The paper proposes a Composite Right/Left Handed double periodic transmission line structure with both inductance and capacitance loaded. The structure exhibits leaky wave radiation and hence can be considered for LWA applications. We have theoretically obtained dispersion characteristics using Singular perturbation method. Also, the radiation efficiency has been obtained for different modulation indices. A novel leaky wave radiation has been obtained below the left handed passband with narrow bandwidth. The proposed structure has been fabricated on FR4 substrate and measured. The simulated and measured results seem to be in good agreement.

Over the last few years, the active and growing interest in Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) technology has stimulated a conspicuous research activity involving design and realization of passive label-type UHF RFID tags customized for specific applications. In most of the literature, presented and discussed tags are prototyped by using either rough-and-ready procedures or photolithography techniques on rigid Printed Circuit Boards. However, for several reasons, such approaches are not the most recommended, in particular they are rather time-consuming and, moreover, they give rise to low quality devices in one case, and to cumbersome and rigid tags in the other. In this work, two alternative prototyping techniques suitable for cost-effective, time-saving and highperformance built-in-lab tags are introduced and discussed. The former is based on the joint use of flexible PCBs and solid ink printers. The latter makes use of a cutting plotter to precisely shape the tag antenna on thin copper sheets. Afterwards, a selection of tags, designed and manufactured by using both traditional and alternative techniques, is rigorously characterized from the electromagnetic point of view in terms of input impedance and whole tag sensitivity by means of appropriate measurement setups. Results are then compared, thus guiding the tag designer towards the most appropriate technique on the basis of specific needs.

An active circuit is described that exhibits the equivalent reactance of a negative inductor. In contrast with previous techniques based on negative impedance converters, the negative inductance is produced by generating an opposing time-varying magnetic flux. The new circuit also enables the inductance to be electronically varied between negative and positive values, can enhance the Q, and defaults to a conventional positive inductor in the event of active component failure. The performance of a prototype with an inductance of -0.344 mH and operating over the frequency range 1-40 kHz is described.

This paper presents a two-probe implementation of microwave interferometry for displacement measurement at an unknown reflection coefficient. Theoretically, the proposed technique gives the exact value of the displacement for reflection coefficients (at the location of the probes) no greater r than 1/√2 and in the general case determines it to a worst-case accuracy of about 4.4% of the operating wavelength. Its experimental verification has demonstrated reasonable measurement accuracy for displacements several times as great as the operating wavelength (in real-time measurements at a free-space wavelength of 3 cm for a peak-to peak vibration amplitude of 15 cm, the maximum error in the determination of the instantaneous relative displacement and the peak-to-peak amplitude was about 3 mm and about 1 mm, respectively).

A novel compact textile antenna with the appearance of a button on clothing for body-centric wireless communications systems (BWCS) is presented. The antenna is placed on a textile substrate and fed by a coaxial line through the ground plane. The operating bandwidth of the antenna has met the requirement of the UWB communication system. The effects of the human body on S₁₁ and S₂₁ are presented and discussed in detail. The proposed antenna has good omni-directional radiation patterns and stable H-plane radiation patterns. The measured results show that the antenna is suitable for BWCS.

In this paper, the experimental validation of a time domain reflectometry (TDR)-based method for pinpointing water leaks in underground metal pipes is presented. The method relies on sensing the local change in the dielectric characteristics of the medium surrounding the leak point. The experimental validation of the method was carried out through measurements performed on a pilot plant (experimental case P1) and through on-the-field measurements performed on two `already-installed pipes', i.e., already operating and connected to the water distribution system (experimental cases P2 and P3). For the pilot plant, different leak conditions were imposed and the corresponding TDR responses were acquired and analyzed. For the onthe-field measurements, TDR measurements were performed on pipes for which a leak-detection crew had preliminarily individuated the possible presence of leaks (through traditional leak-detection methods). Finally, in view of the practical implementation of the proposed TDR-based leak-detection system, a data-processing procedure (which gives an automatic evaluation of the position of the leak) is also presented.

Electromagnetic energy harvesting holds a promising future for energizing low power electronic devices in wireless communication circuits. This article presents an RF energy harvesting system that can harvest energy from the ambient surroundings at the downlink radio frequency range of GSM-900 band. The harvesting system is aimed to provide an alternative source of energy for energizing low power devices. The system design consists of three modules: a single wideband 377 Ω E-shaped patch antenna, a pi matching network and a 7-stage voltage doubler circuit. These three modules were fabricated on a single printed circuit board. The antenna and Pi matching network have been optimized through electromagnetic simulation software, Agilent ADS 2009 environment. The uniqueness of the system lies in the partial ground plane and the alignment of induced electric field for maximum current flow in the antenna that maximizes the captured RF energy. The design and simulation of the voltage doubler circuit were performed using Multisim software. All the three modules were integrated and fabricated on a double sided FR 4 printed circuit board. The DC voltage obtained from the harvester system in the field test at an approximate distance of 50 m from GSM cell tower was 2.9 V. This voltage was enough to power the STLM20 temperature sensor.

