Th-Shaped Tunable Multi-Band Antenna for Modern Wireless Applications

A compact,reconfigurable antenna supporting multiple wireless services with a minimum number of switches is found lacking in literature and the same became the focus and outcome of this work.It was achieved by designing a Th-Shaped frequency reconfigurable multi-band microstrip planar antenna,based on use of a single switch within the radiating structure of the antenna.Three frequency bands(i.e.,2007–2501 MHz,3660–3983MHz and 9341–1046 MHz)can be operated with the switch in the ON switch state.In the OFF state of the switch,the antenna operates within the 2577–3280MHz and 9379–1033MHz Bands.The proposed antenna shows an acceptable input impedance match with Voltage Standing Wave Ratio(VSWR)less than 1.2.The peak radiation efficiency of the antenna is 82%.A reasonable gain is obtained from 1.22 to 3.31 dB within the operating bands is achieved.The proposed antenna supports UniversalMobile Telecommunication System(UMTS)-1920 to 2170 MHz,Worldwide Interoperability and Microwave Access(WiMAX)/Wireless Broadband/(Long Term Evolution)LTE2500–2500 to 2690 MHz,Fifth Generation(5G)-2500/3500 MHz,Wireless Fidelity(Wi-Fi)/Bluetooth-2400 to 2480 MHz,and Satellite communication applications in X-Band-8000 to 12000 MHz.The overall planar dimension of the proposed antenna is 40×20mm2.The antennawas designed,along with the parametric study,using Electromagnetic(EM)simulation tool.The antenna prototype is fabricated for experimental validation with the simulated results.The proposed antenna is low profile,tunable,lightweight,cheap to fabricate and highly efficient and hence is deemed suitable for use in modern wireless communication electronic devices.

MoM-based topology optimization method for planar metallic antenna design

The metallic antenna design problem can be treated as a problem to find the optimal distribution of conductive material in a certain domain. Although this problem is well suited for topology optimization method, the volumetric distribution of conductive material based on 3D finite element method (FEM) has been known to cause numerical bottlenecks such as the skin depth issue, meshed 'air regions' and other numerical problems. In this paper a topology optimization method based on the method of moments (MoM) for configuration design of planar metallic antenna was proposed. The candidate structure of the planar metallic antenna was approximately considered as a resistance sheet with position-dependent impedance. In this way, the electromagnetic property of the antenna can be analyzed easily by using the MoM to solve the radiation problem of the resistance sheet in a finite domain. The topology of the antenna was depicted with the distribution of the impedance related to the design parameters or relative densities. The conductive material (metal) was assumed to have zero impedance, whereas the non-conductive material was simulated as a material with a finite but large enough impedance. The interpolation function of the impedance between conductive material and non-conductive material was taken as a tangential function. The design of planar metallic antenna was optimized for maximizing the efficiency at the target frequency. The results illustrated the effectiveness of the method.

A novel parameterization method for the topology optimization of metallic antenna design

In this paper, based on a tangential interpolation function and an adaptively increasing penalty-factor strategy(TIPS), a novel parameterization method with a self-penalization scheme aimed for the topology optimization of metallic antenna design is proposed. The topology description is based on the material distribution approach.The proposed tangential interpolation function aims to associate the material resistance with design variables, in which the material resistance is expressed in the arctangent scale and the arctangent resistance is interpolated with the design variables using the rational approximation of material properties. During the optimization process, a strategy with an adaptively increasing penalty factor is used to eliminate the remaining gray scale elements, as illustrated in examples,in the topology optimization based on the proposed tangential interpolation function. Design results of typical examples express the effectiveness of the proposed TIPS parameterization.

Reference Design of ICRF Antenna for EAST

An antenna array suitable for plasma heating and current drive has been designed for the ion cyclotron resonance frequency range （ICRF） heating on the EAST superconducting tokamak. The ICRF heating is planned to operate in a frequency range of 30 MHz to 80 MHz and hence the antenna geometry is optimized for 55 MHz. The design is based on the conventional strap antenna element. The coupling properties of the antenna are calculated with a slab model of the plasma for the antenna simulation. The coupling code is extended for the analysis of the toroidal antenna array separated by septa.

Transceiver Optimization for Multi-Antenna Device-to-Device Communications

It has been shown that the deployment of device-to-device(D2D) communication in cellular systems can provide better support for local services. However, improper design of the hybrid system may cause severe interference between cellular and D2D links. In this paper, we consider transceiver design for the system employing multiple antennas to mitigate the interference. The precoder and decoder matrices are optimized in terms of sum mean squared error(MSE) and capacity, respectively. For the MSE minimization problem, we present an alternative transceiver optimization algorithm. While for the non-convex capacity maximization problem, we decompose the primal problem into a sequence of standard convex quadratic programs for efficient optimization. The evaluation of our proposed algorithms for performance enhancement of the entire D2D integrated cellular system is carried out through simulations.

