The IEEE 802.11ad amendment to the 802.11 standard ratified in 2012 created the first multi- Gb/s Wi-Fi technology by using the large swath of unlicensed spectrum at the mm-Wave band. While enabling multi-Gb/s wireless local communications was a significant achievement, throughput and reliability requirements of new applications, such as augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) and wireless backhauling, exceed what 802.11ad can offer. For this reason, building upon IEEE 802.11ad, the IEEE 802.11 Task Group ay has recently defined new PHY and MAC specifications that enable 100 Gb/s communications through a number of technical advancements. In this article, we identify and describe the main design elements of IEEE 802.11ay, including MIMO, channel bonding, improved channel access, and enhanced beamforming training. For each of these elements, we discuss how their design is impacted by mm-Wave radio propagation characteristics and present enabling mechanisms defined in IEEE 802.11ay.

IEEE 802.11ay: Next-Generation 60 GHz Communication for 100 Gb/s Wi-Fi

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a launching device including a transmitter configured to generate a radio frequency signal on a transmission medium, wherein the transmitter is included in a launching circuit with the transmission medium having an electrical return path. A cylindrical coupler launches the radio frequency signal from an aperture of the cylindrical coupler as a guided electromagnetic wave that is bound to an outer surface of the transmission medium, wherein the guided electromagnetic wave propagates along the outer surface of the transmission medium without an electrical return path. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Launcher with cylindrical coupling device and methods for use therewith

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a cabling system can include a plurality of cables, and a tapered supporting structure coupled to the plurality of cables. The tapered supporting structure can facilitate exposure of an endpoint of each cable of the plurality of cables, and the endpoint of each cable of the plurality of cables can be coupled to a communication device that facilitates transmitting electromagnetic waves that propagate along the plurality of cables without requiring an electrical return path. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Methods and apparatus for accessing interstitial areas of a cable

Description: Electrical Engineering/Antennas and Propagation Microstrip Antennas The Analysis and Design of Microstrip Antennas and Arrays Microstrip Antennas contains valuable new information on antenna design and an excellent introduction to the work done in the microstrip antenna area over the past 20 years. The articles are well–chosen and (are) complete with practical design information that is very useful for the working engineer. Stuart Long, University of Houston The editors have done an outstanding job in assembling this updated reprint book. It is a welcome addition to the list of books on microstrip antennas. There is no doubt that it will be a valuable source of information for graduate students, engineers and researchers the original articles are written lucidly and are very informative, and the reprint articles are well chosen. Kai Fong Lee, The University of Toledo Complete with an up–to–date tutorial overview of the field and substantial new, introductory material for each topic, Microstrip Antennas combines in one source a selection of today’s most significant and useful articles on microstrip and antenna design. Eminent experts David M. Pozar and Daniel H. Schaubert guide you through:

Microstrip Antennas The Analysis And Design Of Microstrip Antennas And Arrays

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, has boomed over the last 30 years, and its use has accelerated during the last 5 years AM is a materials-oriented manufacturing technology, and printing resolution versus printing scalability/speed trade-off exists among various types of materials, including polymers, metals, ceramics, glasses, and composite materials Four-dimensional (4D) printing, together with versatile transformation systems, drives researchers to achieve and utilize high dimensional AM Multiple perspectives of the AM of structural materials have been raised and illustrated in this review, including multi-material AM (MMa-AM), multi-modulus AM (MMo-AM), multi-scale AM (MSc-AM), multi-system AM (MSy-AM), multi-dimensional AM (MD-AM), and multi-function AM (MF-AM) The rapid and tremendous development of AM materials and methods offers great potential for structural applications, such as in the aerospace field, the biomedical field, electronic devices, nuclear industry, flexible and wearable devices, soft sensors, actuators, and robotics, jewelry and art decorations, land transportation, underwater devices, and porous structures

Additive manufacturing of structural materials

We present the development of a Ku-band (10-16 GHz) corrugated conical horn antenna using 3-D print technology or stereolithography. The antenna is printed using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a thermoplastic, and then coated with conductive aerosol paint. The designed antenna achieves a measured peak gain of 19.6 dBi at 16 GHz with a 1.92:1 VSWR from 11 to 18 GHz. It is shown that 3-D printing is capable of producing sufficient feature sizes that make operation in the microwave/millimeter-wave (MMW) bands possible.

