Blue Sessions - Texas Ballroom
Green Sessions - Hill Country D
Red Sessions - Hill Country C

7:00 A.M. - Registration / Continental Breakfast
8:05 A.M. - Opening Address

DAY 1 - Thursday, September 25, 2008

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
8:10 A.M.
Increased Performance with Antenna Enhancements in 3G & Next-Gen Technology
The adoption of higher order multiple receive diversity in wireless deployments has not been all that encouraging, both at the base stations and the handsets. However, the performance enhancements aimed for the existing and next generation of wireless technologies will surely depend on how best we maximize the reception of the signal in all various possible scenarios. The application of a selective combination of multiple receive diversity, MIMO, beamforming and SDMA techniques will be central to the performance of next generation wireless technologies. This talk will focus on the usage of MIMO, Beamforming and SDMA techniques in HSPA, DO and LTE technologies.
Dr. Rao Yallapragada, Sr. Director, Qualcomm Mobile Broadband

9:15 A.M.
Radio and Antenna – is there such a thing as a perfect match?
The current design philosophy for wireless products involves designing the power amplifier (PA) and low noise amplifier (LNA) to a 50 ohm matching impedance separately from the antenna that is also designed as best as possible over the required frequency bands to match to 50 ohm. However, the convergence of wireless applications into a single device requires the antennas to operate over more frequency bands, thus impacting the performance. In addition, the antenna’s impedance is dependent upon the proximity to other conductors and dielectrics. The most common of these for cellular products is the operator’s hand and head, however, wireless data applications has introduced other conductors and dielectrics such as wood and metal tables to the antenna environment. These antenna environmental factors affect the performance through two means, absorption and reflection.
Two common methods to circumvent the reflection effects are to use a load insensitive PA or a continuously tunable antenna. While the load insensitive PA is capable of improved performance into a 4:1 mismatch, a source insensitive LNA for the receiver section of the transceiver is not a standard product offering. The continuously tunable antenna offers ideal tuning over the channel bandwidth in laboratory settings, but at the sacrifice of bill of material (BOM) as well as board real estate cost. In this paper we discuss a compromised solution that requires less circuitry and less board space. A cellular radio-antenna module has been developed that incorporates the PA and front-end module RF electronics inside the antenna.The matching between the antenna and the RF circuitry is optimized for the conditions under which the antenna is loaded. Simple, low-cost ways of adapting this matching circuit to different load conditions will be discussed.
Mike Gaynor, RF Technical Director, Antenova Ltd.

9:15 A.M.
Specifying Anechoic or Reverberant Test Chambers for Wireless Device Performance Measurement
For wireless devices to be successful, they must provide the user with an acceptable and reliable level of performance. The RF physical layer performance of a wireless device is a critical link in overall device or network performance. Two industry standard metrics define the limits of an RF link budget: Total Radiated Power (TRP) is the "talk" metric. Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) is the "listen" metric.  Active antenna pattern measurement techniques are used to determine the transmit or receive radiation pattern of the wireless device under test in order to determine these quantities. Critical to the determination of these transmit and receive characteristics are controlled conditions under which the measurements are made. This paper describes how to specify the design characteristics of anechoic chambers and control systems for these measurements.  Additional consideration is presented for the use of reverberant chamber designs in wireless test and measurement.
Garth D'Abreu, Technical Manager, ETS-Lindgren

9:15 A.M.
Is 2008 the Year of ZigBee?
ZigBee has achieved the critical mass of technical capability, market acceptance, and application developer support required to begin strong accelerated market adoption. As a result, activity in the home control segment and the energy management segment is experiencing very strong growth, and these two segments represent a significant market opportunity for ZigBee-based applications. This session will explore the factors contributing to the current market growth of ZigBee and identify the components required for continued market expansion. Component, software, and module industry participants will be profiled and unique characteristics identified.
Dr. Kirsten West, Principal Analyst, West Technology Research

10:00 A.M. - Exhibit Hall Opens / Networking Break in the Exhibit Hall
10:30 A.M. - Rogers Corp. Demonstration in Exhibit Hall

