In this paper characterization of dielectric materials in liquid and powder phase using concentric closed and split ring resonators of length ?, ?/, and ?/ is reported. Experimental results have been validated by simulations and theoretically modeling. Sensitivity of the resonator with closed rings was maximum. Experimentally extracted values of dielectric constant of ferrite ranged from 14.05 to

A systematic comparison between several pairs of contact materials based on an innovative methodology early developed at NOVA MEMS is hereby presented. The technique exploits a commercial nanoindenter coupled with electrical measurements, and test vehicles specially designed to investigate the underlying physics driving the surface-related failure modes. The study provides a comprehensive understa

This article aims to provide readers with a physical understanding of the propagation channel that is complementary to mathematical channel modeling. It presents an analysis of the directional propagation channel based on radiophotos. Radiophotos are graphical objects where directions of arrival are superimposed on three-dimensional (3D) panoramic photographs. The interaction between electro magne

To protect a worst-case user, Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) transmits inflated integrity information for protection level computation. In this work, a novel user-based technique for autonomous protection level computation is proposed. Its quality is examined over Key Performance Indicators tests for integrity and availability using real European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Servic

In this work we assess the feasibility of fabricating a matrix of antennas for the millimeter (mm)-wave band using the ?Multi Chip Module ? Deposited (MCM-D)? process. The main focus of the design is to minimize the cross coupling between the antennas fabricated on the common substrate. We investigate the use of a virtual cavity formed by metalized vias in order to reduce the cross coupling to the

The design of a 61.44 GHz integrated Phase-locked loop (PLL) on a 180 GHz BiCMOS technology is presented. The PLL was optimized for a very fast settling time of 4 µs as required by the system specifications. Because the receiver is using a carrier recovery circuit that can follow the slow changes of the carrier such as phase noise, the sensitivity of the bit error rate to phase noise at the receiv

In evaluating the potential of a given integrated-circuit technology, the negative conductance approach is used to estimate a maximum frequency limit for the ability of Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT) cross-coupled architecture to function as an oscillator at high frequencies. In this paper, the simple low-frequency estimation of the negative conductance, commonly used in the literature, i

A 77-GHz?directional folded dipole antenna integrated in an embedded wafer level ball grid array package is presented. For the characterization of the antenna, a frequency multiplier is embedded, which scales the 4.25-GHz input signal up to 76.5 GHz and allows the use of a commercial signal source. The antenna structure is manufactured at the metallic layer, in the fan-out area of the package, and

Two different topologies of radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF MEMS) series ohmic switches (cantilever and clamped?clamped beams) in coplanar waveguide (CPW) configuration have been characterized by means of DC, environmental, and RF measurements. In particular, on-wafer checks have been followed by RF test after vibration, thermal shocks, and temperature cycles. The devices have

A method for improving range resolution in passive radar system is to jointly use more than one transmission channel of the same illuminator of opportunity (IO). This paper specifically focuses on the exploitation of multiple adjacent digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) channels for achieving high-range resolution profiles with a passive radar system operating in air surveillance scenar

ADS-B provides convenient means of air traffic control (ATC) for its low cost and simple ground station hardware. In a low percentage of cases, aircraft positions transmitted via ADS-B are error prone due to e.g. faulty wiring with onboard navigation systems. In the proposed approach, direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is used to verify ADS-B airborne positions. The potential positioning error

In this paper, the use of regularization methods to solve the location problem in multilateration systems, using Mode-S signals, is studied, evaluated, and developed. The Tikhonov method has been implemented as a first application to solve the classical system of hyperbolic equations in multilateration systems. Some simulations are obtained and the results are compared with those obtained by the w

For foreign object detection on runways, highly sensitive radar sensors give the opportunity to detect even very small objects, metallic and non-metallic, also under adverse weather conditions. As it is desirable for airport applications to install only small but robust installations along the traffic areas, millimeter-wave radars offer the advantage of small antenna apertures and miniaturized sys

Retrieval of cloud parameters in weather radar benefits from polarimetric measurements. Most polarimetric radars measure the full backscatter matrix (BSM) using a few alternating polarized sounding signals. Using specially encoded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals however, the BSM can be measured in a single simultaneous transmission of two orthogonally polarized signals. B

Angle of arrival (AOA), time of arrival (TOA), and frequency of arrival (FOA) can be measured for a signal from multiple platforms. By combining such measurements it is possible to obtain high-accuracy emitter position estimates. This requires a data link with low latency and sufficient data-rate, and synchronization of the platforms in space, time, and search pattern. Typically several of the pla

We present a method to realize a low-power and high-speed digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for system-on-chip applications. The new method is a combination of binary-weighted current cells and R-2R ladder and is specially suited for modern BiCMOS technologies. A prototype 5 GS/s DAC is implemented in 0.13 ?m SiGe BiCMOS technology. The DAC dissipates 26 mW and provides an SFDR higher than 48 dB f

A simple and efficient numerical inversion Laplace transform (NILT) algorithm is implemented in MATLAB environment based on the quotient difference method to solve the problem of electromagnetic (EM) field coupling to lossy or lossless multi-conductor transmission lines (MTL) illuminated by an EM incident field. Two major points are treated in this work for the lossy MTL system excited by an incid

Two frequency-tripler monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) reaching sub-millimeter-wave output frequencies of 315 GHz are presented. The convenient integration of transistor?based field effect transistor (FET) frequency multipliers into multifunctional MMICs is shown by integration of a single?stage frequency-tripler with a buffer amplifier generating ?0.5 dBm of peak output power at 2

We report cryogenic noise temperature and gain measurements of a prototype heterodyne receiver module designed to operate in the atmospheric window centered on 150 GHz. The module utilizes monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifiers, a second harmonic mixer, and bandpass filters. Swept local oscillator (LO) measurements show an average gai

In this paper we present the design and realization of a high-power amplifier in grounded coplanar transmission line technology using AlGaN/GaN dual-gate High electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with a gate-length of 100 nm to achieve a high gain per stage and high output power. A large-signal model was extracted for the dual-gate HEMT based on the state-space approach. For the fabricated dual-s

In this paper we present a wireless data link for multi-gigabit transmission in the mmW frequency range. The link is realized using waveguide modules based on fully integrated 50 nm metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) transmit and receive millimeter wave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) and provides transmission of data rates up to 12.5 Gbit/s modulated on a 220 GHz carrier

In this paper, an effective procedure to emplace standard and enhanced mode-S multilateration stations for airport surveillance is studied and developed. This procedure is based on meta-heuristic optimization techniques, such as genetic algorithm (GA), and is intended to obtain useful parameters for an optimal system configuration that provides acceptable performance levels. Furthermore, the proce