This paper presents a simple and cost-effective bidirectional antenna using a probe excited circular ring. The structure of the antenna is simple i.e., a linear electric probe surrounded by the circular ring. The principle of the antenna design is easy and straightforward. A choice of the ring radius is first chosen to achieve the condition that only the dominant mode can be propagated. Furthermore, it is found that for a specific ring radius, the radiation patterns of the antenna are varied as the ring width. Then, the optimum ring width that provides the maximum directivity is determined. The criterion of the selection of the ring width for various ring radii is illustrated as the guidelines for the antenna design. The fabricated antennas at the operating frequency of 1.9065 GHz are measured and compared with the theoretical predictions. It is apparent that these results are in reasonable agreement. The bidirectional pattern with the gain of 5.4 dBi over the bandwidth of 17% is obtained. Moreover, the antenna can be easily fabricated with the low production cost. Therefore, this antenna is suitable for installing at the base station in the street cell.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing-Direct Sequence/Code Division Multiple Access (OFDM-DS/CDMA) systems provide frequency diversity gain avoiding inter symbol interference (ISI) in a frequency selective fading channel. However, path diversity gain can not be obtained by using conventional OFDM-DS/CDMA schemes. This paper proposes a new multiple antenna transmission system with combined path diversity and frequency diversity. Signal of each antenna is delayed by several chips to create artificial path diversity as well as frequency diversity of multi-carrier transmission in which can then be combined by using a RAKE receiver. Therefore multiple antenna transmission scheme creates a path diversity effect on uncorrelated signals in multi-carriers from each antenna. The received uncorrelated signals can be processed by Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) diversity without ISI at a RAKE receiver even when we use FFT modulation. As a result, we can obtain combined path diversity and frequency diversity gain effectively by the RAKE system with the combination of multiple antennas.

This paper proposes a new satellite communication system that enables high-speed communication in a mobile environment. The system configuration combines a terrestrial mobile network and an existing satellite system, and includes a tracking antenna that was newly developed to receive 30 Mbit/s signals from commercial communication satellites. A prototype system comprising the mobile network, the satellite system and a vehicle in which the tracking antenna is installed was constructed for purposes of evaluation and demonstration. A LAN system was incorporated in the experimental vehicle by using the tracking antenna, a satellite router and a Personal Digital Cellular phone. The validity of the proposed system was verified by the tracking antenna driving tests, system UDP tests and FTP throughput tests in a mobile environment.

This paper evaluates through laboratory and field experiments the combined effect of the coherent adaptive antenna array diversity (CAAAD) receiver and signal-to-interference plus background noise ratio (SINR)-based fast transmit power control (TPC) in order to improve performance beyond that of space diversity (SD) with maximal ratio combining (MRC) in all low-to-high signal-to-interference power ratio (SIR) channels in the W-CDMA reverse link. Although the previously proposed CAAAD receiver comprising an adaptive antenna array based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion and a coherent Rake combiner was very effective in suppressing interference in low SIR (interference is severe) channels, SD employing MRC in noise limited channels (high SIR) outperformed the CAAAD because of its uncorrelated reception of fading variation due to its large antenna separation. The laboratory experimental results showed that the required average transmit signal energy per bit-to-background noise spectrum density (Eb/N0) with the CAAAD receiver using fast TPC is lower than that with an SD receiver over a wide range of maximum Doppler frequency values from fD = 5 Hz to 500 Hz in a low-to-high SIR channel. The results of the field experiments also showed that combining CAAAD and fast TPC is a powerful means to reduce severe multiple access interference (MAI) from high rate users in a low-to-high SIR environment and is more effective than using the SD receiver with the same number of antennas, i.e., the measured BER was improved by approximately one order of magnitude, when the relative transmit power of the desired user was 8 dB with two antennas at the average received SIR at the antenna input of -12 dB.

Research on the propagation characteristics in the microwave band aiming at broadband mobile services is attracting much attention. Typical examples are the Unlicensed-NII (U-NII) band in the U.S. and HIPER-LAN band in Europe, i.e. 5.2 GHz. An efficient approach to revealing the propagation characteristics in the 5-GHz band is to utilize the existing propagation data accumulated by many researchers on the 2-GHz band. This paper presents the differences in path loss between the 5.2-GHz and 2.2-GHz bands in a residential area by using a 5.2-GHz/2.2-GHz dual band antenna. This antenna enables a direct comparison of 5.2 GHz and 2.2 GHz in terms of the propagation characteristics. We found that the difference in path loss between the 2.2-GHz and 5.2-GHz bands depends on only the base/mobile station antenna height. Based on this, we formulate the relationship between the heights of the base/mobile station antennas and the difference in path loss between the 2.2-GHz and 5.2-GHz bands.

