10-15 July 2022 • Denver, Colorado, USA

IEEE AP-S/URSI 2022

10-15 July 2022 • Denver, Colorado, USA

Technology Demonstrations

Tuesday July 12 Wednesday July 13 Thursday July 14
09:00 - 09:45 TMYTEK Keysight
10:00 - 10:45 Lockheed Martin 3DFortify L3Harris
11:00 - 11:45 Ohmega/Ticer Ansys WIPL-D
13:30 - 15:15 Mathworks Altair 3DFortify
15:15 - 16:00 Altair

Ansys

Ansys Electronics Desktop for Improved Automotive Radar Simulations
Wednesday 11:00 - 11:45

The Ansys Electronics Desktop enables integration of design at a variety of scales, from the design of individual antennas using FEM, to an electrically huge radar scene using the SBR+ solver. This presentation follows the design of an automotive rage-doppler radar module. The design and analysis of the antennas in the full-wave solvers is shown along with the performance of the radar module in a dynamic scene with other vehicles. Emphasis is given to the latest features that allow significantly faster simulations without compromising on the trusted accuracy expected from Ansys' solvers.

Carlos Mulero Hernández   carlos.mulerohernandez@ansys.com

Ticer Technologies

SWaP Applications for Thin Film Embedded Resistor Technology
Tuesday 11:00 - 11:45

Thin film Embedded Resistor Technology is widely used across high reliability mission critical applications for power dividers / combiners, attenuators, pull up/pull down, termination, heating elements, and frequency selective surfaces. The reduction in EMI, crosstalk and parasitic interference, elimination of solder joints, and overall SWaP benefits will be discussed along with unique hardware demonstrations. Quantic Ohmega and Quantic Ticer manufacture thin film embedded resistor foils under the brand names OhmegaPly® and TCR®.

Lisa Wilhelm, Tom Sleasman, Lance Riley   lriley@ticertechnologies.com

Altair

Antenna Design and Optimization Using Machine Learning
Tuesday 15:15 - 16:00

Wireless communications have become the ubiquitous wide-ranging applications. Antennas are critical part of any wireless system for maximizing efficiency and data rates. Machine learning is a method of data analysis that automates analytical model building. Antennas are becoming more and more complex each day with increase in demand for their use in variety of devices (smart phones, autonomous driving to mention a couple); antenna designers can take advantage of machine learning to generate trained models for their physical antenna designs and perform fast and intelligent optimization on these trained models. Using the trained models, different optimization algorithms and goals can be run quickly, in seconds, for comparison of different designs. This talk presents the process of fast and intelligent optimization by Design Exploration and machine learning. Examples to showcase the advantages of using machine learning for antenna design and optimization will be presented.

Jaehoon Kim and C.J. Reddy   cjreddy@altair.com

Characteristic Mode Analysis (CMA) for Antenna Design
Wednesday 13:30 - 15:15

Abstract: Characteristic Mode Analysis (CMA) enables a systematic approach to antenna design and antenna placement. The approach is based on insight in the fundamental resonance characteristics of antenna geometries and of the structures on which they are mounted. This insight aids in choosing the locations of the excitations on the antenna and of the antennas on the platform. Furthermore, knowledge of the coupling between excitations and modes enables the design engineer to synthesize the desired antenna pattern by exciting a linear combination of modal patterns. Applicability of CMA to antenna design with examples will be presented.

C.J. Reddy   cjreddy@altair.com

TMY TECHNOLOGY INC.

Upgrade Chamber to Millimeter-wave Testbed
Tuesday 09:00 - 09:45

This demonstration will present the capabilities of mmWave antenna testing, including

  1. A ready-to-use testbed capable of extending a single RF source to 16 channels for a multiple-element array antenna test. The hardware and software integrated intuitive control GUI provides the independent channel on/off, gain and phase setting for flexible array antenna configuration.
  2. A chamber-optimized test fixture that embeds the antenna testbed and extended antenna socket, this well-calibrated full test setup provides the quick and precise measurement. The adjustable clamp helps to sit the various form factor of the phased array antenna. Moreover, the customized holder is designed to secure the fixture on the turntable and the chamber rotator.

Ethan Lin, TMYTEK vice president   ariel_chiang@tmytek.com

The MathWorks Inc.

Antenna and array design with MATLAB Antenna Toolbox
Tuesday 13:30 - 14:15

From this demo you will learn how to design Printed Circuit Board (PCB) antennas by specifying arbitrary metal-dielectric layers, solid feed/via models, and connector types. The workflow starts by defining the arbitrary geometric shape of your metal layers or, to further speed up the design process, by using the antenna catalog and the Antenna Designer app, or even by importing a photo of an existing antenna.

We will accurately analyze the antenna, including filters, microstrip lines, and other passive structures using the full wave Method of Moments. In just a few seconds, we will visualize and interactively inspect the antenna impedance, current, and radiation pattern.

By rapidly iterating on the antenna's geometrical and electrical properties, we can explore alternatives until meeting the design requirements. Last, advanced meshing control will allow us to accurately model and rapidly simulate arbitrary structures.

We will conclude by generating the set of manufacturing files - collectively known as 'Gerber files' - used to fabricate PCB antennas. You will see how to prototype and fabricate antennas using a customizable library of RF connectors and available PCB manufacturing services.