Development of a Ku-Band Corrugated Conical Horn Using 3-D Print Technology

This article presents the design and development of two all flat panel phased array antennas (PAA) by using emerging 5G Silicon radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) at Ku- and Ka-bands. First, an X-/Ku-band wideband dual circular polarized Transmit (Tx)/Receive (Rx) phased array antenna with the capability of scanning (±45°) is presented. The frequency of operation is centered around 12.5 GHz within the X/Ku-Bands (3dB Axial Ratio (AR) bandwidth at broadside = 32%). The array has 16-elements with a $4\times 4$ lattice arrangement. This array utilizes a nested sequential rotation architecture, which enhances the axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. Secondly, a dual slant linear polarized (±45°) transmit and receive (T/R) phased array antenna, that operates in the Ka-Band and covers the millimeter-wave 5G band (27.5 – 28.35 GHz) is discussed. Beam scanning range is up to ±60° in both polarizations. In both cases, the array apertures have been integrated with an active beamforming networks (BFN) utilizing 5G silicon Tx/Rx beamformer RFIC chips. Measured and simulated performance results agree reasonably well in both cases. These arrays are scalable to larger size arrays to provide higher gain for applications like satellite communications (SATCOM) and 5G communications.

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Development of Flat Panel Active Phased Array Antennas Using 5G Silicon RFICs at Ku - and Ka -Bands

This communication presents for the first time a 16-element planar X-band bidirectional antenna array for beamforming applications. The planar (2D) antenna array is comprised of planar polygon slot antenna elements that utilize a metamaterial inspired reactive coupling element. Simulation and measurement results are presented for both a single antenna element and a 16-element planar array, which resides on a Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) substrate. Successful comparison between measured and simulated results verifies that the single antenna element achieves a 10 dB return loss bandwidth of 17.5% and the planar antenna array achieves a 10 dB return loss bandwidth of 25% both at a center frequency of approximately 11 GHz. The measured gain of the planar antenna array is more than 14.5 dBi with an efficiency of 65%. The overall size of the planar antenna array is 3.3λ° × 3.6λ° × 0.0093λ° at 11 GHz.

A Bidirectional Microstrip X-Band Antenna Array on Liquid Crystal Polymer for Beamforming Applications

A novel $W$ -band left-hand circular polarized (LHCP) cylindrical waveguide feed horn antenna is proposed. The proposed antenna features an inbuilt polarizer structure and a single side-fed linear polarized input to offer symmetric LHCP radiation pattern. The internal polarizer structure consists of nine pairs of circular cavities to generate a circularly polarized wave, eliminating the need for an orthomode transducer or a complex septum. The side-fed horn reduces the overall length by eliminating the rectangular to circular waveguide transition. The proposed horn antenna’s electrical dimension is $7.2\lambda \times 3.9\lambda \times 1.4\lambda $ at 84 GHz. The antenna has impedance matching ( $S_{11}$ below −15 dB) and axial ratio below 1.2 dB from 79.5 to 88 GHz. The horn is used as a feed source for an offset parabolic reflector of 10 cm diameter and small $f/D$ ratio 0.25, which can fit inside a CubeSat. The reflector antenna provides the simulated right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) directivity of 36.6 dBic at 86 GHz with spillover loss of 0.83 dB. The feed reflector assembly is also simulated with the complete aluminum CubeSat chassis. The measurement of the prototyped feed horn and the offset parabolic reflector antenna validates the analysis and simulation results.

A Circular Polarized Feed Horn With Inbuilt Polarizer for Offset Reflector Antenna for $W$ -Band CubeSat Applications

We propose a novel series-fed circularly polarized (CP) traveling-wave antenna known as the “Butterfly” antenna suitable for operation at the millimeter-wave frequencies. The Butterfly unit-cell consists of a sequentially rotated series-fed linear array of four microstrip patch antennas. The proposed CP Butterfly structure offers low cross-polarization radiation and wide axial ratio (AR) beamwidth. A periodic leaky-wave antenna (LWA) analysis provides insights into the radiation characteristics of the Butterfly series-fed linear array antenna, which is validated by the full-wave electromagnetic simulations. The open-stopband (OSB) is suppressed in the broadside direction due to the cancellation of the internal reflections within each cell of the sequential-phase fed linear array. The measured and the simulated AR, radiation patterns, and gain are presented for the broadside radiation of the parallel–series fed $8\,\,\times24$ and $32\times24$ planar array antenna at 86 GHz. The average measured 3 dB gain beamwidths are 9.5° and 2.9° along the $\phi = 0^{\circ }$ plane of the $8\,\,\times24$ and $32\times24$ planar array antenna, respectively.

Jia-Chi Samuel Chieh

Papers

Development of a Ku-Band Corrugated Conical Horn Using 3-D Print Technology

Development of Flat Panel Active Phased Array Antennas Using 5G Silicon RFICs at Ku - and Ka -Bands

A Bidirectional Microstrip X-Band Antenna Array on Liquid Crystal Polymer for Beamforming Applications

A Circular Polarized Feed Horn With Inbuilt Polarizer for Offset Reflector Antenna for $W$ -Band CubeSat Applications

A High Gain Series-Fed Circularly Polarized Traveling-Wave Antenna at W -Band Using a New Butterfly Radiating Element