This letter presents an investigation of channel estimation scheme for a high rate WPAN system using multiple transmit antennas over indoor wireless channel. A simple algorithm utilizing the autocorrelation property of a CAZAC preamble is proposed for channel estimation. Simulation and analytical results show the performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of mean square error (MSE) of channel estimation. At the same time, the effect of imperfect channel estimation introduced by relatively large RMS delay spread is highlighted.

The use of coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed ultra-wideband antennas in applications of multi-system integration has been demonstrated in this paper. Spiral slot antennas and feeding structures were fabricated on the same plane of the substrate so that the circuit process and the position alignment could be simplified. A CPW-fed spiral slot antenna possessing the ultra-wideband characteristic is also suitable for integration with a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) module. Variations of the measured initial resonant frequency due to substrate thickness, number of turns and slot width are discussed in this paper. In addition, two topologies of the CPW-fed spiral slot antenna were devised and measured to demonstrate the capability of lowering the initial resonant frequency by adding a circularly microstrip stub at the end of the feedline and placing a short pin to terminate the spiral slot and feedline. According to the measured results, the CPW-fed spiral slot antenna covered most of the commercial wireless communication and satellite communication systems in radio frequency (RF), microwave and millimeter-wave applications.

While a multicarrier approach of achieving frequency diversity performs well in the presence of partial-band interference, it suffers from the effects of intermodulation distortion (IMD) due to power amplifier (PA) nonlinearity. On the other hand, transmit diversity using multiple transmit antennas has the benefit of no IMD effects, but can suffer from a larger performance degradation due to partial-band interference (e.g., jamming or narrowband signals in a overlay system) compared to the multicarrier approach. Hence, hybrid diversity schemes which use both multicarrier as well as multiple transmit antennas are of interest. Techniques to suppress IMD effects in such hybrid diversity schemes are important. In this paper, we propose and evaluate the performance of a minimum mean square error (MMSE) receiver to suppress the intermodulation distortion in a coded multicarrier multiple transmit antenna (P transmit antennas) DS-CDMA system with M subcarriers on each transmit antenna, for both BPSK and QPSK modulation. The system uses rate-1/M convolutional coding, interleaving and space-time coding. We compare the performance of a (M = 4,P = 2) scheme and a (M = 2,P = 4) scheme, both having the same diversity order. We show that the proposed MMSE receiver effectively suppresses the IMD effects, thus enabling to retain better antijamming capability without much loss in performance due to IMD effects.

An antenna with a wide bandwidth is required for ultra-wideband (UWB) system of the future. Several types of wideband antenna that cover the whole frequency range have been proposed. Since the UWB system would cover from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, it is necessary to suppress the interference from other systems using some of this frequency band. This paper presents two types of novel planar monopole antenna: one consists of two connected rectangular plates and another one is an orthogonal type. The return loss characteristics, radiation pattern, and current distribution of these antennas were simulated by using the FDTD method. The proposed antennas had dual frequency and broad bandwidth characteristics at both resonant frequencies. The return loss level at the eliminated frequency between the resonant frequencies was almost 0 dB. The radiation patterns for the whole frequency range were almost omni-directional in the horizontal plane. The current distributions at each frequency were similar to that of a planar rectangular monopole. The radiation patterns thus were omni-directional in the horizontal plane at each resonant frequency. Therefore, the results showed that wide bandwidth characteristics could be achieved with such antennas.

A novel signal enhancement scheme using the rotation of signal subspace (RSS) and Toeplitz matrix approximation (TMA) methods to enhance the performance of an adaptive antenna array in multirate DS/CDMA systems is proposed. The basis of RSS is to find a transformation matrix in order to recover the desired complex array covariance matrix from a sampled complex array covariance matrix which is contaminated by an interference-plus-noise component, which is the total noise. Also, the objective of TMA is to change the output matrix of RSS into a matrix having the theoretical properties of a total noise-free signal. Consequently, the proposed signal enhancement scheme using RSS and TMA methods can greatly improve the performance of an adaptive antenna array by reducing the undesired total noise effect from the sampled complex array covariance matrix of the pre-correlation received signal vector that is used to calculate a weight vector of an adaptive antenna array. It is shown through various simulation results that the system performance using the proposed signal enhancement scheme is much superior to that of the conventional method.

