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An accurate ranging system based on FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) Radar is presented. The system ensures a centimetre precision even in environments with high multipath, such as warehouses packed with metallic objects or extremely dusty sites where conventional RF, laser, ultrasonic or video technologies present severe limitations. The proposed solution has been experimentally applied in Automatic Guided Vehicle for warehouses. The architecture of the system and the obtained results are presented in detail.

This paper presents an innovative accurate ranging system based on FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) Radar. Thanks to a combination of nontrivial solutions a centimetre precision is guaranteed even in tough environments, such as warehouses packed with metallic objects or extremely dusty sites, where conventional RF, laser, ultrasonic or video technology may present severe limitations. The proposed solution is currently being applied in Automatic Guided Vehicle for warehouses. The architecture of the system and the obtained results are presented in details.

This paper presents a novel Rotman lens in low-cost substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. An original solution is proposed for the design of the adsorbing load at the sidewalls of the lens and for the phase-shifters at the output ports. A three beam prototype feeding an 8-element array working at Ku band has been fabricated and tested.

Innovative feeding network architectures for conformal arrays are presented. The WLAN dual band system is chosen as a possible application. The basic components employed in the smart antenna are presented: dual band power divider with independent power ratio in both WLAN frequency ranges; dual band phase shifters with independent phase shift in both ranges; dual band radiating element. Experimental results confirm the feasibility of the proposed architecture.

Recent advances in the technology of radiofrequency (RF) circuits, such as RF-microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) make it possible to practically implement electronically reconfigurable antenna arrays paving the way to innovative communication systems including applications such as next generation mobile communications, radar applications, remote sensing and imaging. This paper reviews the basic implementations of such antenna systems, namely phased arrays and reflectarrays, as well as the algorithms allowing for beam shaping, beam steering, null placing etc., as well as the typical RF-MEMS circuitry for both amplitude and phase control.

In this work, a novel low-cost solution for efficient adaptive nulling in large 2D phased arrays is proposed. The array phase distribution is controlled by a properly biased resistive or capacitive polarization network. Interference nulling is performed by using only a few biasing signals independently of the number of radiating elements of the array. A dramatic reduction of the overall complexity of the system is consequently achieved, without affecting the adaptive nulling capability of the antenna with respect to arrays in which each element is phase-controlled. The system shows excellent performances in terms of convergence speed and robustness, thus making this approach particularly suited for real-time applications.

A compact wide-band microstrip diplexer working in the 0.9/spl divide/2.5 GHz frequency range is presented. This component is a key part of the feeding network of a multifunctional antenna, working at five frequency bands associated to terrestrial and satellite radio services. By using interdigital capacitors in conjunction with the stepped impedance technique, very good results in terms of compactness and performances have been obtained. An unconventional arrangement of the filters has led to a further reduction of the dimensions.