Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology Research Articles

Design and SAR Analysis of an AMC-Integrated Wearable Cavity-Backed SIW Antenna.

Wearable communication technologies necessitate antenna designs that harmonize ergonomic compatibility, reliable performance, and minimal interaction with human tissues. However, high specific absorption rate (SAR) levels, limited radiation efficiency, and challenges in integration with flexible materials have significantly constrained widespread deployment. To address these limitations, this manuscript introduces a novel wearable cavity-backed substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) antenna augmented with artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structures. The proposed architecture is meticulously engineered using diverse textile substrates, including cotton, jeans, and jute, to synergistically integrate SIW and AMC technologies, mitigating body-induced performance degradation while ensuring safety and high radiation efficiency. The proposed design demonstrates significant performance enhancements, achieving SAR reductions to 0.672 W/kg on the spine and 0.341 W/kg on the forelimb for the cotton substrate. Furthermore, the AMC-backed implementation attains ultra-low reflection coefficients, as low as -26.56 dB, alongside a gain improvement of up to 1.37 dB, culminating in a total gain of 7.09 dBi. The impedance bandwidth exceeds the ISM band specifications, spanning 150 MHz (2.3-2.45 GHz). The design maintains remarkable resilience and operational stability under varying conditions, including dynamic bending and proximity to human body models. By substantially suppressing back radiation, enhancing directional gain, and preserving impedance matching, the AMC integration optimally adapts the antenna to body-centric communication scenarios. This study uniquely investigates the dielectric and mechanical properties of textile substrates within the AMC-SIW configuration, emphasizing their practicality for wearable applications. This research sets a precedent for wearable antenna innovation, achieving an unprecedented balance of flexibility, safety, and electromagnetic performance while establishing a foundation for next-generation wearable systems.

Miniaturized Multiband Substrate-Integrated Waveguide Bandpass Filters with Multi-Layer Configuration and High In-Band Isolation

This article presents a multiband bandpass filter structure with an in-line topology based on substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. A multi-layer configuration is employed to achieve circuit miniaturization. By constructing the coupling matrix, the coupling relationships among all resonators are quantitatively characterized, enabling the extraction of the theoretical frequency response and guiding circuit modeling and optimization. We designed and fabricated a third-order tri-band SIW filter and a third-order quad-band SIW filter, achieving a return loss of nearly 20 dB across all passbands. The close agreement between simulated and measured results validates the proposed design model. Additionally, the high in-band isolation of over 40 dB is demonstrated between all adjacent bands, highlighting the potential applicability of this technology in multiband scenarios.

Development of Reconfigurable High-Frequency Devices Using Liquid Crystal in Substrate-Integrated Gap Waveguide Technology

This article presents the theoretical study, numerical simulation and fabrication of a phase shifter and a stub resonator for use in microstrip ridge gap waveguide (MRGW) technology, using a liquid crystal (LC) in the substrate as a reconfigurable material. The phase shifter and the stub resonator are filled with LC, and thanks to the LC’s dielectric anisotropy properties, the phase shift and the resonance response can be easily controlled using an external electric or magnetic bias field. The phase shifter was designed to operate in the range of 10 to 20 GHz, and the resonator was designed to operate in the range of 7.8 to 8.8 GHz. The phase shifter’s responses (including both phase shift and insertion losses), associated with both the parallel and perpendicular permittivity values of the LC, were computed and measured, and then the corresponding figure of merit (FoM) was extracted. The resonator’s frequency responses, associated with both the LC’s parallel and perpendicular permittivity, were computed. The resonator’s frequency responses, which provided different polarization voltages, were measured and compared to the simulation results. All technological issues related to both prototypes are also discussed here. The good agreement between the simulation and measurement results confirm this technology as a viable approach to the practical implementation of these microwave reconfigurable devices.

Chipless RFID Sensor for Measuring Time-Varying Electric Fields Using a Contactless Air-Filled Substrate-Integrated Waveguide Resonator.

This paper presents a wireless chipless resonator-based sensor for measuring the absolute value of an external time-varying electric field. The sensor is developed using contactless air-filled substrate-integrated waveguide (CLAF-SIW) technology. The sensor employs a low-impedance electromagnetic band gap structure to confine the electric field within the sensor's air cavity. The air cavity is loaded with varactor diodes whose reverse bias voltage is modified by the to-be-measured external electric field. Variation in the external electric field results in a variation of the sensor's resonant frequency. The CLAF-SIW sensor offers a high unloaded quality factor, which is required for a long-distance ringback-based interrogation system. A prototype of the proposed sensor is fabricated and tested. It can measure a time-varying external electric field up to 6.9 kV/m, has a sensitivity of 1.86 (kHz)/(V/m), and can be interrogated from a distance of 80 cm. The feasible maximum bandwidth of the external electric field is 25 kHz. The proposed sensor offers a compact planar multilayer structure that can easily be incorporated with a planar antenna and its size can be reduced by selecting a higher operating frequency without an increase in dielectric loss.