10:45 A.M.
Is 2 dB Worth $2?
When device manufacturers and engineers are cooking up new designs, exploring all the options for internal components can be a bit costly. But, what is more beneficial for device OEMs? Is it better to spend more money upfront during the initial research phase, which would be substantially more -albeit a one-time cost? Or does it make more sense time wise and financially to invest additional costs throughout the devices’ lifetime? Is 2 dB worth $2?
2dB is a measure of network power and a 2dB improvement means fewer dropped calls, faster file downloads, longer battery life and more network capacity overall. When it comes to the antenna, prices can range from under 50 cents to more than two dollars per item. Multiply that cost by a couple million devices and it is easy to see how the cost can quickly jump. Obviously, the more expensive antenna will have higher performance specifications and will deliver a much more enjoyable experience for the end-user – ultimately increasing the price of the handset. On the flip side, though, the antenna that is less expensive to produce may incur a lifetime of additional costs including additionally required base stations to get the almost the same level of performance, as well as overall network maintenance. This begs the question, is the operator better off with more base stations or better handsets?
Attendees will learn the pros and cons of each choice –spending the money upfront during the initial engineering and manufacturing to create a better handset or constructing more base stations nationwide to compensate for the lack of a quality, high-performance antenna. The presentation will cover:
• How much performance that extra 2 dB can offer
• Pros and cons of each tactic
• Which types of mobile devices need the extra 2 dB and why
• The economic trade-off between spending money upfront for 2 dB or waiting until later to get that 2 dB through network enhancements
Jeff Shamblin, VP of Advanced Technology, Ethertronics

10:45 A.M.
Anlysis of an Anechoic Chamber Designed for Small Wireless Device Measurements
Anechoic chambers are required for the evaluation of wireless and mobile devices. These chambers are designed to minimize errors in the device measurements over the frequency range of interest. The size of the chamber is driven to some extent by the device size, but more importantly it is driven by the lowest frequency of operation. Performance limitations in these chambers are often most prevalent at the lowest frequencies. In order to better evaluate the performance of wireless chambers at these frequencies, ORBIT/FR has developed and thoroughly implemented a detailed analytical procedure for anechoic chambers combining the application of standard commercial software tools and ORBIT/FR in – house analysis capabilities. This procedure not only models the anechoic chamber for a defined absorber layout, but also models the effects of antenna supports, positioners, and other items in these chambers. Field levels throughout the chamber may be calculated for various illuminating antennas, and the data is reduced to summarize chamber reflectivity and test zone illumination statistics. This session will summarize the available capability and show results for chambers capable of measuring wireless devices in accordance with standard specifications.
John Aubin, CTO & VP of Business Development, ORBIT/FR

10:45 A.M.
Antenna Systems for RFID: An Applications Perspective
Blue Vector has been an implementor for RFID solutions for a number of different type of applications. From small deployments to very large footprint deployments, these applications have highlighted a number of practical implications for antenna usage for RFID. This talk will highlight a number of different instances where antenna design impacts the system and the success of an implementation. The goal of the talk is to inform antenna designers about application constraints in the deployment of RFID and their direct implications for antenna design, and suggested design directions that will help the evolving RFID industry.
Dr. Anurag Mendhekar, Founder, Blue Vector

11:30 A.M.
Base Station Antennas: A Look at the Past, Present and Future
With the advent of the cellular era, the base station antenna has become ubiquitous, visible anywhere on the globe where human population exists. Over the years there has been a constant tradeoff between performance and appearance. Operators and communities have grudgingly accepted certain minimum antenna shapes and sizes. Most advancements in base station antenna technology have involved integrating more and more function into the same volume. Antennas continue to look the same but
what goes on inside has improved dramatically.
This presentation will describe the advancements made over the last 20 years, from single port vertically polarized antennas to two port dual polarized antennas to variable beam tilt antennas to dual and triple
band antennas. Recent advancements integrating diplexers, remote electrical tilt, smart bias "T" and low noise amplifiers (LNAs) will be described. Finally, future advancements now in research will be described including transceivers and baseband processing at each element, with only power and a bit stream connected to the antenna.
Topics include the challenges of evolving from a purely passive device to a device with electromechanical and electronic function, compromises in RF performance and the additional considerations when planning and deploying sites.
Stacey Noland, Director, Product Line Management for Antennas, Powerwave Technologies

