz) for 10-dB return loss bandwidth, and 3.41 dBic for gain over 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth. The overall antenna volume is 0.292λo × 0.292λo × 0.0308λo on a low cost FR4 substrate at 2.5 GHz.

Low-loss lateral micromachined switches for high frequency applications

Two novel lateral metal-contact radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) switches are reported. These switches are implemented with quasi-finite ground coplanar waveguide (FGCPW) configuration and actuated by applying electrostatic force on a high-aspect-ratio cantilever beam. It is demonstrated that the insertion loss of the switch is less than 0.2 dB up to 15 GHz and the isolation is higher than 20 dB up to 25 GHz. An RF model of the switches is used to analyse the effects of the switch design parameters and RF performance. The optimization of the switch mechanical design is discussed where the threshold voltage can be lower than 25 V. The lateral switches are fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer with shadow mask technology.

Leaky-Wave Radiation Behavior From a Double Periodic Composite Right/Left-Handed Substrate Integrated Waveguide

A double periodic composite right/left-handed ( DP-CRLH ) substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed based on the transmission line theory. A new leaky-wave radiation is observed at low frequency below the left-handed passband in addition to the composite right/left-handed property. First, the equivalent circuit of the proposed structure is analyzed, and dispersion characteristics are obtained including the expression for the cutoff frequencies. It is noted that transmission lines double periodically loaded with either alternate capacitances, or alternate inductances will contribute the new leaky-wave behavior. Next, SIW implementation of a DP-CRLH transmission line is designed and illustrated with simulated and experimentally demonstrated results. The electric field distribution plots are extracted from a full-wave simulation tool and exhibit the forward and backward wave propagation in the new leaky-wave region and the typical left-handed region, respectively. Finally, a compact leaky-wave antenna based on the DP-CRLH SIW is designed, and the radiation characteristics are tested and demonstrated to exhibit forward radiation at the new leaky-wave region from 5.2 to 5.8 GHz (covering IEEE 802.11a band) and frequency scanning from backward to forward directions in the left-handed and conventional right-handed region from 12.6 to 17.8 GHz.

Wideband Circularly Polarized AMC Reflector Backed Aperture Antenna

A wideband, circularly polarized (CP), artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) reflector backed octagonal-shaped aperture (OSA) antenna is proposed for unidirectional radiation. The proposed antenna consists of an OSA fed by microstrip along with L-shaped stub and an AMC reflector. Bidirectional radiation of OSA antenna is changed to unidirectional radiation using an AMC reflector. The antenna height measured from the upper surface of the AMC reflector to OSA radiator is chosen to be small to realize a low-profile antenna: at the lowest analysis frequency of 4.5 GHz. Three different surfaces are studied and compared as back reflectors for OSA: perfect electric conductor (PEC), single layered AMC surface, and double layered AMC surface. The OSA with double-layered AMC surface demonstrates the largest measured 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 33.2% (5.20-7.19 GHz) with impedance bandwidth of 36.2% (5.04-7.21 GHz) for VSWR of 2. Almost constant gain of around 7 dBic is achieved over the band for the overall antenna volume of 0.72λo × 0.60λo × 0.19λo at the center frequency of 6.0 GHz.

Particle swarm optimization for the design of low-dispersion fiber Bragg gratings

We propose a novel formulation of the objective function for the design of fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based filters with respect to the given design specifications, instead of matching the desired magnitude and phase responses of the filter at each wavelength of the operating window that has commonly been used in previous works on FBG synthesis. The desired reflective spectrum and group delay characteristics of a filter are predefined using six design specifications. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is employed here to find an optimum index modulation profile that meets the target design. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the PSO algorithm and the novel formulation of the objective function, an optimal design of a low-dispersion FBG-based filter with 0.2-nm bandwidth (or 25 GHz in the 1550-nm window) for three desired values of the maximum reflective power is presented.

A Reconfigurable Micromachined Switching Filter Using Periodic Structures

In this paper, a reconfigurable filter using micromachined switches is designed, fabricated, and experimented. An equivalent-circuit model is derived for the reconfigurable cell structure. Extracted parameters show the characteristics of both bandpass and bandstop filters, which can be accurately analyzed using circuit analysis. Coplanar waveguide transmission lines for the reconfigurable filter are also analyzed. The bandpass filter is formed by cascading the unit cell structure. This bandpass filter can be switched to bandstop filter using the micromachined switches and p-i-n diode. Dispersion characteristics are obtained to investigate the electromagnetic wave behavior within the unit cell using Floquets theorem. Measurement results with micromachined switches show that insertion loss is 1.55 dB for the bandpass filter whereas band rejection level is >20 dB and the insertion loss in the passband is 1.2 dB for the bandstop filter. With the p-i-n diode, the insertion loss is 2.1 dB and the 3-dB bandwidth is 5.2 GHz for the bandpass filter, the 20-dB rejection bandwidth is 5.3 GHz, and the insertion loss in the passband is 1.6 dB for the bandstop filter.

A Novel Reconfigurable Filter Using Periodic Structures

In this paper, a reconfigurable filter is realized using electromagnetic bandgap structures (EBG) which can be switched from bandpass to bandstop filter at the same frequency by PIN diodes. A unit model for the reconfigurable filter is derived by equivalent circuit approach and full wave electromagnetic simulation is used for extracting the values of the lumped elements. The extracted parameters show that the bandpass and bandgap effect of the EBG cells. The dispersion diagram is obtained for the structure by combining the commercial software and the Floquets theorem. The PIN diodes are used to switch from bandpass to bandstop filter. The measurement results show that the insertion loss in bandpass filter is around 2.1 dB and the 3-dB bandwidth is around 5.2 GHz which is suitable for wideband applications. For the bandstop filter, the 20 dB rejection bandwidth is 5.3 GHz and the insertion loss in the pass band is 1.6 dB

A tunable bandstop filter via the capacitance change of micromachined switches

A tunable bandstop filter applying the capacitive change of micromachined switches is designed, simulated and fabricated. The filter is realized by incorporating electromagnetic bandgap structures with the micromachined switches. These micromachined switches are used as high contrast capacitive elements between the coplanar waveguide ground plane and the signal line to tune the frequency. A new approach for finding the propagation characteristic of the periodic micromachined switches is determined by the dispersion behavior. Different types of parametric analysis are also investigated for the micromachined switches. The surface micromachining fabrication process is employed on the high resistivity silicon substrate to fabricate the filter. The measurement results for the tunable bandstop filter reveal a tuning range from 19 GHz to 17.3 GHz. The lower passband insertion loss is 0.7–2.2 dB and the 20 dB rejection bandwidth is 5.5 GHz.