Substrate-Integrated Cylindrical Cavity Controlled Hexa-Polarization Flexible Cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna for Ku-Band Applications

A substrate-integrated cylindrical cavity (SICC) fed polarization flexible cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) is presented in this literature. To excite the CDRA, a unique and simple feeding approach based on substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology is demonstrated. This SICC is fed by two 50Ω microstrip lines, oriented orthogonally to each other. The SICC with a cross slot on its top metalized surface and the TM110 mode excites inside it act together to couple energy efficiently to the CDRA. Applying different phase combinations signals at the two input ports of the SICC, the CDRA can radiate in four different orientations linear polarization (LP) (along φ = 0°, 45°, −45°, and 90° ), left-handed circular polarization (LHCP), and right-handed circular polarization (RHCP). A conventional cylindrical dielectric resonator having relative permittivity ϵd = 10 is preferred. Its diameter, height, and cross-slot dimensions are optimized to operate the CDRA over Ku-band with 12% impedance bandwidth, 2-dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 11%, and 3-dB gain bandwidth of 12%. In this operating band, CDRA resonates at three different higher-order modes (HEM32δ, HEM113, and HEM12δ+2) with 8 ± 1.6 dBi/dBic gain for all the polarization states. The measurements of this antenna are conducted using two external phase shifters and one power divider.

A stable high-gain cavity-stacked antenna array with compact high-order mode fed for W-band applications

This paper presents a W-band stable high gain 2 × 2 cavity-backed slot antenna array fed by compact high-order mode substrate-integrated cavity (SIC) with substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. The antenna element incorporates a 2 × 2 subarray of cross-shaped slots, excited by a high-order mode (TE220) SIC, ensuring uniform amplitude and balanced phase to achieve stable high-gain and high efficiency. Moreover, an additional SIW cavity is stacked above the 2 × 2 cross-shaped slots, incorporating a rectangular slot etched on the surface of the SIW cavity for radiation to further enhance the gain. This novel architecture yields a gain enhancement of 2.6 dBi compared to the traditional unstacked SIW cavity antenna. A prototype antenna array, consisting of 2 × 2 radiation elements and a low-loss 1-to-4 SIW power divider integrated with waveguide (WG) to SIW transition, is designed and fabricated in standard PCB technology. The measured results exhibit a −10 dB impedance bandwidth range from 91 to 97 GHz, a peak gain of 18.5 dBi, and a peak aperture efficiency of up to 78 %.

Design and Development of Dual Band Millimeter Wave Substrate Integrated Waveguide Antenna Array

Abstract New communication paradigms have emerged to make better use of the available wireless spectrum due to its scarcity. Millimeter wave high-frequency spectrum could offer a viable solution to the problem of spectrum scarcity. Millimeter wave devices and antennas are becoming increasingly popular and are used in a wide variety of applications and planned Fifth Generation (5G) wireless communication networks. In this work, we develop a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) based antenna array and millimeter-wave feeding network with the aim of achieving optimal performance. A microstrip array antenna is developed for use at millimeter wave frequencies of 28 GHz and 38 GHz. Next, an SIW array antenna will be created. For high-frequency uses, SIW technology excels due to its low loss, easy integration and high quality factor. The two unequal longitudinal slots in a slotted SIW antenna cause the structure to resonate at 28 GHz and 38 GHz. The SIW structure is fabricated by making two parallel rows of metallic vias, carefully determined through sizes to ensure minimal internal losses. A microstrip line that transitions into a SIW feeds into the proposed layout. In this paper, the authors investigate the design and construction of an integrated waveguide antenna array for use at dual millimeter-wave frequencies.

Contactless AF-SIW phase shifters based on periodic structures at mmWaves

This document presents different phase shifter designs implemented in contactless air-filled substrate-integrated waveguide (CLAF-SIW) technology. The phase shifters are based on unit cells that avoid leakage losses in the assembled layers and produce the desired phase shift along the waveguide. The unit cells are represented by waveguides whose lateral walls have double-mushroom structures, and phase-shifting elements are in their propagation zone. The proposed phase-shifting elements are integrated cavities, integrated cavities with patches, and integrated cavities with mushroom-like patches. Transitions are needed to match impedances between the waveguides loaded with phase-shifting elements and a reference CLAF-SIW. Other transitions are designed to measure the prototypes, from coplanar waveguide to SIW and SIW to CLAF-SIW. Finally, some prototypes are manufactured to provide an experimental validation of the proposed phase-shifting elements. Good agreement is obtained between the simulated and measured results for all the CLAF-SIW phase shifters in the frequency range between 30 and 50 GHz.

