Vasilis Christofilakis

Geometry Aspects and Experimental Results of a Printed Dipole Antenna

Detail experimental measurements of a 2.4 GHz printed dipole antenna for wireless communication systems is presented and discussed. A group of printed dipoles with integrated balun have been designed and constructed on a dielectric substrate. This paper is based on modifications of the known printed dipole architecture. The corresponding printed dipole antennas have differences on their forms that are provided by two essential geometry parameters. The first parameter l is related to the bend on microstrip line that feeds the dipole and the second w corresponds to the form of the dipole’s gap. The impact of these parameters on reflection coefficient and radiation pattern of antenna has been investigated. The corresponding measured results indicate that the return loss and radiation pattern of a printed dipole antenna are independent of the w parameter. Instead, variations in the value of the l parameter in the dipole’s structure affect the form of the corresponding return loss. These observations are very important and provide interesting considerations on affecting design and construction of antenna elements at frequency range of 2.4 GHz.

Performance of Turbo Coded OFDM Under the Presence of Various Noise Types

A telecommunication system uses carriers in order to transmit information through a cable or wirelessly. If each time only one carrier is transmitted, then the system’s signal will not be immune to frequency selective fading. If frequency selective fading includes the working frequency of the system, then the wireless link will not be established. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is the primary solution for coping with inter-signal interference and frequency-selective fading. Many carriers can be produced by splitting a fast information stream to slower data series. Different orthogonal frequencies carry slower data series. System’s performance can be further enhanced with the utilization of turbo codes. Turbo codes make the system more immune to noise effects with excellent BER results. This paper presents the thorough analysis of a turbo coded OFDM scheme using a PCCC technique in the presence of a channel which includes AWGN, phase noise, Rayleigh fading, Rician fading and Doppler shift.

Performance of UWB‐Impulse Radio Receiver Based on Matched Filter Implementation with Imperfect Channel Estimation

UWB communications have attracted considerable interest, targeting applications in high‐speed data transfer wireless communication systems. This paper studies the effects of matched filter receiver in the performance of such a system. Such effects are evaluated in terms of the Bit Error Rate (BER) for a Binary Pulse Position Modulation (BPPM) scheme, considering multipath propagation channel and the presence of noise. The case of imperfect channel estimation is taken into account. Dependence of BER on parameters such as signal to noise ratio, number of estimation pulses and correletor taps is also presented.

Design and Implementation of Ultra‐Wideband Impulse Radio Transmitter

This paper describes the design and implementation of an UWB Impulse Radio transmitter. This UWB transmitter produces very short pulses with possibility of time‐shifting to be used in cases of Pulse Position Modulation (PPM). The transmitter, which is based on step recovery diode (SRD), can operate at 50 Mbps with high repetition rate. Experimental results show that, ultra short pulses with duration of about 1nsec and spectrum exceeding 2 GHz at −10 dB, are produced and transmitted.

A prototype data acquisition and processing system for Schumann resonance measurements

Abstract In this paper, a cost-effective prototype data acquisition system specifically designed for Schumann resonance measurements and an adequate signal processing method are described in detail. The implemented system captures the magnetic component of the Schumann resonance signal, using a magnetic antenna, at much higher sampling rates than the Nyquist rate for efficient signal improvement. In order to obtain the characteristics of the individual resonances of the SR spectrum a new and efficient software was developed. The processing techniques used in this software are analyzed thoroughly in the following. Evaluation of systems performance and operation is realized using preliminary measurements taken in the region of Northwest Greece.

A/D Restrictions (Errors) in Ultra-Wideband Impulse Radios

Ultra-Wideband Impulse Radio (UWB-IR) technologies, although are relatively easy in transmission but they present difficulties in reception, in fact the reception of such waveform is a quite complicated matter. The main reason is that in fully digital receiver the received waveform must be sampled at a rate of several GHz. This paper focuses on the impact of the Analog to Digital (A/D) conversion stage that is used to sample the received waveform. More specifically we focus on the impact of the two main parameters that affect the performance of the Software Defined Radio (SDR) system. These parameters are the bit resolution and the time jittering. The influence of these parameters is deeply examined.

Active Tuning Antennas for Wireless Communication

Latest technologies in wireless communications present new challenges on antenna design. Reduced size antennas with self reconfigurable ability are characteristical of smart antennas. This paper presents the practical implementation issues of making an automatic smart antenna tuning system varying the resonant frequency of the antenna using a varactor. The primary parameter for changing varactor’s value is antenna’s VSWR which is monitored by a uC. Additionally, the uC also controls the varactor’s value.

Tuning Techniques for Planar Antennas in Wireless Communication

In modern mobile communication system, low profile antennas capable of broadband operation are required. Nevertheless there is a problem in changing fast and easy the resonant frequency to achieve effective bandwidth. In this paper we examine in particular how an added capacitive load affects the resonant frequency, the VSWR and the current distribution of a Planar antenna. The resonant frequency dependence from the capacitance load is useful parameter for making full self‐tuning antennas.

Effects of Variations on Geometrical Parameters on a 2.4 GHz Printed Dipole Antenna architecture

This paper presents design issues of a dipole antenna for wireless communications which is printed on a dielectric substrate and fed by a microstrip line. A discontinuity in form of a right—angle bend close to the gap of the dipole strips provides a crucial parameter for discussion. The impact of mitering these bends in return loss, resonance bandwidth and radiation pattern of antenna has been investigated. Both simulated and experimental results propose this observation.

Rainfall Measurements Due to Radio Frequency Signal Attenuation at 2 GHz

In this paper we present an experimental validated system for measuring rainfall due to radio frequency (RF) signal attenuation at 2 GHz. Measurements took place in Ioannina, NW Greece, starting in April 2015 and lasting for twelve months. The primary acquired extensive results have shown reliable and accurate measurements for rainfall amounts smaller than 1 mm for 5 min periods. The very important innovation is that this paper presents significant earth-to-earth measurements due to rainfall attenuation (at 2 GHz) in order to act as a map for future investigation and as a prior knowledge for the behavior of other systems operating at frequencies around S-band.