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EditorialWideband, Multiband, Tunable, and Smart AntennaSystems
for Mobile and UWB Wireless Applications 2014
Renato Cicchetti,1 Antonio Faraone,2 Diego Caratelli,3 and
Massimiliano Simeoni4
1Department of Information, Electronic and Telecommunication
Engineering, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy2Chief
Technical Office, Motorola Solutions Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL
33322, USA3The Antenna Company Nederland B.V., Netherlands4European
Space Agency, ESA-ESTEC, Keplerlaan, Noordwijk ZH, Netherlands
Correspondence should be addressed to Renato Cicchetti;
[email protected]
Received 11 March 2015; Accepted 11 March 2015
Copyright © 2015 Renato Cicchetti et al. This is an open access
article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.
1. Introduction
With the advent of high data rate 3G and 4G
wirelesscommunication systems and the app-based use
paradigm,wireless connectivity through multiple air interfaces
hasbecome a common requirement in the RF architecture ofmobile
communication devices. Modern wireless handsetsfrequently
incorporate three or more antennas to enable cel-lular voice and
data,Wi-Fi, andGPS connectivity, acrossmul-tiple bands.Multiple
antenna systems are frequently designedto implement diversity or
spatial multiplexing schemes, asin the case of WCDMA and LTE, to
increase resiliency andcapacity of wireless links and to operate
multiple voice/datalinks simultaneously. Concurrently,
ultrawideband (UWB)systems used in short range communications,
remote sens-ing, and through-the-wall radar imaging have introduced
anew paradigm in the antenna design where the mitigationof pulse
distortion is of the essence, thus requiring a shiftin antenna
design approach and the introduction of novelradiating systems.
This special issue is intended to reflect current R&Dtrends
and novel approaches in the analysis and synthesisof antenna
systems and associated RF front-ends for nextgeneration mobile
communication devices, applicable tovarious device form factors
such as smartphones, tablets,laptops and wearable computers as well
as for UWB com-munication systems and radars. A particular emphasis
hasbeen paid to the analysis anddesign of broadband,multiband,
and reconfigurable antennas for wireless and UWB appli-cations,
as well as to the identification of special materialsand
integration techniques with the host platform. Importantefforts
have been devoted to the characterization of the radiochannel as
well as to the most innovative near-field-far-field transformation
techniques employed to determine theradiation properties of the
antennas employed in the modernwireless communication systems.
The special issue is composed of 19 contributions that canbe
divided into the following 9 clusters.
2. Contributions to Broad- andMultibanding Techniques
In “Dual-Feed Small-Size Penta-Band PIFA for LTE/WWANMobile
Handset Applications” by M. Liu and B. Zhao, theauthors present a
dual-feed small-size penta-band PIFA forLTE/WWAN mobile handset
applications. The proposedantenna is composed of a simple U-shaped
patch with dual-shorting pins connected to the ground plane. The
antenna isexcited at one arm of the U-shaped radiating patch to
coverthe higher band of GSM1800/1900/UMTS2100/LTE2300/2500, while
it is excited at the other arm to realize theGSM900.
In “A Butterfly-Shaped Wideband Microstrip PatchAntenna for
Wireless Communication” by L. Sun et al.,the authors present a
butterfly-shaped patch antenna for
Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of Antennas
and PropagationVolume 2015, Article ID 536031, 3
pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/536031
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2 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation
wideband wireless communications and
radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) systems. The antenna, having a
band-width of about 40%, can serve simultaneously most of themodern
wireless communication standards.
In “A Multiband Printed Log-Periodic Dipole Array forWireless
Communications” by G. A. Casula and P. Maxia, theauthors present a
compact multiband printed Log-periodicdipole array antenna for
wireless communications. The pro-posed antenna can be used for
wireless communications bothin the S (2.4–3GHz) and in the C
(5.2–5.8GHz) frequencybands, with very good input matching and a
satisfactory end-fire radiation pattern. In addition, it presents
an excellent out-of-band rejection, without the use of stop-band
filters, thusavoiding interference out of its operating frequency
band.
In “Bandwidth Enhancement Technique of the Mean-dered Monopole
Antenna” by C.-J. Wang and D.-H. Hsieh,the authors present a small
dual-band monopole antennawith coplanar waveguide feeding
structure. The antenna iscomposed of ameanderedmonopole, an
extended conductortail, and an asymmetrical ground plane which
confer to theradiating structure the ability to cover the GSM900,
the DCS,the IMT-2000, the UMTS, theWLAN, the LTE 2300, and theLTE
2500, wireless communication standards.