11:30 A.M.
New Polyolefin Based Laminates for MW Panel Antenna Applications
This presentation will describe the competitive properties of a newly-developed “low-cost” polyolefin based copper-clad laminate for use as a base material for MW printed circuit boards. Polypropylene copolymer performs dielectrically similarly to PTFE – the acknowledged leader in MW substrates. A new generation of polyolefin laminates has a dielectric constant in the range of 2.3 to 3.1 and loss tangent of 0.0010 to 0.0037. By compounding the Polypropylene copolymer with additives and fillers and casting a sheet, then extrusion laminating it to copper foil in a continuous process - a new low loss laminate is now available as a low cost alternative to PTFE laminate. Antenna boards made from these laminates have moderate peel strength, stand manual soldering and have a coefficient of thermal expansion adjusted to application of panel antennas in segments of base stations and customer premises equipment (CPE). Practical design and implementation actions for fighting the drawbacks will be addressed as well.
Valery Ostrovsky, Development Leader for MW Laminates, CLP Industries Ltd.

11:30 A.M.
The Power of Cooperative Wireless Communications
This talk will give a comprehensive overview of cooperative communications (CC), a new technique in which physically separated single-antenna radios coordinate with each other to form a “virtual antenna array” to achieve spatial diversity in multi-path fading channels. The diversity can provide gain to save energy or overcome network partitions, or provide spatial multiplexing, to increase throughput.  CC can benefit any wireless application where there are multiple users within communication range of each other, such that at least one of the users needs to communicate to a more distant point. Applications include wireless cellular, satellite, mesh, ad hoc and sensor networks.
Dr. Mary Ann Ingram, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology

12:15 P.M. - Networking Luncheon in the Dining Hall

1:15 P.M.
Emerging Wireless “Unified Field Theory”
This presentation will discuss the new interoperable environment for 4G to offer real time multimedia, downloaded with the highest Quality of Service (QoS). It will also detail the interoperable/integration of all elements of the wireless network, infrastructure and mobile devices. This is a unified system from NOC, Network Switches, BTS, Tower /Top, to the 4G wireless phone and devices.
Burt Calloway, VP, Air Interface Solutions, KMW Communications, Inc.

1:15 P.M.
Antenna Radomes: Design, Performance & Other Characteristics
This session will discuss design, performance and other characteristics of radomes (dielectric covers) placed over antennas in order to protect them from the environment.  Consider that 100 percent of all aircraft antennas and more than 75 percent of all terrestrial, vehicular and marine antennas are covered with radomes. A poorly designed or specified radome will deteriorate the electrical performance of even the best performing antenna. The effects encompass, but are not limited to, transmission loss resulting in decreased antenna gain, increased antenna noise temperature,  increased antenna side lobe levels, a bore sight error (pointing error) as the signal passes through the dome, and depolarization (folding of the energy from one polarization sense into the orthogonal polarization sense).
Attendees will learn how to specify radomes and receive information regarding basic radome materials, wall constructions (thin wall, multiple half wave walls, and higher order sandwich walls) and the typical electrical performance of various radome types. Specifically, the attendee will learn how the radome impacts the performance of various antenna types. We will also look at embedded and encapsulated antennas which can be considered a type of radome construction.
Dr. Dennis Kozakoff, President & CTO, USDigiComm Corp.

