Single-Element and MIMO Circularly Polarized Microstrip Antennas with Negligible Back Radiation for 5G Mid-Band Handsets.

In this paper, single-element and MIMO microstrip antenna with two pairs of unequal slits is proposed as a circularly polarized antenna with negligible back radiation for 5G mid-band handsets. The unequal pairs of slits are engraved on the antenna patch to guarantee the presence of the circular polarization (CP). The proximity-coupled feeding technique is used to excite the proposed microstrip antenna in order to provide larger antenna -10 dB bandwidth which approaches 10.8% (3.48-3.87 GHz). A novel analysis technique is proposed in this paper that demonstrates the 3D axial ratio pattern in order to generate CP in the broadside direction without affecting the structure of the ground plane which ensures weak back radiation. The 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) is found to be equal to 4.1% extended along the range (3.58-3.73 GHz). To make the design more compatible with the 5G mid-band handsets, the 2 × 2 MIMO structure of the proposed antenna with reduced mutual coupling (less than -20 dB) is also presented in this work. The simulation and measured results are in good agreement, and both verify the CP characteristics and the weak back radiation of the proposed antenna.

Quad-Port Circularly Polarized MIMO Antenna with Wide Axial Ratio.

This article studies a quad-port multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) circularly polarized antenna with good isolation properties. Using characteristic mode analysis (CMA), the first six distinct modes of the asymmetric square slot with an inverted L-strip are analyzed. In this study, modal parameter extraction is carried out for circular polarization (CP) radiation. A simple annular ring microstrip feed is excited to obtain broadband CP based on CMA. The single-unit feeding structure is replicated orthogonally four times to achieve a CP MIMO antenna. This antenna provides port isolation of more than 21 dB without the use of an additional decoupling element. The quad-port CP-MIMO antenna is simulated with a total dimension of 50 × 50 mm2. The antenna attains impedance matching (S11 < −10 dB) from 5.37 GHz to beyond 11 GHz with an axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 4.65 GHz (5.61 GHz to 10.26 GHz). The peak realized gain of the MIMO antenna is measured at 5.69 dBi at 8.4 GHz. Additionally, the diversity performance parameters of the MIMO structure are computed. The advantages of the proposed structure have been evaluated by comparing it to previously reported MIMO structures. A prototype of the MIMO structure measurements was found to match the simulation results.

A Novel Design and Development of a Strip-Fed Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G NR Sub-6 GHz Band Applications.

In this article, a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (RDRA) with circularly polarized (CP) response is presented for 5G NR (New Radio) Sub-6 GHz band applications. A uniquely shaped conformal metal feeding strip is proposed to excite the RDRA in higher-order mode for high gain utilization. By using the proposed feeding mechanism, the degenerate mode pair of the first higher-order, i.e., TEδ13x at 4.13 GHz and TE1δ3y, at 4.52 GHz is excited to achieve a circularly polarized response. A circular polarization over a bandwidth of ~10%, in conjunction with a wide impedance matching over a bandwidth of ~17%, were attained by the antenna. The CP antenna proposed offers a useful gain of ~6.2 dBic. The achieved CP bandwidth of the RDRA is good enough to cover the targeted 5G NR bands around 4.4−4.8 GHz, such as n79. The proposed antenna configuration is modelled and optimized using computer simulation technology (CST). A prototype was built to confirm (validate) the performance estimated through simulation. A good agreement was observed between simulated and measured results.

A High Gain Embedded Helix and Dielectric Rod Antenna with Low Side Lobe Levels for IoT Applications.

