This paper presents a novel frequency-controlled beam steering scheme for a phased-array antenna system (PAS). The proposed scheme employs phase-controlled carrier signals to form the PAS beam. Two local oscillators (LOs) and delay lines are used to generate the carrier signals. The carrier of one LO is divided into branches, and then the divided carriers passing through the corresponding delay lines have the desired phase relationship, which depends on the oscillation frequency of the LO. To confirm the feasibility of the scheme, four-branch PAS transmitters are configured and tested in a 10-GHz frequency band. The results verify that the formed beam is successfully steered in a wide range, i.e., the 3-dB beamwidth of approximately 100 degrees, using LO frequency control.

Recently, GaN devices are often adopted in microwave power amplifiers to improve the performances. And many new design methods of microwave power amplifier were proposed. As a result, a high-efficiency and super compact microwave signal source has become easily available. It opens up the way for new microwave heating systems. In this paper, the recent progress on design methods of microwave power amplifier and the applications for microwave heating are described. In the first, a device model of GaN transistor is explained. An equivalent thermal model is introduced into the electrical non-linear equivalent device model. In the second, an active load-pull (ALP) measurement system to design a high-efficiency power amplifier is explained. The principle of the conventional closed-loop ALP system is explained. To avoid the risk of oscillation for the closed-loop ALP system, novel ALP systems are proposed. In the third, a microwave heating system is explained. The heating system monitors the reflection wave. Then, the frequency of the signal source and the phase difference between antennas are controlled to minimize the reflection wave. Absorption efficiency of more than 90% was obtained by the control of frequency and phase. In the last part, applications for a medical instrument is described.

This paper presents the design and radiation properties of a linearly polarized radial line microstrip antenna array (RL-MSAA) with U-slot circular microstrip antennas. A circular microstrip antenna (C-MSA) with U-shaped slot is used as a radiation element of the RL-MSAA. Radiation phase of the U-slot C-MSA is controlled by tuning the radius of the C-MSA and dimensions of the U-slot on the C-MSA; therefore, the desired phase distribution of the RL-MSAA can be realized. In this paper, a linearly polarized RL-MSAA with three concentric rows of C-MSAs at a spacing of 0.65 wavelengths is designed for 12GHz operation. In order to realize uniform phase distribution, the U-slot C-MSAs are arranged for inner two rows and normal C-MSAs are arranged for the termination row. Validity of the linearly polarized RL-MSAA with the U-slot C-MSAs for radiation phase control is demonstrated by simulation and measurement.

This paper presents design and radiation properties of a radial line microstrip antenna array (RL-MSAA) for linear polarization. A stacked circular microstrip antenna (C-MSA) is used as a radiation element for the RL-MSAA. Radiation phase of the stacked C-MSA is controlled by tuning radii of the lower and upper patches, therefore, the desired phase distribution of the RL-MSAA can be designed. In this paper, a linearly polarized RL-MSAA with three concentric rows of the stacked C-MSAs at a spacing of 0.65 wavelengths for uniform aperture distribution is designed and tested in 12GHz. The experimental results reveal that validity of the linearly polarized RL-MSAA with the stacked C-MSAs for radiation phase control is demonstrated.

In multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless relay networks, simultaneously using multiple relay nodes can improve the capacity of source-to-destination communications. Recent information theories have shown that passing the same message across multiple relay nodes can improve the capacity of source-to-destination communications. We have previously proposed three relay schemes that use jointly QR decomposition and the phase control matrix; computer simulations have confirmed the superiority of these schemes over conventional ones such as amplify-and-forward and zero-forcing schemes. In this paper, we analyze the capacity and achievable gains (distributed array gain, intra-node array gain and spatial multiplexing gain) of the previously proposed relay schemes (QR-P-QR, QR-P-ZF, and ZF-P-QR) and thus provide an insight into what contributes to their superiority over conventional schemes. The analyses show that the location of the relay nodes used has a significant impact on capacity. On the basis of this observation, we further propose a method that enables each relay node to individually select its relay scheme according to its channel conditions so as to maximize the capacity. A computer simulation confirms the capacity improvement achieved by the proposed selection method.

This paper presents the successful performance of an optical waveguide phase controller for microwave signals generated by heterodyne photodetection. A 22 optical waveguide structure with four optical phase shifters was fabricated on a LiNbO3 substrate. As a result of heterodyne photodetection of two optical signals from wavelength-tunable laser diodes, two microwave signals at 585 MHz were generated and phase shifted in the manner of electro-optical phase retardation. The monolithic waveguide structure allowed linear phase shifting more than 1800 degrees. Similar phase shifting performances were also confirmed over a wide microwave frequency range from 300 MHz to 1.3 GHz. The optical waveguide structure demonstrated here will be applicable to fiber-optic fed microwave systems such as a phased array antenna.