1:15 P.M.
Behind the Scenes of AntennaWeb.org
This session will describe www.AntennaWeb.org, as well as detail the design of the computer program used to predict TV reception on this website as well as the CEA standards that define receiver antenna performance characteristics used by AntennaWeb.org to predict TV reception. It will also cover CEA’s efforts to define a smart antenna that will steer itself automatically to optimize reception.
Dave Wilson, Sr. Director of Technology & Standards, Consumer Electronics Association

2:00 P.M.
Exploiting the Advantages of Differential Feeds for Compact Antennas
This presentation will use the compact quadrifilar antenna to illustrate the many advantages of a differential feed network. The advantages include:
- Good isolation from the ground plane in a handset
- Better radiation pattern properties due to enhanced symmetry
- Robust immunity to hand and body effects
- A novel tuning method that allows simultaneous alignment of center frequency and impedance match (which are not easy to accomplish).  This technique can be applied for tuning active antennas where standard measurement techniques cannot be used to “see” the match.
Measured performance results will be presented and explained.
Dr. Stani Licul, President, Maxtena, Inc.

2:00 P.M.
Cost Optimized RF Materials for Base Station Antenna Power Handling and Efficiency
Arlon has been developing both PTFE/ceramic (CLTE-AT, AD260A, AD300A, TC300) and advanced low-loss composite laminates (GenClad) that are cost optimized for the price sensitive and loss sensitive applications. These applications include: Base Station Antennas, telemetry, satellite radio and automotive radar antenna markets. This talk will review these advancements and bring light to the value they bring to new applications. These advanced materials also have high thermal conductivity and a very low thermal coefficient of dielectric constant that maintains tight impedance and phase over temperature. The materials incorporate low profile copper that is well suited for aggressive PIM requirements, but still withstand the higher temperatures required in advanced applications.  
Jack Frankosky, OEM Business Development, Arlon-MED

2:00 P.M.
Rapid Fire Testing of RFID Antennas and Signaling Schemes
The burgeoning field of RFID tags and sensors requires the ability to test new antenna designs, modulation schemes, and higher carrier frequencies. This talk will present an overview of the Georgia Tech rapid-fire RFID testbed, which is capable of measuring hundreds of RF tags simultaneously.
This testbed generates and measures RF tag signals by emulating the presence of an RF integrated circuit on arbitrary tag antennas. By circumventing custom, iterative RF integrated circuit development, an engineer can now conceive, implement, and test new RFID antennas and protocols with orders-of-magnitude savings in cost and time.
Dr. Greg Durgin, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology

2:45 P.M. - Networking Break in the Exhibit Hall
3:15 P.M. - ETS-Lindgren Demonstration in Exhibit Hall

3:30 P.M.
An Evaluation of Two Emerging Antenna Technologies: Edge Loaded Flexible Patch Antennas and High Impedance Surface Antennas
This session investigates a specific application for which the vast majority of applicable antennas tend to be wire elements, normally configured as dipoles.  These antennas couple into the human body, which acts as an absorber and dramatically reduces the overall efficiency of the antenna system.  This talk considers two new antenna technologies, and assesses their suitability as alternative solutions for this application.
Selex Communications have actively been investigating the properties of a flexible patch antenna which has been loaded along one or more edges, with ceramic materials (edge loaded flexible patches).  This technique, whilst based on two relatively mature technologies, represents an innovative way of combining the two, to enhance the physical properties of the antenna without significantly compromising its RF performance.  The possibility of using flexible materials means this design could have great potential for the application being considered.  For several years, the properties of high impedance surfaces (HiZ surfaces) have been reported in the literature.  HiZ surfaces allow a radiating antenna to be positioned much closer than l/4 in front of a reflecting ground plane. The presence of a reflecting ground plane, and the lower profile offered by high impedance surfaces lend themselves favourably to the field of interest. 
A number of proto-type antenna systems, for both HiZ surfaces and edge loaded flexible patches, have been procured.  These antennas cover a number of frequencies in the range 1 – 3GHz.  This paper discusses the results of a series of initial measurements carried out by Selex Communications, to assess the performance of these proto-type antennas, when compared to a reference antenna. 
David Atkins, Engineering Manager, Selex Communications
Dr. Ed Totten, R&D Team Leader, Selex Communications