In this paper, a novel embedded helix dielectric rod antenna is presented for high gain radiation with circular polarization (CP) and low side lobe levels for IoT Applications. Different from the conventional dielectric rod antennas, this proposed antenna is an integrated structure that combines the advantages of the helix and dielectric rod antennas. The presented antenna mainly consists of three parts: a tapered helix as primary feeding for CP, a dielectric rod with printed loops embedded for higher directivity, and a dielectric rod end for improving the gain further. After studying and analyzing the working principles of each part, an optimum design operating at 8-9.7 GHz is carried out as an example. A prototype is also fabricated and tested. The measured results show that the prototype can provide 18.41 dB maximum gain within the length of 7.7 λ. The side lobe level is below -20 dB, and the axial ratio is better than 1.14 dB in the whole frequency band. Compared with the traditional helix antenna and dielectric rod antenna with the same electric length, the presented antenna has a higher gain with a lower side lobe level and with good polarization purity.

Effect of the non-ideal axial ratio c/a on anharmonic EXAFS oscillation of h.c.p. crystals.

The temperature and wavenumber dependence of the extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) oscillation of hexagonal close-packed (h.c.p.) crystals have been calculated and analyzed under the effect of the non-ideal axial ratio c/a. The anharmonic EXAFS oscillation is presented in terms of the Debye-Waller factor using the cumulant expansion approach up to the fourth order. An effective calculation model is expanded and developed from the many-body perturbation approach and correlated Debye model using the anharmonic effective potential. This potential, depending on the non-ideal axial ratio c/a, is obtained from the first-shell near-neighbor contribution approach. A suitable analysis procedure is performed by evaluating the influence of EXAFS cumulants on the phase shift and amplitude reduction of the anharmonic EXAFS oscillation. The numerical results for crystalline zinc are found to be in good agreement with those obtained from experiments and other theoretical methods at various temperatures. The obtained results show that the present theoretical model is essential and effective in improving the accuracy for analyzing the experimental data of anharmonic EXAFS signals of h.c.p. crystals with a non-ideal axial ratio c/a.

Detecting Axial Ratio of Microwave Field with High Resolution Using NV Centers in Diamond.

Polarization property characterization of the microwave (MW) field with high speed and resolution is vitally beneficial as the circularly-polarized MW field plays an important role in the development of quantum technologies and satellite communication technologies. In this work, we propose a scheme to detect the axial ratio of the MW field with optical diffraction limit resolution with a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Firstly, the idea of polarization selective detection of the MW magnetic field is carried out using a single NV center implanted in a type-IIa CVD diamond with a confocal microscope system achieving a sensitivity of 1.7 µ T/ Hz . Then, high speed wide-field characterization of the MW magnetic field at the submillimeter scale is realized by combining wide-field microscopy and ensemble NV centers inherent in a general CVD diamond. The precision axial ratio can be detected by measuring the magnitudes of two counter-rotating circularly-polarized MW magnetic fields. The wide-field detection of the axial ratio and strength parameters of microwave fields enables high speed testing of small-scale microwave devices.

Circularly Polarized Textile Sensors for Microwave-Based Smart Bra Monitoring System.

This paper presents a conformal and biodegradable circularly polarized microwave sensor (CPMS) that can be utilized in several medical applications. The proposed textile sensor can be implemented in a Smart Bra system for breast cancer detection (BCD) and a wireless body area network (WBAN). The proposed sensor is composed of a wideband circularly polarized (CP) textile-based monopole antenna with an overall size of 33.5 × 33.5 mm2 (0.2 λo × 0.2 λo) and CPW feed line. The radiating element and ground are fabricated using silver conductive fabric and stitched to a cotton substrate of thickness 2 mm. In the proposed design, a slot is etched in the radiating element to extend bandwidth from 1.8 to 8 GHz at |S11| ≤ -10 dB. It realizes a circularly polarized output with AR ≤ 3 dB operation band from 1.8 to 4 GHz and an average gain of 6 dBi. The proposed CPMS's performance is studied both off-body (air) and on-body in proximity to breast models with and without tumors using near-field microwave imaging. Moreover, the axial ratio is recorded as a feature for a circularly polarized antenna and adds another degree of freedom for cancer detection and data analysis. It assists in detecting tumors in the breast by analyzing the magnitude of the electric field components in vertical and horizontal directions. Finally, the radiation properties are recorded, as well as the specific absorption rate (SAR), to ensure safe operation. The proposed CPMS covers a bandwidth of 1.8-8 GHz with SAR values following the 1 g and 10 g standards. The proposed work demonstrates the feasibility of using textile antennas in wearables, microwave sensing systems, and wireless body area networks (WBANs).

