Stefan Fikar

A 100GHz Bandwidth Matched Chip to PCB Transition Using Bond Wires for Broadband Matching

A transition between a microstrip line on a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) made of silicon and a microstrip line edged on a printed circuit board (PCB) consisting of Rogers 3003 substrate is presented. This transition uses a specially designed an optimized arrangement of bonding wires to achieve a matched bandwidth of nearly 100 GHz. this extremely large bandwidth is needed for applications in frequency flexible or very broad band systems [S. Trotta et al., 2007] or for ultra high frequency devices [2] to be operated on a PCB, which is mandatory for commercial usage. The parasitic inductance of a bond wire does not become a problem at moderate frequencies. Newer technologies like automotive radar [B. Dehlin et al., 2006], [S. Trotta et al., 2007] or point to point transmitters operate at several dozens of gigahertz. At these frequencies connections by bond wires represent a major problem, because the impedance of the bond wire increases approximately linearly with frequency [Sang-Ki Yun et al., 1995]. Equation (1) shows that even moderate inductances provoke very large impedances at a frequency of 100 GHz, hindering efficient transmission of waves. The dramatic influence of these inductances, even for frequencies as moderate as 10 GHz, is shown in [A. Chandrasekhart et al., 2003].

Novel low-cost antenna array for vehicular reception of Ku-Band satellite television

Design and analysis of dual antenna elements for an optimum electronically steered array for vehicular MSAT applications was presented. The results show a significant advantage over previously used topologies. Gains of 20dBi can be reached by using just 16 of the proposed antenna pairs. For equal performance over a hundred patch antenna elements are required. Even for 30dBi the element count with the proposed pair is estimated to be close to 100 (50 pairs), covering an extremely large operational area (18deg to 74deg of elevation) without constraints in azimuth. The expected reduction in element count and element complexity could be the breakthrough for MSAT applications in vehicles.

Automotive multi-standard RF front-end for GSM, WCDMA and Mobile WiMAX

The vastly growing amount of RF wireless communications standards and respective frequencies will demand the availability of multi-standard transceivers. A multi-frequency RF Front-end receiver supporting EGSM, WCDMA and Mobile WiMAX standards in the range from 935 MHz to 2.69 GHz is presented in this document. The multi-standard architecture aims for maximum hardware sharing and design reuse, adaptable to the various wireless channels and conceived as a reconfigurable smart radio aiming to provide full wireless connectivity in the framework of automotive communication environments. The RF front-end receiver features two CMOS switches and SAW filters for band selection and a shared LNA, I/Q-demodulators and analog baseband chain that meet the specifications spread spectrum (e.g. WCDMA) and OFDM(A) (e.g. WiMAX) systems as well as for the GSM narrow spectrum system with modulation scheme GMSK.

Vehicular multi/broadband MIMO antenna for terrestrial communication

Conventional vehicular communication antennas are designed as SISO single service antennas. Each transceiver system is connected by its individual coaxial cable to its private antenna.

Analysis of a novel antenna array for vehicular reception of Ku-Band satellite signals

A fast-growing percentage of vehicles are connected by mobile data service technologies. Up to now most of these connections are based on cellular phone standards. The drawbacks of this method to connect the vehicles are: The limited availability of the underlying data networks and the amount of parallel point to point connections needed to cover all users with extensively similar data. A novel approach to overcome these issues is using a ubiquitously available broadcast medium for general downlink data. For this medium the Ku-Band satellite link has been chosen, as it is well developed, ubiquitously available and cheap compared to other satellite broadcast services. The general advantage of broadcasts is that spectrum has to be bought only once, even for thousands of receiving vehicles. Up to now the receiving antenna for the vehicle hindered integration in commercial cars. The problem resulted from a lack of gain, reliability or from inappropriately large manufacturing expenses. This document proposes an array that overcomes these issues and lists the simulation results for a rectangular array of thirty-six elements.