3:30 P.M.
Design and Test of Vertical Antennas for a Wireless Network
This talk discusses the design and test of vertical antennas for a 250 to 400 MHz wireless network. For simplicity, the vertical antenna will be a single vertical wire with loading at its base.
The bandwidth trade off between different types of loading will be outlined - LC (parallel inductor and capacitor) network, complementary LC network, Shunt excited, helix. Included in the trade off study will be simulations of the antenna performance using an accurate method of moments code. For each configuration, optimization will be used. Frequency response, 2D plots of gain and polarization versus angle, and 3D plots of vertical and horizontal patterns will be given.  Also, a network will be supplied to match the antenna to the input transmission line.
A test setup will be described which was used to measure the gain of two identical antennas.  It consists of an RF Signal generator with 1KHz modulation, an attenuator feeding the first antenna. Ferrite snap-its are used to quench currents flowing on the outside of coaxial cables . Separated from the first antenna is an identical antenna with another ferrite snap-it. Next is a HP 420A Square Law crystal detector and an HP415E SWR Meter which detects 1 KHz modulation. The entire setup sits on flat aluminum screen which also serves as the ground plane. Two types of RF generator were employed: 1.Third harmonic of a DB Enterprises  TSG-17 RF Signal Generator, 2. Minicircuits ZX95-400-S Single frequency voltage control oscillator. Low loss RG-58 cables are used to interconnect all devices.
Maximum bandwidth of the antenna is achieved for a given SWR  via a special lossy network.  Results from the gain tests will be presented for the PRYME RD-98 VHF/UHF Dualband High Gain antenna,and the C*MET SMA503 144/440MHz 2 Band TX Handy Ant.
Dr. Jerry Glaser, Consultant, Glaser Associates

3:30 P.M.
Printed Silver Antennas - Alternative to Conventional Antennas
This session will detail newly developed unique materials and processes to manufacture Printed Silver Antennas.  These antennas perform equal to conventional technology. This technology allows for extremely fast prototyping, In process design changes and In line tuning.
Steve Dominak, Electrical Engineer, MACtac

4:15 P.M.
A Novel Low-Cost Internal Antenna for Mobile TV, GSM, CDMA and WiMax
A novel low-cost internal antenna has been developed for mobile TVs operating at 470-702 MHz. The return loss is lower than -5 dB with more than 70 percent efficiency and 0.5 dBi maximum gain al lover the band. The overall size of the new antenna is much smaller than other commercially available antennas. It is an unbalanced resonant antenna that does not need baluns, matching circuits or additional ground planes. This new antenna technology can also be used in GSM, CDMA and WiMax. The new GSM / CDMA antenna simultaneously covers the bands 825-960 MHz and 1710-1990 MHz with -10 dB return loss, 2dBi maximum gain and 85 percent efficiency.
Dr. Mohamed Sanad, Founder & CTO, AMANT Antennas

4:15 P.M.
Multiband Miniaturization Antenna Technology in Wireless
Recently, the practical utilization in mobile phone is booming and is rapidly expanding their application scopes, the requirement of cellular communication band need to cover GSM850/GSM900/DCS/PCS/WCDMA in mobile phone application. Auden provides many antennas for mobile phone application. This presentation, we will bring some penta-band antennas have low profile and small size, and easy to design in mobile phone. The presentation will include:
• Penta-band rectangular folded antenna design
• Penta-band triangle folded antenna design
• Multi-band IC package antenna design
• Penta-band antenna design in mobile phone
Dr. Alan Tang, Chief Technical Officer, Auden Corporation

4:15 P.M.
Advanced Computational Tools for Antenna Design and Placement
Recent advances in computational electromagnetic tools made antenna design possible along with integration of antennas on various ground, sea and air platforms. This talk will cover various computational techniques that can be used for antenna designs, and also in-situ analysis of antennas installed on platforms. Full wave techniques such as Method of Moments (MoM), Multilevel Fast Multipole Method (MLFMM) along with asymptotic techniques such as Physical Optics (PO) and Uniform Theory of Diffraction (UTD) will be reviewed.  Following applications using the above techniques will be discussed.
• Antenna design,
• Antenna-platform interaction studies,
• EMI/EMC,
• Bio-electromagnetics,
• RFID system design etc.
A benchmark study of computational resources required by available computational tools for electrically large platforms will be presented.
Dr. CJ Reddy, President & CTO, AppliedEM, Inc.