A Wideband High-Isolation Microstrip MIMO Circularly-Polarized Antenna Based on Parasitic Elements.

This work presents a wideband, all-side square-cut square patch multiple-input, multiple-output circularly-polarized (MIMO-CP) high-isolation antenna. The MIMO-CP antenna contains a two-port square cut on all corners of the square patch, and parasitic elements of 9 × 5 periodic square metallic plates are designed and operated. The outer dimensions of the antenna are 40 × 70 mm2, and the FR4 substrate height is 1.6 mm. The proposed antenna with the parasitic elements improves impedance matching and enhances S-parameters and axial ratio (AR). In the suggested MIMO-CP antenna, a parasitic element is designed and placed around the antenna periodically to reduce mutual coupling (MC) and improve CP. Simulated results show that the suggested antenna has a wide bandwidth (BW) from 4.89 to 6.85 GHz for S11 and was < −10 dB with AR ≤ 3 dB from 5.42 to 6.58 GHz, with a peak gain of 6.6 dB. The suggested antennas have more than 30 dB isolation and a low profile, are affordable, easily made, and are CP. To make a comparison with the measured and simulated results, a MIMO-CP antenna structure was fabricated and tested. The suggested antenna is better in terms of efficiency, envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), channel capacity loss (CCL), and total active reflection coefficient (TARC). The proposed antenna is adequate for WLAN applications.

A wideband circularly polarized CPW-fed substrate integrated waveguide based antenna array for ISM band applications.

This article presents a compact size circularly polarized substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) based wideband antenna array that serves industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band applications. A coplanar waveguide (CPW) technique is used to ensure the antenna size compactness. The proposed antenna is fabricated on a low-profile Rogers RT6002 substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.94, tanδ of 0.0012 and an approximate height of 0.76mm. The proposed design covers the frequency range from 2.15 GHz to 3.63 GHz (60.4%) while the axial ratio has a 3 dB bandwidth covering from 2.19 GHz to 2.51 GHz (13%) at the operating band of 2.45 GHz. The antenna is miniaturized and has a size of about 46.50 × 29 × 0.76 mm3. The simulation and experimental results are taken into consideration and there is a good promise between them. Hence, the antenna is a suitable applicant to be utilized for the applications in the ISM band.

Optimization of dual slot antenna using floating metallic sleeve for microwave ablation.

Backward heating reduction is vital in power distribution optimization in microwave thermal ablation. In this study, we optimized dual slot antenna to yield reduction in backward heating pattern along the antenna shaft with the application of floating metallic sleeve. Finite element methods were used to generate the electromagnetic (EM) field and thermal distribution in liver tissue. The position of the sleeve from the tip of the probe (z = 0 mm) was varied within the range 14 ≤ z ≤ 22 mm while sleeve length was varied within 16 ≤ z ≤ 48 mm at 2 mm interval using operating frequency of 2.45 GHz. The best optimized design has reflection coefficient of -20.87 dB and axial ratio of 0.41 when the sleeve position was at 17 mm and sleeve length was 18 mm. Experimental validation shows that inclusion of a floating metallic sleeve on dual slot antenna for hepatic microwave ablation averagely increased ablation diameter and aspect ratio by 17.8% and 33.9% respectively and decreased ablation length by 11.2%. Reduction in backward heating and increase in power deposition into liver tissue could be achieved by using this antenna to provide greater efficiency and localization of specific absorption rate in delivering microwave energy for hepatic ablation.