Efficient schemes to enhance the performance of the optimum beamforming for DS/CDMA systems are proposed. The main focus of the proposed schemes is to enhance the practical estimation of an array response vector used at the weight vector for the optimum beamforming. The proposed schemes for the performance enhancement of the optimum beamforming are the Complex Toeplitz Approximation (CTA) and the real Toeplitz-plus-Hankel Approximation (RTHA) which have the theoretical property of an overall noise-free signal. It is shown through several simulation results that the performance of the optimum beamforming using the proposed schemes is much superior to that of a system using the conventional method under several simulation environments, i.e., the number of users, the SNR value, the number of antenna elements, the angular spread, and Nakagami fading parameter.

To improve the DS-CDMA signal transmission performance in a frequency-selective fading channel, the frequency-domain equalization (FDE) can be applied, in which simple one-tap equalization is carried out on each subcarrier component obtained by fast Fourier transform (FFT). Equalization weights for joint FDE and antenna diversity combining based on maximal ratio combining (MRC), zero-forcing (ZF), and minimum mean square error (MMSE) are derived. The conditional bit error rate (BER) is derived for the given set of channel gains in a frequency-selective multipath fading channel. The theoretical average BER performance is evaluated by Monte-Carlo numerical computation method using the derived conditional BER and is confirmed by computer simulation. Performance comparison between DS- and multi-carrier (MC)-CDMA both using FDE is also presented.

In this letter, we investigate the performance of using subband adaptive loading for the combination of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and adaptive antenna array. The frequency-domain adaptive loading is very effective to deal with the frequency-selective fading which is inevitable in broadband wireless communications. However, almost all of the existing adaptive loading algorithms are based on "subcarrier-to-subcarrier" mode which may results in awfully large signaling overhead, since every subcarrier needs its own signaling loop between the transmitter and receiver. We investigate the performance of the combination of OFDM and adaptive antenna array when a subband adaptive loading algorithm is used to decrease the signaling overhead. It is shown by simulation results that at the cost of some tolerable performance loss, the signaling overhead of adaptive loading can be greatly reduced.

This paper presents a framework for the analysis of multi-antenna communication systems with mutually-coupled elements. The approach uses a network model that includes the coupled antennas, the propagation channel, the receiver matching network, a realistic noise model for the receive amplifiers, and externally generated interference. The general scheme is applied to diversity receivers, multiple-input multiple-output, and adaptive array architectures. Application of the formulation to coupled dipole antennas illustrates the impact of both mutual coupling and receiver matching on the performance of several representative multi-antenna applications.

An image NRD guide-fed dielectric rod antenna, which is suitable for use at millimeter-wave frequencies, is presented in this paper. The antenna is composed of a linearly tapered dielectric rod connected to the image NRD guide. First, radiation characteristics of the dielectric rod antenna directly protruded from the end of the image NRD guide are investigated by FDTD analysis and measurements at 30 GHz band. For this case, the degradation of the radiation pattern and the decrease of the gain, which are due to the strong radiation from the guide-to-antenna discontinuity, are observed. In order to minimize this radiation and to realize reasonable radiation characteristics, a transition from the image NRD guide-to-rod antenna is proposed. A simple procedure to determine the optimum dimensions of the transition is described. This procedure is based on parametric study of the transition's dimensions, and is performed using FDTD analysis. Based on the results, the dielectric rod antenna having a length of 10 λ0 is designed, and its performance is analyzed and measured. The results show that radiation patterns with the half power beamwidth of 22, sidelobe level of -21 dB and reasonable gain of 18.5 dBi can be realized by employing the transition having the optimum dimensions.