A new half-power beam width (HPBW) base station (BS) antenna is described for use in 26 GHz- and 38 GHz-band point-to-multipoint (P-MP) fixed wireless access (FWA) systems which is narrower than the conventional design, and which efficiently meets the prescribed carrier-to-thermal noise power ratio (C/N) quality requirements. This development results in a reduction in antenna volume and the installation costs of the system. The validity of the new design in terms of C/N, carrier-to-interference signal power ratio (C/I) performance and the visibility of the propagation path are estimated.

A compact optically-fed radio access point module was developed that consists of a uni-traveling-carrier refracting-facet photodiode, a patch antenna, and an optical input interface. An output power from the photodiode was 1.4 dBm at a frequency of 5.88 GHz without any bias voltage.

The transmission S-parameter, S21, between dipole elements on a rectangular finite ground plane is calculated by the MoM with planar-segments in the horizontally and vertically polarized configurations. Supposed a 1/10 scaling, the frequency range is selected 0.15-0.8 GHz. The size of the finite ground plane is 40 cm 100 cm. The dipole-element length is 18.8 cm (half-wavelength at 0.8 GHz). The distance between dipole elements is 30 cm. The results are compared to the calculated results with the conventional MoM-GTD hybrid method and also the measured results with a TRL-calibrated network analyzer. It makes clear that the MoM-GTD hybrid method is not applicable to a small ground plane in the vertically polarized configuration. The results calculated by the MoM with planar-segments agree well to the measured results both in the horizontal and vertical polarizations. The results show that the size of the finite ground plane for the vertical polarization should be much larger than for the horizontal polarization.

Recently, antenna selection diversity has been widely used for hand-held phones to overcome a fading problem. A monopole antenna (MPA) and an inverted-F antenna (IFA) are the typical antennas used for this purpose. However, strong mutual coupling generally appears between these two antennas and often makes the diversity antenna design difficult. In particular, in the case that the MPA is unselected antenna the mutual coupling can be minimized using the open terminating impedance. On the other hand, in the case that the IFA is unselected antenna the terminating impedance, which can minimize the mutual coupling, has not been clarified. This paper presents a novel analytical method for optimizing the terminating impedance of the IFA. The method exploits the Z-matrix, and the final expression of the terminating impedance is expressed by self- and mutual-impedance. The numerical and experimental results confirm that the proposed optimization method is effective for minimizing the mutual coupling.

Frequency-selective fading due to multipath propagation is serious hindrance in high-speed TDMA mobile communications. An adaptive antenna has been proposed to reduce the frequency-selective fading and realize path-diversity. This paper presents a criterion which selects multipath signals and weighting factors for combining them. First, we describe a selection criterion which chooses the multipath signals for the path-diversity. We propose a ratio of signal power to error power for the criterion. Furthermore, we propose weighting factors which realize approximately the maximal ratio combining. Computer simulation results show that the proposed selection criterion and weighting factors reveal excellent performance.

This paper investigates the influence of the number of antennas, the angle difference between the direction of arrival (DOA) of the desired signal and those of interfering signals, and the antenna arrangement on the BER performance of the coherent adaptive antenna array diversity (CAAAD) receiver in the wideband DS-CDMA (W-CDMA) reverse link. Experiments assuming high-rate interfering users were conducted in a radio anechoic room using a three-sectored antenna with a 120-degree beam (maximum number of antennas was six). The experimental results showed that the degree to which the interference was suppressed from high-rate users of the CAAAD receiver was significantly increased by increasing the number of antennas, especially when the number of interfering users was larger than degree of freedom of the CAAAD. It was also verified that although the BER performance of the CAAAD receiver significantly improved compared to a single sectored antenna, the improvement remarkably decreased when the DOA difference between the desired signal and interfering signals was within approximately 10-15 degrees irrespective of the number of antennas. Finally, we show that the BER performance difference between the linear and conformal arrangements was small when using the three-sectored antenna.

In this study, the shielding effect of high-loss dielectric and magnetic materials themselves and also an oval human model placed behind these material, were investigated by the FDTD method, for near- and far-field exposure, using the half-wave length dipole antenna. According to the results, a high-loss magnetic material showed a large shielding effect (average 20 dB) compared to the high-loss dielectric material, for near- and far-field shields. Also, the reduction of the shielding effect was small (2 dB) for the high-loss magnetic material, while it was large for the high loss dielectric material, on decreasing the distance between the antenna and shield. Moreover, the variation of the shielding effect on a human model placed behind the shield was small (0.2-1.5 dB) for the high-loss magnetic material, but large for the high-loss dielectric material. This is similar to the results of the shield materials themselves, for the close antenna-shield and human-shield distances, respectively.