In “Novel Cross-Type Network for Wide-Tuning-RangeReconfigurable
Multiband Antennas” by C.-S. Lee et al., theauthors presents a
cross-type network design with a novelreconfigurable functionality
to realize a tunable multibandantenna. It is shown that by
attaching a reconfigurablenetwork at the feeding port of a
broadband antenna, themulti-input impedance adjustment enables the
productionof multimatching operating bands. So, the proposed
novelcross-type network can be used successfully in tunable
dual-band functions to decrease the processing time and
theanalytical complexity of tunable-frequency devices.
In “A Compact Wideband Dual-Polarized Antenna withHarmonic
Suppression Using Nonuniform Defected GroundStructure” by L. Damaj
et al., the authors present an inter-esting dual-polarized wideband
bowtie CPW-fed antennahaving wideband harmonic suppression obtained
by meansof three nonuniform cascaded bowtie Defected
GroundStructure (DGS) unit cells. The antenna has an
omnidi-rectional dipole-type radiation pattern over the
operatingfrequency band 2.7–5.9GHz. These characteristics allow
theproposed structure to cover theUWB (lower band in Europe)and
IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) frequency bands.
In “Design of Compact Trapezoidal Bow-Tie ChiplessRFID Tag” by
L. Xu and K. Huang, the authors present anovel compact design of a
low-cost fully printable slot-loadedbowtie chipless RFID tag. The
tag, used as an ultrawidebandstructure, consists of two trapezoidal
metallic patches loadedwith multiple slot resonators. Due to high
data capacity andlow cost, and since it needs only one conductive
layer, it canbe directly printed on personal ID, credit cards,
papers, andtextile fabrics.
In “A DR Loaded Substrate Integrated WaveguideAntenna for 60GHz
High Speed Wireless CommunicationSystems” by N. Ashraf et al., the
authors present an array ofdielectric resonator antennas, excited
by a compact feedingline formed by a substrate integrated
waveguide, suitable to
operate at 60GHz. In particular, an impedance bandwidthof 10.70%
with a gain up to 11.20 dBi is found for an arraycomposed of four
resonator antennas.
3. Contributions to Antennas forUWB Applications
In “Two-Step BeveledUWBPrintedMonopole AntennawithBand Notch” by
Y. Xiao et al., the authors present a compactprinted monopole
antenna for ultra-wideband applications.Symmetrical slots,
integrated along the microstrip line areemployed to realize a
frequency stop band, so to avoid elec-tromagnetic interference with
the WLAN communicationsystems, while those integrated on the ground
plane areadopted to improve the antenna radiation patterns.
In “ACPW-FedDual-Band-NotchedAntennawith SharpSkirt Selectivity
for UWB Applications” by D. Dong et al.,the authors present a
coplanar waveguide-fed dual-band-notched antenna with sharp skirt
selectivity for ultrawide-band applications. The antenna, composed
of a radiant patchwith a C-shaped slot and a C-shaped stub
integrated on theback surface of the substrate, presents
dual-band-notchedcharacteristics which can reject the interference
between theIEEE 802.11a bands (5.15–5.35GHz and 5.725–5.825GHz)and
the UWB systems.
4. Contributions to Wearable/FlexibleAntennas
In “Design of a Circularly Polarized Galileo E6-Band
TextileAntenna by Dedicated Multiobjective Constrained
ParetoOptimization” by A. Dierck et al., the authors present
astrategy, incorporating a multiobjective constrained
Paretooptimization, to the design of a wearable Galileo
E6-bandantenna with optimal return loss and wide-band axial
ratiocharacteristics.The realized antenna prototypes show that
theproposed optimization strategy is able to take into accountthe
variations of the antenna substrate materials.
In “Novel Multiband Metal-Rimmed Antenna for Wear-able
Applications” by B. Liu et al., the authors present anovel
multiband antenna with an unbroken metal rim forwearable
applications. The proposed antenna is composed ofa radiating metal
rim and a novel feeding structure whichallows obtaining a compact
antenna suitable to cover thefrequency band between 1500 and
2350MHz, ensuring atthe same time SAR values lower than that
indicated by thespecific standard concerning the protection of the
humanbeing by the exposure to electromagnetic fields.