5:00 P.M. - Cocktail Reception in the Exhibit Hall

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DAY 2 - Friday, September 26, 2008

Blue Sessions - Texas Ballroom
Green Sessions - Hill Country D
Red Sessions - Hill Country C

7:30 A.M. - Registration & Contintneal Breakfast


KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
8:10 A.M.
Standards Will Fuel the Spread of Wireless Network Technologies
Wireless products and technology for sensing and control applications have become a reality. Analysts, technology providers and product integrators agree that widespread adoption of wireless technology is only a matter of time. When will this happen? ... is the question that everyone is asking. Timing of technology adoption is influenced by many factors. Amongst many influencing factors, the ongoing development and acceptance of technology standards is probably the most important one. Product integrators require technology standards because it provides product interoperability, a large body of knowledge and development sources, second sourcing flexibility, etc.
This presentation will describe the different standards, investigage the use cases behind them, and will describe their strengths and limitations. It will also cover the scope and intended use of the leading standards in this space - ZigBee, ISA-100 and Wireless HART. The talk will provide the high-level overview that technology integrators are looking for to start their search for the technology that best meets their needs.
Barry Blount, Director of Business Development, GreenPeak Technologies

9:15 A.M.
Base Station Antennas for Next Generation Cellular Systems
Just as wireless technologies continue to evolve, so too, must base station antenna (BSA) systems in order to meet new requirements. Kevin Linehan, chief technology officer, Base Station Antenna Systems, Andrew Wireless Solutions, will summarize the current state of BSA technology and discuss what to expect from the next generation of BSAs, such as the following:
• Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems, which use several antennas at each end of the radio link. MIMO is now a part of all next generation cellular radio standards such as IEEE 802.16e (WiMAX), long term evolution (LTE), and ultra-mobile broadband (UMB). These systems offer distinct performance advantages over existing single antenna systems, especially in terms of potential system capacity.
• Adaptive Array (AA) technology, which provides dynamic beam steering, offers distinct performance advantages over existing single-column, linear array BSAs, such as a dramatic increase in signal to noise ratio.
Kevin Linehan, Chief Technology Officer, Base Station Antennas, Andrew Wireless Solutions

9:15 A.M.
Performance Analysis of Automotive Antenna Systems: Numerical Simulation and Model Validation
The present article will investigate the analysis of conformal antennas with profiles that do not affect the esthetic structural design of the vehicle as well as non-conformal antennas, both of which have multiple purposes including; radio communication (AM-FM), GPS communication, remote vehicle control, vehicle location and more.
Numerous results [6] (validated by means of comparison among multiple solvers as well as measurement results) will be presented and an effort will be made to provide a certain level of confidence in numerical simulations to enable their full integration in the design workflow.
Enow Tanjong, Application Engineer, CST of America

9:15 A.M.
10 Years Strong: Open Up to Billions of Possibilities with Bluetooth Wireless Technology
This presentation will discuss the newest version of the Bluetooth specification, Bluetooth v. 2.1 + EDR, which supports Near Field Communication (NFC) for a “touch to connect” pairing process.  NFC is just one example of how the Bluetooth SIG has turned Bluetooth technology from a ‘good neighbor’ wireless connection to an umbrella technology, partnering with 802.11, UWB, Wibree and NFC. Additionally, Bluetooth technology has an unprecedented install base and significant consumer awareness, and with the latest version of the technology which includes NFC, Bluetooth technology presents a solution for a secure link to allow for mobile transactions and secure mobile payments.  Among other enhanced features, Bluetooth technology v.2.1+EDR offers secure, simple pairing and improved battery life.  Also discussed during the presentation will be Bluetooth low energy wireless technology  and the SIG’s merge with Nokia’s Wibree forum to create an ultra low power Bluetooth technology, enabling Bluetooth technology to provide wireless connectivity for smaller devices such as watches, sensors and medical devices such as heart rate monitors as well as Bluetooth high speed wireless technology – meeting the high speed demands of synchronizing and transferring large amounts of data as well as enabling high quality video and audio applications for portable devices, multi-media projectors and television sets.
Kevin Keating, Senior US Marketing Manager, Bluetooth SIG