Unlike most of the previous work for smart antennas that covered each area individually (antenna-array design, signal processing and communications algorithms and network throughput), this paper may be considered as a review of comprehensive effort on smart antennas that examines and integrates antenna array design, the development of signal processing algorithms (for angle of arrival estimation and adaptive beamforming), strategies for combating fading, and the impact on the network throughput. In particular, this study considers problems dealing with the impact of the antenna design on the network throughput. In addition, fading channels and tradeoffs between diversity combining and adaptive beamforming are examined as well as channel coding to improve the system performance.

We describe elements of a fast integral equation solver for large periodic and partly periodic finite array systems. A key element of the algorithm is utilization (in a rigorous way) of a block-Toeplitz structure of the impedance matrix in conjunction with either conventional Method of Moments (MoM), Fast Multipole Method (FMM), or Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based Adaptive Integral Method (AIM) compression techniques. We refer to the resulting algorithms as the (block-)Toeplitz-MoM, (block-)Toeplitz-AIM, or (block-)Toeplitz-FMM algorithms. While the computational complexity of the Toeplitz-AIM and Toeplitz-FMM algorithms is comparable to that of their non-Toeplitz counterparts, they offer a very significant (about two orders of magnitude for problems of the order of five million unknowns) storage reduction. In particular, our comparisons demonstrate, that the Toeplitz-AIM algorithm offers significant advantages in problems of practical interest involving arrays with complex antenna elements. This result follows from the more favorable scaling of the Toeplitz-AIM algorithm for arrays characterized by large number of unknowns in a single array element and applicability of the AIM algorithm to problems requiring strongly sub-wavelength resolution.

Integrated implementation of RF front-end components has been shown to posses many benefits. Furthermore, it presents a new way of approaching RF design. This paper will discuss the recent developments by the author's group in the field of RF front-end technology. This will include stand-alone RF front-end components such as a self-heterodyne mixer as well as more functional front-end circuitry such as digital beamformer arrays, retrodirective arrays and an array error calibration scheme.

DOA (Direction Of Arrival) estimation is a useful technique in various positioning applications including the DOA-based adaptive array antenna system. This paper presents a practical implementation of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based fast DOA estimator for wireless cellular basestation. This system incorporates spectral unitary MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) algorithm, which is one of the representative super resolution DOA estimation techniques. This paper proposes a way of digital signal processor design suitable for FPGA and its real hardware implementation. In this system, all digital signal processing procedures are computed by the only fixed-point operation with finite word-length for fast processing and low power consumption. The performance will be assessed by hardware level simulations and experiments in a radio anechoic chamber.

A high permittivity LSE-NRD guide was applied to a planar antenna at 60 GHz. Emphasis was placed on compatibility between the high permittivity LSE-NRD guide and the conventionally used low permittivity LSM-NRD guide. Performance of the transition between two such types of NRD guides was optimized by using an electromagnetic simulator and the validity was experimentally demonstrated. A simple radiator, consisting of a tapered high permittivity LSE-NRD guide was fabricated and evaluated as to radiation characteristics. Since the radiator has a broad radiation pattern, it was employed in a primary radiator of a two-dimensional parabolic reflector to develop a new type of folded planar antenna at 60 GHz. This planar antenna has a double-layered structure. In the upper layer, a metalized dielectric substrate with a slotted array is excited by a rectangular-shaped oversized waveguide, and in the lower layer, an offset parabolic reflector is fed by the radiator. Measurement showed the half-power beam width of the fabricated antenna to be 2.5 degrees in the E and H planes, respectively, and the gain to be 35.3 dBi, thus indicating that a good pencil beam antenna was successfully developed in this manner.

A multimode horn with both a low cross-polarization component less than -30 dB and good VSWR characteristics has been realized at frequency bands 8.6-9.8 GHz and 10.75-11.15 GHz. The improved performance of the proposed horn is verified by comparing with the previous dual-band double-flared horn. The design method for such a horn is based on the mode-matching approach combined with the optimization procedure. This paper proposes an objective function taking account of a spill-over loss and a rotational symmetry in the radiated field instead of an ideal radiation pattern. The effectiveness of our horn is verified by comparison between experimental results in the X band and predicted ones.

