Advanced Ultra-wideband (UWB) devices for wireless communications and radar

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Ultra wideband (UWB) technology is one of the latest radio-frequency (RF) device technologies to hit the news. The new technology is very promising for future wireless communications and imaging radar applications where high-capacity multiple access and ultra high speed transmission up to several hundreds of Mbps can be implemented. UWB has the potential to make a substantial contribution to the UK economy. However, with the expansion of wireless communications and services, the available RF spectrum is growing scarce. The problem of interference with other services is one which must be solved if the great potential of UWB is to be fully exploited. Filtering technologies are key to controlling the spectrum of RF signals and tackling interference issues. This proposal aims at developing advanced UWB filters for future UWB wireless communications and radar systems.System-on-package (SOP) is a very attractive approach for the development of future UWB RF front-ends, where a high-performance module can be implemented while simultaneously achieving cost and size reduction. To this end, the proposed research will deploy liquid crystal polymer (LCP) that has recently emerged as a new microwave substrate and package material. It has a low loss over a very wide frequency range, near hermetic nature, multilayer capability, and is low cost, and so is ideal for SOP integration. In particular, such a low-cost solution is vital if UWB products are to succeed in the personal consumer market.With this new material a great deal of effort is required on the design and implementation. The proposed research will investigate new design philosophies. Innovative UWB filtering structures that exploit multilayer capability of LCP will be implemented in the light of enabling manufacturing technologies such as laser machining. The reconfigurable UWB filtering sub-system integrating both active and passive components in a single LCP package will be developed.