10:00 A.M. - Exhibit Hall Opens / Networking Break in the Exhibit Hall
10:30 A.M. - Haleakala Research & Development Demonstration in Exhibit Hall


10:45 A.M.
Single Structure Antenna Solutions for WWAN and Diversity Applications
Achieving acceptable antenna performance in small devices continues to be a challenge for the designer, with complications introduced by MIMO or Diversity protocols that require co-existence of multiple antennas. To the standard metrics of antenna efficiency, gain, and bandwidth are added requirements for low in-band coupling, high out of band isolation, and low correlation coefficient. This session will feature example performance characteristics of single structure antennas having multiple feedpoints for a variety of platforms and air interfaces.
Dr. Frank Caimi, Chief Technical Officer, SkyCross, Inc.

10:45 A.M.
The AN/TRC-170 Needs a New Antenna: A Call for Ideas / Designs
The U. S. Military family of Tropospheric Scatter Radio Sets AN/TRC-170(V) needs new antennas. These antennas are currently of the reflector type, using vertical and horizontal polarization to support duplex communications. The antennas are subject to repeated moving and setup, location anywhere on earth, transportation by land/sea/air. Antenna and Materials Technology improvements over the past few years may provide new levels of performance, mobility, durability, and reparability over the current models. The proposed presentation will be a call for ideas from companies interested in supplying new antennas for this radio set.
Dr. Doug Moody, ARINC
Randy Spensley, Lead Engineer, ARINC

10:45 A.M.
Replacing Infrared Technology in Consumer Electronics
Today’s Infrared (IR) remote controls are no longer able to keep up with the demands of today’s sophisticated consumer electronics market. A confusing landscape of emerging and projected RF technologies are vying to become the “new” IR replacement.  Most are plagued by problems of cost and complexity, and have proven unreliable or even useless in typical residential environments, due to unavoidable interference from common household electronics. This presentation will discuss why replacement technology for IR – more than 500 million remote controls each year – will undoubtedly be based on wireless radio frequencies (RF).
Bernd Grohmann, Sr. Director of Product Management, Zensys

11:30 A.M.
A Cognitive Antenna for Wireless Applications
Self-Structuring Antenna (SSA) is a cognitive antenna, which dynamically alters its aperture to maximize Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR) in varying RF environments. SSA is a patented technology and is the product of a decade of collaborative R&D effort between Delphi Corporation and Michigan State University. Antenna aperture is made up of antenna elements connected via RF relays, which are turned on and off to seek and maintain the optimum aperture at any given time. A feedback from the device provides a measure of signal quality for the optimizing algorithm, which in turn decides on the switch states. Genetic Algorithm
(GA) has been adopted for its effectiveness in binary optimization problems. The talk will highlight recent prototyping efforts for Laptop
(WiFi) and Wireless Meter Reading (ZigBee) applications. The talk will also outline how this technology could provide relief in meeting high data rate and MIMO requirements in today’s handset designs. Theory and operational principles of the SSA will be illustrated through prototypes and performance data.
Dr. Tayfun Ozdemir, Chief Technical Officer, Monarch Antenna, Inc.