The transmission S-parameter between two dipole-elements is a measure to evaluate sites for measuring complex antenna factors (CAF). In this paper, the S-parameter between two dipole-elements on a ground plane is measured using a network analyzer with its TRL (Thru-Reflect-Line) calibration. The S-parameter is also calculated by the method of moment (MoM) and compared to the measurement results. The comparison shows that the calculated S-parameter is usable as a reference value in the evaluation of CAF measurement sites. As an example of the evaluation and selection of measurement sites, the transmission S-parameter on a finite ground plane is calculated using the hybrid method combined the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) and MoM. As a result, a preferable antenna setting on the finite ground plane is recommended.

This paper proposes a fast and simple adaptive algorithm for MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error) adaptive array antenna or MMSE combining diversity. This algorithm can be implemented with as a small operation as LMS since it is based on VS-LMS (variable step size LMS) for which the step size is provided with a fixed profile. Computer simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has much better convergence behavior and BER performance than LMS.

In high-speed TDMA mobile communications, frequency-selective fading is a serious problem because a delay time difference between multipath signals is large in comparison with symbol duration. We have proposed a spatial-domain RAKE receiver using a multibeam adaptive antenna to reduce frequency-selective fading and to realize path-diversity. The multibeam adaptive antenna resolves multipath signals in the spatial domain, and combines array outputs. In this paper, we propose the application of MUSIC algorithm to estimation of the time delays of multipath signals to make the incident signals coincide with a common reference signal. Because the MUSIC algorithm can estimate the time delays accurately, the BER performance of the proposed scheme is improved. Furthermore, we propose weighting factors which easily realize the maximal-ratio combining.

This paper experimentally demonstrates the possibility of 2-Mbps data transmission using a 5-MHz bandwidth (chip rate of 4.096 Mcps) wideband DS-CDMA (W-CDMA) mobile radio link in frequency-selective multipath fading environments. To reduce the mobile station transceiver complexity, three-orthogonal code multiplexing with the spreading factor (SF) of 4 is employed. In such a small SF transmission, the increased multipath interference (MPI) significantly degrades the transmission performance. We consider two-branch antenna diversity reception and fast transmit power control (TPC) as well as channel coding to mitigate the influence of MPI. Laboratory experimental results show that the use of antenna diversity reception is significant and that the fast TPC improves the transmission performance. Furthermore, the impact of the fading maximum Doppler frequency, fD, and that of the channel coding interleaving size, Tint, on the achievable BER performance are also investigated.

We study the joint optimization problem of a transmitter with multiple transmit antennas and a receiver with multiple receive antennas in a narrow-band communication system. We discuss the problem of designing a pre-filter at the transmitter, a post-filter at the receiver, and a bit allocation pattern to multiple symbols in the sense of minimizing the average bit error rate. With the optimized filters and the bit allocation, we could realize high efficiency and high data rate in band-limited channels.

We developed a new water repellent coating consisting of PTFE particles dispersed in PVDF resin. This coating exhibited a contact angle of 150 degrees. By ice accreting test, the intensity of reflected microwave on the water-repellent coated plate did not decrease, whereas that on uncoated one decreased.

A software antenna, which will be a key device realizing flexible and highly reliable wireless communications systems, is inherently matched with software defined radios (SDR). In this paper, first, key technologies on the software antenna are introduced. The technologies contain i) how to recognize the radio environment, ii) how to determine the optimum adaptive signal processing algorithm, and iii) how to reconfigure the digital beamforming circuit. Then, an image of a software antenna with reconfigurable eigenvector-beamspace configuration is presented. Finally, by assuming various propagation conditions, performance of the software antenna in terms of algorithm diversity is demonstrated.

Software radio or software defined radio (SDR) is a quite attractive field of research in terms of theoretical cross-over research themes between radio engineering and computer science in academia as well as new multi-standard or all-purpose radio system products in industry. In order to promote research and development in a field of SDR this paper briefly introduces some prospective aspect and research themes on SDR. There are many approaches to research SDR such as architectures, devises, algorithms, description languages and API (application program interface) for achieving reconfigurability and downloadability in an SDR system. One of the approaches is to focus on an antenna for SDR. Although a baseband circuit is generally programable and reconfigurable, an antenna and a RF circuit are used to be less flexible and hardware-dependent and then result in a bottleneck for implementing an SDR system. However, an adaptive array antenna or a smart antenna named a software antenna is adaptively controllable and reconfigurable because it can be programable to form a desired beam pattern if an appropriate set of antenna weights is provided with software. It must be a vital tool for carrying out an SDR system. A software antenna can be considered as an adaptive filter in space and time domains for radio communications, so that the communication theory can be generalized from a conventional time domain into both space and time domains. This paper also introduces structures and theories of a software antenna which I have been studying before this millennium.