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A joint design approach for cointegrated antenna and power amplifier (PA), employing a high-efficiency Doherty PA (DPA) architecture and including a bandpass RF filter, is proposed. This design is realized through the optimally distributed and balanced multiport feeding of the cavity-backed patch antenna element that provides the desired (unique) loading conditions for the main and auxiliary PA branches and tailored power combining. A novelty and advantage of this feeding solution is that each pair of feeding points forms a virtual common feeding center of the radiating element; as a result, the radiation pattern remains power invariant when the port excitations change. A joint optimization of the integrated antenna-DPA transmitter is carried out to enhance the overall performance and maximize the bandwidth. This optimization is demonstrated through an example design for the sub-6 GHz telecommunication applications that target high power efficiency (>50%) at the 6 dB backed-off power levels and require RF-filtering in a compact integrated design. The latter challenge leads to a nonconventional implementation, which generally does not require the filter to be inserted between the antenna and the final output stage of the PA, and can be embedded in the topology with complex-valued source/load impedance values. The results of numerical studies are supported by measurements obtained with the antenna-DPA-filter prototype system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new ultra-wideband multimode (MM) antenna design that enables the detection/transmission of two orthogonal field components over a nearly hemispherical coverage area is presented in this paper. It integrates and colocates two perpendicularly oriented bow-tie dipole elements, a short convex monopole and four horizontally oriented tapered slot antenna (TSA) elements (formed by the dipoles) in order to produce four decoupled and complementary gain patterns. The antenna feeding structure includes four single-ended transmission lines supporting the desired set of individual excitation modes. Experimental verification confirms the predicted negligible coupling between the antenna operating modes and orthogonality of the corresponding radiated field patterns. These unique features can be exploited in applications where pattern and polarization diversity are of importance. In this study, we have evaluated the proposed antenna as a MIMO base station antenna and characterized it in two different propagation scenarios. For this example, it has been shown that the utilization of the additional monopole and TSA modes plays an important role in maximizing MIMO efficiency in line-of-sight (LOS) scenarios and at the same time provides additional independent data streams in rich scattering scenarios. In both considered scenarios, the antenna is shown to have a MIMO frequency bandwidth of 85%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A next-generation real-aperture spaceborne radiometer system for high-quality ocean measurements is discussed. Instead of illuminating the antenna reflector by a classical feed array of horn antennas in a one-feed-per-beam configuration, a multi-feed-per-beam configuration is chosen. Each antenna beam is thus created by adding the outputs from many small antenna elements in the feed array, thus providing an antenna beam of unsurpassed quality. This solves the classical polarization purity and land/sea contamination issues. The concept requires many microwave receivers and fast analog-to-digital converters as well as fast digital signal processing onboard the satellite. This is discussed, and resource budgets, especially concerning power, are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present-day ocean remote sensing instruments that operate at low microwave frequencies are limited in spatial resolution and do not allow for monitoring of the coastal waters. This is due to the difficulties of employing a large reflector antenna on a satellite platform, and generating high-quality pencil beams at multiple frequencies. Recent advances in digital beamforming focal-plane arrays (FPAs) have been exploited in this paper to overcome the above problems. A holistic design procedure for such novel multibeam radiometers has been developed, where: 1) the antenna system specifications are derived directly from the requirements to oceanographic surveys for future satellite missions and 2) the numbers of FPA elements/receivers are determined through a dedicated optimum beamforming procedure minimizing the distance to coast. This approach has been applied to synthesize FPAs for two alternative radiometer systems: a conical scanner with an offset parabolic reflector and a stationary wide-scan torus reflector system, each operating at $C$ -, $X$ -, and Ku-bands. Numerical results predict excellent beam performance for both systems with as low as 0.14% total received power over the land. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a systematic design technique for quadruple-ridged flared horn antennas is presented, to enhance the radiation properties through the profiling of the ridge taper. The technique relies on control of the cutoff frequencies of specific modes inside the horn, instead of brute-force optimization. This is used to design a prototype antenna as a feed for an offset Gregorian reflector system, such as considered for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope, to achieve an optimized aperture efficiency from 2 to 12 GHz. The antenna is employed with a quadraxial feeding network that allows the excitation of the fundamental TE11 mode, while suppressing all other modes that causes phase errors in the aperture. Measured results confirm the validity of this approach, where good agreement is found with the simulated results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several electrically large phased array feed (PAF) reflector systems are modeled to examine the mechanism of multiple reflections between parabolic reflectors and low- and high-scattering feeds giving rise to frequency-dependent patterns and impedance ripples. The PAF current is expanded in physics-based macro domain basis functions (CBFs), while the reflector employs the physical optics (POs) equivalent current. The reflector-feed coupling is systematically accounted for through a multiscattering Jacobi approach. An FFT expands the reflector radiated field in only a few plane waves, and the reflector PO current is computed rapidly through a near-field interpolation technique. The FEKO software is used for several cross validations, and the convergence properties of the hybrid method are studied for several representative examples showing excellent numerical performance. The measured and simulated results for a 121-element Vivaldi PAF, which is installed on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, are in very good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For phased array receivers, the accuracy with which the polarization state of a received signal can be measured depends on the antenna configuration, array calibration process, and beamforming algorithms. A signal and noise model for a dual-polarized array is developed and related to standard polarimetric antenna figures of merit, and the ideal polarimetrically calibrated, maximum-sensitivity beamforming solution for a dual-polarized phased array feed is derived. A practical polarimetric beamformer solution that does not require exact knowledge of the array polarimetric response is shown to be equivalent to the optimal solution in the sense that when the practical beamformers are calibrated, the optimal solution is obtained. To provide a rough initial polarimetric calibration for the practical beamformer solution, an approximate single-source polarimetric calibration method is developed. The modeled instrumental polarization error for a dipole phased array feed with the practical beamformer solution and single-source polarimetric calibration was -10 dB or lower over the array field of view for elements with alignments perturbed by random rotations with 5 degree standard deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This manuscript introduces a 5G radio access network architecture concept based on ultra-dense wavelength division multiplexing (UDWDM) and incorporating an optical fronthaul network that uses a novel wireless antenna system for radio frequency transmission and reception. A ring topology is proposed where optical signals travel within the 5G UDWDM passive optical networks and millimeter waves are generated in the optical line terminals by optical heterodyning. The wireless transmission of the millimeter waves is conducted by an innovative phased array fed reflector antenna approach for mobile communications that grants high antenna gain due to highly focused radiation characteristics, as well as multiplexing gain by multiple beam generation. Furthermore, beam steering is provided by a radio frequency analog beamformer network. Finally, implementation options synthesizing the total system are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]