Six-Element Yagi Array Designs Using Central Force Optimization with Pseudo Random Negative Gravity

A six-element Yagi-Uda array is optimally designed using Central Force Optimization (CFO) with a small amount of pseudo randomly injected negative gravity. CFO is a simple, deterministic metaheuristic analogizing gravitational kinematics (motion of masses under the influence of gravity). It has been very effective in addressing a wide range of antenna and other problems and normally employs only positive gravity. With positive gravity the six element CFO-designed Yagi array described here exhibits excellent performance with respect to the objectives of impedance bandwidth and forward gain. This paper addresses the question of what happens when a small amount of negative gravity is injected into the CFO algorithm. Does doing so have any effect, beneficial, negative or neutral? In this particular case negative gravity improves CFO’s exploration and creates a region of optimality containing many designs that perform about as well as or better than the array discovered with only positive gravity. Without some negative gravity these array configurations are overlooked. This Yagi-Uda array design example suggests that antennas optimized or designed using deterministic CFO may well benefit by including a small amount of negative gravity, and that the negative gravity approach merits further study.

Study of High Power ICRF Antenna Design in LHD

In large helical device （LHD）, antenna loadings are different for minority ion cyclotron heating （MICH with 38.47 MHz） and mode-converted ion Bernstein wave heating （MC-IBW with 28.4 MHz）, and it is necessary to improve antenna loading with low heating efficiency to avoid arching on transmission line. To design a new ion cyclotron range of frequencies （ICRF） antenna in LHD, calculation for a simple antenna model is conducted using three-dimensional electrical magnetic code （high frequency structure simulator, HFSS） for an water loading as an imaginary plasma with low heating efficiency. At resonant frequencies, antenna loading is sensitive to strap width, and resonant frequencies are strongly related to strap height. There is no differences of RF current profile on the strap surface between resonant frequency and non-resonant frequency. The strap should be perpendicularly placed against the magnetic field line, since Faraday-shield angle will lead to a decrease in the effective antenna height.

Research on influencing factors of coupling in SIMO antenna

In the process of radar data acquisition,limited amount of information can be provided to post-processing interpretation by the data acquisition method of single-input and single-output,however,the location and physical parameter information of geological body can be obtained more accurately by using Multi-Input Multi-Output(MIMO)antenna with multiple transmitters and multiple receivers.Especially when collecting borehole radar data and the aperture is very narrow,but the antenna is required to be able to ensure better results in a larger frequency band,therefore,the size of the antenna will be greatly challenged.Meanwhile,the close arrangement of multiple transmitting and receiving antennas will inevitably affect the signal radiation.Based on the borehole radar,this paper simulates and optimizes the Single-Input Multi-Output antenna(SIMO antenna),the size of which meets the aperture requirements,using HFSS antenna simulation software,and explores the factors affecting the antenna return loss and isolation.Among them,the radius of the dipole has little effect on the return loss and isolation,whereas increasing the number of receiving antennas or increasing the transceiver distance will significantly affect the antenna coupling,with a significant reduction in the amplitude of isolation.

Central Force Optimization with Gravity <0, Elitism, and Dynamic Threshold Optimization: An Antenna Application, 6-Element Yagi-Uda Arrays

This paper investigates the effect of adding three extensions to Central Force Optimization when it is used as the Global Search and Optimization method for the design and optimization of 6-elementYagi-Uda arrays. Those extensions are Negative Gravity, Elitism, and Dynamic Threshold Optimization. The basic CFO heuristic does not include any of these, but adding them substantially improves the algorithm’s performance. This paper extends the work reported in a previous paper that considered only negative gravity and which showed a significant performance improvement over a range of optimized arrays. Still better results are obtained by adding to the mix Elitism and DTO. An overall improvement in best fitness of 19.16% is achieved by doing so. While the work reported here was limited to the design/optimization of 6- element Yagis, the reasonable inference based on these data is that any antenna design/optimization problem, indeed any Global Search and Optimization problem, antenna or not, utilizing Central Force Optimization as the Global Search and Optimization engine will benefit by including all three extensions, probably substantially.

Generalized Odd-Even Mode Theory and Mode Synthesis Antenna Design Approach

In this article,studies on the multimode excitation problem of waveguides and antennas,the balance/unbalance mech-anism and the balanced feeding techniques in dipole antenna systems are first briefly historically reviewed.In this context,general-ized odd-even mode theory is advanced to quantitatively and approximately describe the mutual coupling effect between a feed line and an antenna.As is mathematically deduced and demonstrated,the modal parity mismatch between the feed line and the antenna should ultimately dominate the unbalance phenomenon in antenna systems.Thus,an elegant,closed-form formula is derived to ap-proximately calculate the“unbalance degree”of a straight dipole off-center fed by a symmetric twin-wire line.Design approaches for the simplest,linear,1-D multimode resonant antennas are introduced.Moreover,the“falling tone excitation”law gauged based on prototype dipoles is revealed and used to develop a mode synthesis design approach for microstrip patch antennas(MPAs)and 2-D sectorial electric dipole antennas.Design examples with distinctive radiation performance are presented and discussed.Finally,possible development trends of multimode resonant antennas are prospected.