2D leaky-wave antenna with controlled direction of radiation in the azimuthal plane

Abstract This paper presents a two-dimensional (2D) metasurface antenna array composed of mushroom cells coupled by thin slots in the top metallization. The antenna is fed through power dividers designed in substrate-integrated waveguide technology. The antenna structure is therefore designed in a fully up-to-date integrated version. The array shows beam steering in the azimuthal plane controlled by signal amplitudes fed into particular ports at the edges of the matrix. The main advantage of this antenna is no need to use phase shifters applied in standard 2D antenna arrays. Two antenna versions have been designed, fabricated, and experimentally tested. The beam can be steered within 360° (90°) in azimuth. The steering of the beam in elevation from backward to forward directions within 40° is done by changing frequency from 21 up to 23.8 GHz. This interval is reduced to 30° by exciting the antenna simultaneously at two adjacent ports at the same amplitude.

SIW based in-phase Gysel equal power divider for X-band application

This article presents a novel approach to designing fixed-width Gysel equal power divider (PD) in Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. Since the width and impedance of SIW are functions of its cut-off frequency, therefore, conventional Gysel PD design equations become non-applicable in SIW technology. Keeping this constraint, dependency of SIW line widths on operating frequency, novel design equations for the equal Gysel PD are derived for the fixed width line. Based on the derived equations, a circuit model of Gysel PD is developed, and the results are presented at 10 GHz. A simulation analysis of the proposed PD in SIW technology is carried out to support the theoretical analysis. Further, a prototype of the device is fabricated, and measurements have been done. From the experimental results, the reflection coefficients of all the ports are better than 15 dB, and isolation is better than 25 dB for the entire frequency band 9.5 to 10.5 GHz. The insertion loss varies between 1.88 to 3.28 dB in the operating band.

A novel 4 × 4 butler matrix with continuously tunable phase covering 360° range and application for 1‐D and 2‐D beam scanning array

AbstractA novel 4 × 4 Butler Matrix (BM) with continuously tunable phase covering phase range from −180° to 180° is proposed using substrate integrated waveguide technology. The proposed BM consists of two H‐plane hybrid couplers, two E‐plane hybrid couplers and four 180° tunable phase shifters. With this simple configuration, the proposed BM can realise a continuously tunable progressive phase difference from −180° to 180° in a one‐dimensional (1‐D) or two‐dimensional (2‐D) form. For demonstration, the proposed BM has been fabricated to feed a 1 × 4 or 2 × 2 broadband microstrip antenna arrays. The fabricated prototype has a 16.7% fractional impendence bandwidth centred at 6 GHz. The measured pattern for the 1‐D array showed a continuous beam scanning range from −39° to 39° in H‐Plane, while the measured radiation patterns for the 2‐D array showed continuous beam range from −27° to 30° in elevation and 0°–180° in azimuth. The measurement results were in good agreement with the simulation results.

Differential Sensors in Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology Loaded With Complementary Split-Ring Resonators for Liquid Characterization

Differential Sensors in Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology Loaded With Complementary Split-Ring Resonators for Liquid Characterization

A SIW Based Leaky Wave Antenna for Aerospace Applications in X Band

In the rapidly advancing field of aerospace communication and radar systems, the demand for high performance antennas operating in the X-band frequency range has increased significantly. For high speed communication, precise navigation, and accurate detection the antenna in X band is required. In this paper, the design and analysis of a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based antenna for aerospace applications operating at a frequency of 10.5 GHz. The proposed antenna design integrates the benefits of SIW technology, such as low loss, compact size, and compatibility with planar fabrication techniques, making it suitable for space-constrained aerospace platforms. The antenna had gain of 9.34 dBi, s11 of design is -28.3 at 10.5 GHz. The radiation pattern is approximately omnidirectional.

Wideband and Highly Selective BandPass Filter Using Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology for Ku-Band Applications

A new compact design of bandpass filter using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed and analyzed in this paper. It offers good in-band return loss, low insertion loss, wide passband, and high stopband attenuation. The filtering response is achieved by loading a couple of inverted tuning fork-shaped defected ground structures (DGS) on the bottom of the SIW cavity. DGS is utilized to enhance the upper stopband performance. To validate, the filter is fabricated using Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 with 0.508 mm thickness and tested. The filter has a center frequency of 15.44 GHz with 19% fractional bandwidth (FBW). The return loss is more than 20 dB and the insertion loss is about 1.2 dB. It finds its application in Ku band satellite communication.