5. Contributions to Substrates, SpecialMaterials, and
Fabrication Techniques
In “Beam Scanning Properties of a Ferrite LoadedMicrostripPatch
Antenna” by S. S. I. Mitu and F. Sultan, the authorspresent an
axially magnetized ferrite loaded microstrip patchantenna with
tunable beam scanning properties. In partic-ular, ferrite rods are
placed in the radiation region of theantenna to perturb the 𝐸-field
phase distribution resulting in
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International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 3
beam scan.The realized prototype shows a beam scan rangingfrom
28∘ up to −26∘.
In “Design Variations on Planar Differential Antennawith
Potential for Multiple, Wide, and Narrow Band Cover-age” by D. Pepe
et al., the authors show how by modifyingthe topology of an antenna
it is possible to obtain a behaviorpresenting wide, narrow,
ormultiple bands. To this end, threepractical antenna
implementations, based on variations ofone general planar
differential antenna topology, originallyproposed for ultrawideband
applications, are presented anddiscussed in detail.
6. Contributions to Reconfigurable andMultiband Antenna
Technology
In “Design of a Smart Antenna for Mobile Ad Hoc Net-work
Applications” by M. Di Filippo et al., the authorspresent a smart
antenna capable of producing multiple, high-gain, electronically
steered independent beams, made of acylindrical array of metal
patches suitable for mobile adhoc networks. These networks are
particularly important inseveral environments where the fixed
infrastructure is notavailable, not trusted, too expensive, or
unreliable.
7. Contributions to MIMO Antenna Systemsand Channel Modeling for
Wi-Fi and LTE
In “Polarized Uniform Linear Array System: Beam Radia-tion
Pattern, Beamforming Diversity Order, and ChannelCapacity” by X. Su
and K. Chang, the authors derive thechannel capacity of polarized
uniform linear array (PULA)systems using the beamforming technique
in a realisticscattering environment. The numerical results show
that, forPULA systems, the channel capacity, which is boosted by
thebeamforming diversity, can be determined using the channelgain,
the beam radiation pattern, and the beamformingdiversity order
(BDO), where the BDO is dependent on theantenna characteristics and
array configurations.
8. Contributions to Wireless Systems forRemote Control of Vital
Parameters
In “An EM Modeling for Rescue System Design of BuriedPeople” by
A. De Leo et al., the authors present an analyticalmodel developed
to get some a priori design characteristicsof a rescue system,
based on a R.F. detector, useful to identifythe breathing
activities of buried persons in case of occur-rence of natural
disasters such as earthquake, landslides, oravalanches. To validate
the model, a system prototype wasbuilt using laboratory equipment,
and some experimentswere carried out in a realist scenario to
confirm the perfor-mance offered in the detection of respiratory
activities bymeans of a R.F system.
9. Contribution to Antenna PerformanceMeasurement Techniques
In “Near-Field to Far-Field Transformation Techniques withSpiral
Scannings: A Comprehensive Review” by R. Cicchettiet al., the
authors present an overview of the most innova-tive spiral scanning
near-field-far-field transformation tech-niques useful to derive
the radiation patterns of the antennascommonly employed in
themodern wireless communicationsystems. In particular, a unified
theory of the spiral scanningsfor quasi-spherical and nonspherical
antennas is described,and an optimal sampling interpolation
expansion useful toevaluate the probe response on a quite arbitrary
rotationalsurface fromanonredundant number of its samples,
collectedalong a proper spiral wrapping it, is presented. Due tothe
intrinsic characteristics of the technique, a remarkablereduction
of the measurement time is achieved.
10. Contributions to Evaluation of the RFExposure to Wireless
CommunicationDevices and Infrastructures
In “CultureMediumGeometry:TheDominant Factor Affect-ing In Vitro
RF Exposure Dosimetry” by A. Paffi et al.,the authors analyze the
distribution of the electromagneticfield and SAR in test tubes and
Petri dishes used for theexposure of cells and/or biological
samples to the RF energy.In particular, they show that the RF
energy distributionwithin the samples is entirely determined by
exposure vesselgeometry, orientation to the incident RF flux,
frequency, anddielectric properties of the medium. The results
reported inthe paper are particularly useful for those researchers
who arecalled to carry out experimental measurements on
biologicalsamples exposed to electromagnetic fields.
Acknowledgments
Theeditors would like to express their gratitude to the
authorsand the anonymous reviewers for their contributions to
thisspecial issue. As a final word to our readers, after
compilingthis set of papers, we believe that it gives a good and
currentoverview of the selected topics. We hope you will
enjoyreading this year’s special issue as much as we have
enjoyedputting it together.
Renato CicchettiAntonio FaraoneDiego Caratelli
Massimiliano Simeoni
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