A matrix splitting domain decomposition method based on hybrid shell vector element-boundary integral (MSDD-SVE-BI) for three dimensional electromagnetic scattering from multiple conducting bodies coated by thin layer dielectric is proposed. In the framework of domain decomposition, the whole computational domains are divided into a lot of sub-SVE-domains and boundary element domains. For conducting body coated with thin-layer dielectric, the shell vector element is used instead of traditional tetrahedral elements to reduce the number of unknowns. Further, a block Gauss-Seidel type pre-conditioner is applied to attain fast matrix splitting formulation for the matrix connecting surface electric field and surface magnetic field. By this method, only sub-matrix inversion is required in the SVE-BI method, the computational time for connecting matrix can be reduced greatly. Several numerical examples prove the accuracy and efficiency of the present method.

We show that by applying accidental degeneracy, we can obtain a triply-degenerate state at the zone center in the band diagram of two dimensional (2D) photonic crystal. The dispersion near the zone center comprisestwo linear bands and an additional flat band crossing at the same frequency. If this triply-degenerate state is formed by the degeneracy of monopole and dipole excitations, we show that the system can be mapped to an effective medium with permittivity and permeability equal to zero.While "Dirac cone" dispersions can only be meaningfully defined in 2D systems, the notion of a Dirac point can be extended to three dimensional (3D) classical wave systems. We show that a simple cubic photonic crystal composed of core-shell spheres exhibitsa 3D Dirac-like point at the center ofthe Brillouin zone at a finite frequency. Using effective medium theory, we can map our structure to an isotropiczero refractive index material inwhich the effective permittivity and permeability are simultaneously zero at the Dirac-like point frequency (ω_D). The Dirac-like point is six-fold degenerate and is formed by the accidental degeneracy of electric dipole and magnetic dipole excitations, each with three degrees of freedom. We found that 3D Dirac-like pointsat can also be found in simple cubic acoustic wave crystals.Different from the case in the photonic system,the 3D Dirac-like points at \overrightarrow{k}= 0 in acoustic wave systemis four-fold degenerate, and is formed by the accidental degeneracy of dipole and monopole excitations. Using effective medium theory, this acoustic wave system can also be described as a materialwhich hasboth effective mass density and reciprocal of bulk modulus equal to zero at ω_D. For both the photonic and phononic systems, a subset of the bands has linear dispersions near the zone center, and they give rise to equi-frequency surfaces that are spheres with radii proportional to (ω - ω_D).

Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) subgridding schemes can significantly improve efficiency of various electromagnetic circuit simulations. However, numerous subgridding schemes suffer from issues associated with stability, efficiency, and material traverse capability. These issues limit general applicability of FDTD subgridding schemes to realistic problems. Herein, a robust nonuniform subgridding scheme is presented that overcomes those weaknesses. The scheme improves simulation accuracy with the aid of greatly increased stability margin and an optimal interpolation technique. It also improves simulation efficiency by allowing the use of time step factors as close as the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) limit. In addition, latetime stability and general applicability are verified through practical microstrip circuit simulation examples.

The stability and numerical error of the extended four-stages split-step finite-difference time-domain (SS4-FDTD) method including lumped inductors are systematically studied. In particular, three different formulations for the lumped inductor are analyzed: the explicit, the semi-implicit, and the implicit schemes. Then, the numerical stability of the extended SS4-FDTD method is analyzed by using the von Neumann method, and the results show that the proposed method is unconditionally-stable in the semi-implicit and the implicit schemes, whereas it is conditionally stable in the explicit scheme, which its stability is related to both the mesh size and the values of the element. Moreover, the analysis of the numerical error of the extended SS4-FDTD is studied, which is based on the Norton equivalent circuit. Theoretical results show that: 1) the numerical impedance is a pure imaginary for the explicit scheme; 2) the numerical equivalent circuit of the lumped inductor is an inductor in parallel with a resistor for the semi-implicit and implicit schemes. Finally, a simple microstrip circuit including a lumped inductor is simulated to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical results.

We present an application of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) for an automatic and accurate determination of the acoustic and electromagnetic emission (AE and EME) onset times. The onset time information is used to derive the time delays between correlated AE and EME events from rock specimens during laboratory fracture experiments. The observed correlation in time between AE and EME events is consistent with EME release during microcrack growth. Relevant load drops are accompanied by AE bursts, expected to be generated during macrocracks propagation.