An empirical formula of resonant frequency of bow-tie microstrip antennas is presented, which is based on the cavity model of microstrip patch antennas. A procedure to design a bow-tie antenna using genetic algorithm (GA) in which we take the formula as a fitness function is also given. An optimized bow-tie antenna by genetic algorithm was constructed and measured. Numerical and experimental results are used to validate the formula and GA. The results are in good agreement.

In order to achieve a transponder antenna for intersection collision avoidance systems in Intelligent Transport Systems, a lens horn antenna that generates a cosecant squared beam is developed. This paper clarifies the method for designing the antenna to achieve accurate radiation pattern synthesis. A H-plane sectral horn is selected. The ray tracing method is employed in the design of the lens shape. The aperture of the horn is determined to be seven wavelengths based on a comparison of calculated radiation patterns and the desired cosecant squared beam shape. Accurate electrical performance, such as radiation patterns and electrical fields in the horn, is calculated using Finite Difference Time Domain software. Electrical field disturbances caused by reflected waves at the lens surfaces expanded widely inside the small horn. As a result, sidelobe levels of the radiation patterns are increased. In order to eliminate these disturbances, matching layers are attached to the shaped lens surface. Then, electrical field distributions in the horn are recovered and disturbances disappear. Measured radiation patterns become almost the same as that designed using the ray tracing method. The results show that application of the ray tracing method to radiation pattern synthesis of a small lens horn antenna is effective. We clarify the electrical field disturbances caused by reflections at the lens surfaces and show that eliminating the reflection at the lens surface by attaching matching layers is very important to achieving radiation pattern synthesis.

For future high-speed wireless communications using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), two major system requirements will emerge: throughput improvement and rich interference elimination. Because of its broadband nature and limited frequency allocations worldwide, interference from co-located wireless LAN's operating in the same frequency band will become a serious deployment issue. Adaptive array antenna can enhance the performance by suppressing the co-channel interference even when interference may have a large amount of multipath and also have similar received power to the desired signal. There are typically two types of adaptive array architecture for OFDM systems, whose signal processing is carried out before or after FFT (Fast Fourier Transform). In general, the pre-FFT array processing has low complexity, but in rich multipath and interference environments, the performance will deteriorate drastically. In contrast, the post-FFT array processing can provide the optimum performance even in such severe environments at the cost of complexity. Therefore, complexity-reduction techniques combined with the achievement of high system performance will be a key issue for adaptive array antenna applications. This paper proposes novel adaptive array architecture, which is a complexity-reduction technique using subcarrier clustering for post-FFT adaptive array. In the proposed scheme, plural subcarriers can be clustered into a group with the same spatial weight. Simulation results show that the proposed architecture is a promising candidate for real implementation, since it can achieve high performance with much lower complexity even in a rich multipath environment with low signal to noise plus interference ratio (SNIR).

Research in smart antenna technology has progressed over the past few years and is gradually reaching the phase of practical use. We have developed a smart antenna test bed for wireless local area network (LAN) that is based on the IEEE802.11b. The objective is to improve anti-multipath fading performance and expand communication distance. Using this test bed, we carried out field tests in two environment. One environment is an office in an non line of sight (NLOS), and another environment is an outdoor in a line of sight (LOS). In this paper, we explain the outline of the test bed, the measurement method, and present the results of the field tests. In the office environment, we measured the performance of each set with a different number of antenna elements. The results show that the dead-spots where communication becomes impossible disappear if the number of antenna elements is more than or equal to two. In addition, a greater number of elements indicates better performance. The total average throughput is 1.6 times as efficient when two elements are used, and 1.9 times when four elements are used. Cold spots where the throughput is slower than 1 Mbps are reduced by 80-90%. In the outdoor LOS environment field test, it is shown that by using four-element smart antenna for both transmitter and receiver, the communication distance reached 1km with an average throughput of 4 Mbps. These results prove that the smart antenna drastically improves the performance of a wireless LAN system, i.e. the IEEE802.11b.