A look at field manipulation and antenna design using 3D transformation electromagnetics and 2D surface electromagnetics

While many techniques have been developed for the design of different types of antennas,such as wire antenna,patch antenna,lenses,and reflectors,these cannot be said general-purpose strategies for the synthesis and design of antennas to achieve the performance characteristics specified by users.Recently,there has been an increasing need for the development of antenna design techniques because of the advent of 5 G and a variety of space,defense,biological,and similar applications,for which a robust and general-purpose design tool is not to be developed.The main objective of this study is to take a look at antenna design from the field manipulation point of view,which has the potential to partially fulfill this need.We review the existing field manipulation techniques,including field transformation methods based on Maxwell’s and wave equations,point out some limitations of these techniques,and then present ways to improve the performance of these methods.Next,we introduce an alternative approach for field manipulation based on two-dimensional(2 D)metasurfaces,and present laws of the generalized reflection and refraction that are based on 2 D surface electromagnetics.Then,we explore how to overcome the limitations of conventional reflection and refraction processes that are strictly bounded by the critical angle.Finally,we provide some application examples of field manipulation methods in the antenna design,with a view on developing a general-purpose strategy for antenna design for future communication.

Off-axis two-mirror laser communication antenna designed using differential equations

In satellite laser communication technology, which is built between planets and between a planet and the Earth, the optical antenna is the key point. Thus, research on optical system design is important. The off-axis reflective system has no obscuration and hence possesses a high efficiency for energy transfer. This study proposes a novel method for designing a free-form off-axis reflective imaging system. This study also introduces differential equations that depend on Fermat＇s principle and sine condition. Finally, a free-form off-axis two-mirror optical system was designed by using the differential equation method. This system includes one intermediate image plane, in which the field of view （FOV） is -5° to -4° in the y-axis and -1° to 0° in the x-axis. The modulation transfer function was greater than 0.7 at 50 lp/mm, and the efficiency of energy transmission was high. The free-form off-axis two-mirror optical system involves a wide range of application prospects in the optical antenna used in the satellite laser communication systems. Moreover, the design method that used differ- ential equations was proven simple and effective.

Epidermal radio frequency electronics for wireless power transfer

Epidermal electronic systems feature physical properties that approximate those of the skin,to enable intimate,long-lived skin interfaces for physiological measurements,human–machine interfaces and other applications that cannot be addressed by wearable hardware that is commercially available today.A primary challenge is power supply;the physical bulk,large mass and high mechanical modulus associated with conventional battery technologies can hinder efforts to achieve epidermal characteristics,and near-field power transfer schemes offer only a limited operating distance.Here we introduce an epidermal,farfield radio frequency(RF)power harvester built using a modularized collection of ultrathin antennas,rectifiers and voltage doublers.These components,separately fabricated and tested,can be integrated together via methods involving soft contact lamination.Systematic studies of the individual components and the overall performance in various dielectric environments highlight the key operational features of these systems and strategies for their optimization.The results suggest robust capabilities for battery-free RF power,with relevance to many emerging epidermal technologies.

An efficient technique to retrieve information from a damaged near-field communication tag

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to discuss a technique of restoring data from a broken/damaged near-field communication(NFC)tag whose coil is damaged and seems unrecoverable.Design/methodology/approach-This paper discusses a method to restore data from damaged NFC tags by designing a coil that matches the technical specification of NFC for restoring information.In this paper,an NFC tag with a broken antenna coil and its operational NFC chip is used for restoring data by making an external loop antenna for the same chip.Findings-If the NFC tag is damaged,the information stored on the tag can be lost and can cause serious inconvenience.This research provides an excellent mechanism for retrieving all the information accurately from a damaged NFC tag provided the NFC chip is not damaged.Research limitations/implications-One of the major limitations of this research is that the NFC chip remains intact without any damages.Data can only be recoverable if just the antenna of the NFC tag is damaged;any damage to the NFC chip would make it impossible for the data to be recoverable.Practical implications-The research is carried out with limited resources in an academic institute and hence cannot be compared to antenna designs of the industry.Furthermore,industry vendors are using aluminum to design the coil;however,in this study a copper coil is used for coil design since it is far less expensive than aluminum coil.Originality/value-NFC is a rather new short-range wireless technology and not much work is done in this field as far as antenna study is concerned.This study brings a technique to design a coil antenna for a damaged NFC tag to retrieve all the information without losing even a single bit of sensitive information.