A defective Photonic Band Gap device based on dilute nitrides is proposed as a high performance active wavelength filter for wavelength division multiplexing applications. The analyzed structure is made of GaInNAs-GaInAs multi quantum well ridge waveguides in which a geometrical defect in the periodic lattice induces selective transmission spectral regions centered at different wavelengths inside the photonic band gap. The multichannel filter performances are evaluated as a function of both the defect length and the injected current value. The analysis is performed by using proprietary codes, based on the Bidirectional Beam Propagation Method with the Method of Lines introducing the rate equations. Highly selective 11-channel active filter with minimum value of the bandwidth at half-height Δλ = 0.105 nm with gain G = 16.51 dB has been assessed.

A new metamaterial topology is proposed, based on dielectric coated spheres. The effect of the coating is an increased negative permittivity and permeability bandwidth compared with the non-coated spheres. The influence of the dimensional parameters is analyzed, and the relation of each of them with the bandwidth is studied. The theoretical results are confirmed by full wave simulations using CST. A combination of the new topology with wires is used to reach an NRI bandwidth of about 23%. To the knowledge of the authors, to date this is the highest bandwidth reported in literature.

This paper presents a fast technique for the automated design of pseudo-elliptic lters in in-line topology implemented in substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. The proposed method is based on an optimization routine with cost function involving zeros and poles of scattering parameters. To realize transmission zeros in in-line topology, frequency-dependent couplings were used. Such dispersive couplings were implemented as shorted stubs. The design process starts with the generation of a suitable starting point. To this end, an approximation of SIW as a rectangular waveguide is used and a fast electromagnetic solver based on mode-matching technique is utilized (μWave Wizard). The next step is the optimization process of a lter in a full-wave 3D EM simulator Ansoft HFSS. To increase the speed of convergence, a built-in derivative calculation feature was used and zeros and poles and their derivatives with respect to design parameters were extracted using the vector fitting algorithm. Experimental validation of the method is demonstrated by a third-order filter with asymmetric response and a fifth-order filter with two transmission zeros in addition to an asymmetric response. The experimental results show good agreement between the simulated and measured data.

Metasheet structures together with bulk composite dielectric layers can be used for antenna radomes, absorbers, and band gap structures. Transmission (T) and reflection (G) coefficients for a plane wave incident at any angle upon a metasheet embedded in a dielectric layer are considered. These metasheets are either patch-type or an aperture-type, and they can be either single-layered or multi-layered. To calculate T and Γ for a patch-type metasheet, a concise unified matrix approach is derived using the Generalized Sheet Transition Conditions (GSTC). The Babinet duality principle is utilized to get T and G for single-layered aperture-type metasheets (as complementary to the patch-type ones) at an arbitrary angle of incidence. The T-matrix approach is applied to calculate characteristics of multilayered metasheet structures containing a cascade of metasheets and dielectric slabs. In this paper, the minimum distance for neglecting higher-order evanescent mode interactions between the metasheets has been determined. Computed results based on the proposed analytical approach are compared with the fullwave numerical simulations. The analytical results are verified for satisfying the energy balance condition.

A circularly polarized (CP) elliptical-ring slot antenna is proposed. A tapered slot is excited by an L-shaped coupling strip. A good impedance match is obtained, and an excellent CP characteristic is achieved. The antenna has been investigated numerically, and prototype of the presented antenna is fabricated and tested. The measured results show that the antenna has a bandwidth of 37.5% (3.9 GHz-5.7 GHz) for return loss less than -10 dB and 34.7% (3.8 GHz-5.4 GHz) for average axial ratio (AR) less than 3 dB. The proposed antenna provides good CP performance.

A new method to find the Geometrical Optics/Uniform Theory of Diffraction reflection points over Non Uniform Rational B-Splines surfaces is presented. The approach is based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique, and the cost function used to find the reflection points is based on Snell's law. The technique can be used as an alternative to classic minimization techniques in cases where convergence problems arise.

A new framework for target detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is proposed. We focus on the task of locating reflective small regions using scattering centers model and clustering algorithm. Unlike most of the approaches in target detection, we address an algorithm that incorporates total variation filtering and mean shift clustering instead of parameter estimation. Our approach is validated by a series of tests on real SAR images and compared with other target detection algorithms, demonstrating that it configures a novel and efficient method for target-detection purpose.

In this paper, a new dual-band bandpass (BPF) filter with multi-spurious suppression is proposed, which is composed of step-impedance resonators (SIR) and grounded-step-impedance resonators (GSIR). It is shown that the resonant frequencies of GSIR can be obtained similar to SIR. Then, by determining the dimensions of SIR to have a specified resonant frequencies ratio, the dimensions of GSIR can be calculated. It is also shown that the coupling lengths between SIR and GSIR can create several transmissions zeros and can be used to suppress the unwanted higher order resonant frequencies. A third-order filter is designed and fabricated to operate at two WLAN frequencies of 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz. The measured results show a rejection level of 24 dB up to more than 17 GHz (7f₁). Simulation and measurement results are in good agreement with each other.