11:30 A.M.
A Tunable WiMAX Antenna Chip
There is no uniform global licensed spectrum for WiMax, although the WiMax Forum has published three licensed spectrum profiles: 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz. It is very difficult to design a broadband low-profile antenna in order to cover two or more bandwidths used by WiMax. In this presentation, a tunable WiMax chip antenna was design to covet the 2.5 – 3.5 frequency range. The size of the antenna is 9 by 2.5 by 1mm. It is mounted on a ground plane with the size 40 by 20mm. By using a BST varactor, a matching network could tune the bandwidth from (2.4, 3.3) to (3.0, 3.6) with the Return Loss lower than -10dB. Radiation pattern was also measured to show the gain variation when the BST capacitance was changed.
Dr. Nan Ni, RF Engineer, AgileRF

12:15 P.M. - Luncheon in the Dining Hall

1:15 P.M.
Feature Selected Validation and Verification of Computational Electromagnetic Code Predictions Using Infrared Thermal Images of EM Fields
An infrared (IR) thermal measurement technique is presented to independently validate and verify (V&V) numerical codes used for computational electromagnetic (CEM) field predictions using Feature Selected Validation & Verification (FSVV) routines. The thermal technique is applied in this session to validate and verify new aircraft scattering codes.  IR thermal images (temperature distributions) of the electromagnetic (EM) field scattered from a simple, canonical aircraft are measured for selected microwave frequencies, angles-of-incidence, and polarizations.  Using a color-temperature table calibrated at NIST/Boulder, the temperature distributions are converted into equivalent field-intensity distributions of the scattered EM field being measured. These IR thermal images (thermograms) are compared to the predicted images (contour plots or relief maps) of the scattered fields calculated with a selected CEM simulation code over the same measurement plane to validate and verify that the field patterns and the intensity levels are correct. In addition, the measured field can be visualized with the IR thermogram images. A “picture-to-picture” correlation code is used to compare the predicted and measured results and to assess and score their similarities. This is the first step in a progressive approach using a suite of CEM codes to compare predicted results of more sophisticated aircraft geometries with the measured results from the IR thermograms to develop confidence in the complementary measurement and simulation methods.
Dr. John Norgard, United States Air Force

1:15 P.M.
Advances in Antenna Design for Circuit Designers
RF Designers today, need an EDA toolset that helps them cope with the challenges of high frequency, highly integrated and highly outsourced design work.
High frequency and small scale integration are causing signal integrity problems. This implies the need to simulate the Electromagnetic effects of 3D elements such as bondwires and dielectric bricks together with the circuit. Increased outsourcing as we see in the Wireless appliance industry has seriously increased quality risks. This presentation will show how those can be reduced if the various components such as the antenna, the circuit and the human manipulation are simulated in the same environment.
Dr. Erwin De Baetselier, Program Manager, AMDS Product, Agilent EEsof EDA

2:00 P.M.
Low Profile Internal PDA 6 Band Antenna
The attendee will be presented with an internal antenna for PDAs covering 6 bands: GPS plus 5 band GSM/GPRS/UMTS (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz and 2100MHz).
This low profile antenna, less than 1mm thick, is making it possible for a PDA to be fully functional everywhere around the world on any network / operator. The PDA using this antenna supports the latest standards for high speed internet download over the Wide Area Networks plus WIFI and Bluetooth, so this new design has been successfull in dealing with the coexistence problems between all of these communication standards.
Laurian Petru Chirila, Sr. RF Specialist, Psion Teklogix, Inc.

2:00 P.M.
Ku Band Beam Steering Phase Array Antenna
In this presentation, a Ku band phase array antenna is realized by integrating patch antennas, analog phase shifters and the control circuits through a multiple layered board. The voltage control analog phase shifters are designed using 4-stage all pass filters based on tunable capacitors which offer phase shift and insertion loss smaller than 8 dB. Tunable capacitors are built by the thin film ferroelectric materials BST (BaxSr1-xTi3) which has very high dielectric constant and can make the capacitor size pretty small. The antenna is designed on a thicker (1.58 mm) and low dielectric(2.2) material to maximize the bandwidth which is from 11.9 GHz to 14.1GHz. On the other hand, since the RF components are crowded in the feeding network, the network is built on a thin (0.508 mm) and higher dielectric (10.2) constant board to reduce the size. The beam steering function will also be detailed in this presentation when every single element is biased by different dc voltages.
Tim Chen, RF Design Engineer, Agile RF

2:45 P.M. - Conference Conclusion