Vishwanath Iyer   viyer@mathworks.com

Keysight

Beyond 5G, 6G, and Automotive mmWave Materials Characterization with Latest Commercially Available Solution
Wednesday 09:00 - 09:45

In today’s rapidly growing industries of commercial comms, like 5G and beyond, military communications and autonomous vehicles, there is an increased demand for the highest level of performance. Fundamental to ensure the highest quality performance is the quality of materials used in the development and deployment of these systems. In 5G and 6G wireless or even wired communication solutions, the key trend is to be able to move to higher density data communication systems that have very low, sub 1ms latencies. To achieve this, it means that designers of these systems must go higher in frequency to accommodate wider bandwidths. At the mmWave frequency range, the propagation properties of the materials being used start to play a very critical role in the overall performance.

Materials property is a last place to think that is the cause or limitation of the performance. However, the fact is everything starts with raw materials. Without knowing the reliable mmWave material measurement solutions commercially available today, manufacturers are forced to extrapolate materials data from low frequencies to high frequencies, which can lead to mistakes that can have potentially devastating costs. This presentation will explain why choosing correct method will help shorten product design cycle, share best practices for measurement and test methodology.

Say Phommakesone   kate.hogerty@keysight.com

WIPL-D

Extended limits in full-wave simulations of complex EM structures and scenarios
Thursday 11:00 - 11:45

The constant demand from the high-tech industries to expand the limits of effective EM simulation of complex structures is usually solved by solver hybridization. An alternative approach is implemented in WIPL-D software: a single solver (MoM/SIE based) is used for a huge variety of applications, multiscale problems, and composite scenarios. The limits are extended using numerous advanced techniques: higher-order basis functions, geometry modeling by quad patches, adaptive choice of expansion orders, sophisticated matrix equilibration, special techniques to reduce the computational resources, etc. Finally, Domain Decomposition Solver is introduced to enable solving of electrically extremely large problems, beyond the reach of MoM solver, even on GPU-equipped cluster platforms.

Branko Mrdakovic, Head of R&D, WIPL-D   sladjana.vukajlovic@wipl-d.com

L3Harris Technologies

L3Harris Technologies EMRF Antennas and Opportunities
Thursday 10:00 - 10:45

L3Harris EMRF will be demonstrating some of our broad band sensing antennas and the opportunities at the company for engineers in the Low Observable and antenna design space.

Jason Minnich   jason.minnich@l3harris.com

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Space Systems: Research and Recruiting Overview
Tuesday 10:00 - 10:45

Phased Array Fed Reflectors (PAFRs) are desirable in RF antenna systems because of their high gain, however they require mechanical gimballing to compensate for the limited electronic scan volume that hinders swath. State of the art Electronically Scanned Array (ESA) solutions can address demanding link performance, capacity, and data rates using multiple agile analog beams, but they do so at a premium size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). Especially for wide field of view (FOV) millimeter Wave (mmW) frequencies which require larger sized ESAs to close the links. This talk will present an innovative phased array architecture leveraging a ring-focused reflector that improves the scan performance of conventional PAFRs, denoted Wide Angle ESA Fed Reflector (WAEFR). This type of reflector architecture provides wide band performance with an electronic scan volume increase of up to 20x over traditional PAFRs and can reduce the size of an active ESA by over 40%.

Thomas H. Hand, Lockheed Martin Associate Technical Fellow

3D Fortify

Novel Shaped Antenna and Focusing Structures using 3D Printed Low-Loss Dielectrics and Selective Copper Deposition
Wednesday 10:00 - 10:45

Fortify, provider of advanced composite-photopolymer printers, developed a line of high resolution DLP 3D printers capable of printing high viscosity and filled photopolymers. These combined capabilities allow for the printing of stable, isotropic, low-loss dielectrics for microwave applications in intricate shapes. Additionally, there are options to print using large magnetic fields to align the filler materials if they are magnetic or have a light magnetic coating. A selection of structures for different microwave applications will be presented in this demonstration. Lenses, such as Luneburg, Maxwell fisheye, and phased array beamsteering, are a leading non-metallized application that utilize strong mechanical geometries of varying mix of dielectric and air to create a gradient of effective dielectric constant across devices for enhanced beam manipulation. Conformal antennas are a strong metallized application that will allow antenna engineers to use patch or similar traditionally planar antenna designs on a shaped low-loss dielectric, with discussion of insertion loss based on dielectric loss and ohmic loss components. Additionally, some higher dielectric constant printed ceramic applications will be discussed, such as dielectric resonators and high temperature conformal antennas for high speed or high altitude applications.

Colby Hobart

Printing GRIN Devices - Learn How Fortify Designs and Prints Gradient Refractive Index Devices
Thursday 13:30 - 14:15

Fortify is a 3D Printing machine manufacturer with a unique capability to print high viscosity and particle filled photopolymers using DLP (Digital Light Projection) technology. This capability unlocks the possibility to process high value, low loss dielectric materials for use in a variety of applications including GRIN devices. In this presentation, Phil will provide a detailed overview of Fortify’s DLP printing process and discuss the specific steps in the workflow used to design and print Gradient Refractive Index lenses.

Phil Lambert, Senior Costumer Solutions Engineer