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A Low Cost, Large Bandwidth Patch Antenna design for utilization in Frequency Diverse Arrays
Iqbal, Usama Mozammil
Iqbal, Usama Mozammil
Description
A Master of Science thesis in Electrical Engineering by Usama Mozammil Iqbal entitled, “A Low Cost, Large Bandwidth Patch Antenna design for utilization in Frequency Diverse Arrays”, submitted in June 2023. Thesis advisor is Dr. Lutfi Albasha and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Hasan Mir. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
Low-power Internet of Things (IoT) and wireless charging applications have expedited a rise in Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technologies. WPT methods are divided into two main categories: near-field and far-field. Far-field-based techniques that employ electromagnetic (EM) radiation are seeing increased use in wireless charging appliances due to their improved power transfer efficiency (PTE) over long distances. Beamforming is one of the main signal-focusing techniques to steer signal intensity electrically in the intended direction. This is achieved by placing multiple transmitting/receiving antennas as a phased array and providing each antenna with a signal of the same frequency but a different phase offset. However, beamforming makes it possible to steer the signal as a function of the scanning angle and not the signal’s range. Recently, a range-angle-based beamforming technique called the Frequency Diverse Array (FDA) has been proposed to circumvent the general inefficiencies of WPT. FDA-based systems provide each antenna element with a different phase offset and introduce a slight frequency offset to each element. The resolution of the steered beam can be improved by increasing the number of antenna elements and operating the system with a large frequency bandwidth. This thesis proposes an improved low-profile, high bandwidth inset-fed microstrip patch antenna architecture incorporated as the front end of a WPT transmitter. The antenna was designed to operate at a frequency of 5.8GHz with dimensions of 21mm x 25 mm x 0.8 mm. Inserting parasitic patches and shorting vias improved the antenna’s operational bandwidth from 79MHz to 230MHz. Moreover, the reflection coefficient was also measured to be -34.9 dB, which amounts to almost 98% of the power transferred from the source to the antenna. Finally, the antenna was manufactured through the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) machine in the Electronics lab at the American University of Sharjah at a relatively low cost.