Simple and Easily Connectable Transition from Empty Substrate-Integrated Waveguide to a 3D Printed Rectangular Waveguide

3D printing is one of the most promising manufacturing methods in the most developed technological fields, including microwave hardware fabrication. On the other hand, the well-known manufacturing methods of planar substrate integrated circuits allow high-quality prototypes to be made at low cost and with mass production capabilities. The combination of both manufacturing methods, 2D or 2.5D (substrate integrated circuits) and 3D (3D printed structures), will allow us to take advantage of the main strengths of each technology and minimise disadvantages. In this article, for the first time, a transition structure between the Empty Substrate-Integrated Waveguide (ESIW) technology—a planar waveguide integrated on a printed circuit board—and a standard rectangular waveguide manufactured by 3D printing is proposed. This transition will make it possible to combine planar circuits with 3D structures, thus taking advantage of the benefits of both types of technologies. The fabricated prototype presents low losses (0.6 dB for the transmission coefficient and 15 dB for reflection coefficient), good electrical response (very flat), and simultaneously good mechanical stability and robustness to manufacturing and assembly errors. The proposed design for this transition piece is easily realisable for a wide range of affordable 3D printers. Repeatability is guaranteed and the proposed transition allows us to combine different SIC structures to 3D printed circuits. Hence, this transition will enable advancements in the fabrication of microwave devices, particularly with regard to satellite communications.

Textile Antenna Sensor in SIW Technology for Liquid Characterization.

This study showcases the creation of an innovative textile antenna sensor that utilizes a resonant cavity for the purpose of liquid characterization. The cavity is based on circular substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. A hole is created in the middle of the structure where a pipe is used to inject the liquid under test. The pipe is covered by a metal sheath to enhance the electromagnetic field's penetration of the tube, thus increasing the device's sensitivity. The resonance frequency of the proposed system is altered when the liquid under test is inserted into the sensitive area of the structure. The sensing of the liquid is achieved by the measurement of its dielectric properties via the perturbation of the electric fields in the SIW configuration. The S11 measurement enables the extraction of the electromagnetic properties of the liquid injected into the pipe. Specifically, the dielectric constant of the liquid is determined by observing the resonance frequency shift relative to that of an air-filled pipe. The loss tangent of the liquid is extracted by comparing the variation in the quality factor with that of an air-filled pipe after eliminating the inherent losses of the structure. The proposed SIW antenna sensor demonstrates a high sensitivity of 0.7 GHz/Δεr corresponding to a dielectric constant range from 4 to 72. To the best of our knowledge, this article presents for the first time the ability of a fully textile SIW cavity antenna-based sensor to characterize the dielectric properties of a liquid under test and emphasizes its differentiating features compared to PCB-based designs. The unique attributes of the textile-based antenna stem from its flexibility, conformability, and compatibility with various liquids.

Compact SIW-Based Self-Quadruplexing Antenna for Microwave and Mm-Wave Communications

A compact self-quadruplexing antenna is presented, using substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) technology and operating at 5.8, 7.4, 28, and 38 GHz. The design process is based on bisecting diagonally a square cavity into two triangles to obtain two HMSIW cavities. The right-upper corner of the structure is separated by slots to incorporate mm-wave frequencies. By utilizing five capacitive slots, independent frequency tuning in the operating frequency bands is achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most compact quadruplexing antenna in the literature that operates at both mm-wave and microwave frequencies, and it has the best isolation between ports. The size of the antenna is 0.25 λg2 and the isolation between ports is less than -26 dB. A prototype of the antenna is fabricated and measured, showing a good agreement with the simulations, and therefore confirming the design approach.

Millimeter-Wave Ferrite Circulator Integrated on Gap Waveguide Technology

In this work, a simplified analysis with a low dielectric-filled <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Ka$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -band Y-junction circulator is designed and fabricated for the first time based on substrate-integrated gap waveguide (SIGW) technology. A new design equation is tailored based on a low dielectric filling considering the effect of fringing fields around the ferrite disk. The proposed circulator covers a wide frequency range with a good return loss and isolation at the center frequency. The proposed circulator can be incorporated with <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Ka$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -band satellites and radars in the millimeter-wave range.

An E‐plane horn antenna fed with E‐plane Tee junction conceptualized by SIW technology

AbstractA novel E‐plane horn antenna fed with E‐plane Tee junction, conceptualized using the substrateintegrated waveguide (SIW) technology is introduced and investigated. Conventional SIW‐inspired horn designs are mostly limited to H‐plane sectoral horns, portraying confined radiation along the H‐plane while unconfined, fan‐beam‐shaped radiation along the principal E‐plane. Such radiation characteristics restrict its usage to designs requiring an electric field parallel to the structure and ultimately narrow confined radiation along the principal E‐plane of the embodiment. The proposed design provides a glue‐less solution to designing an E‐plane horn fed by an E‐plane Tee junction, both conceptualized by the SIW technology, having relative ease of fabrication on dual copper clad Printed Circuit Boards. Such a design operates from 17.15 to 18.8 GHz (~9.2% operating bandwidth) with a realized gain greater than 10.5 dBi, making it suitable for applications requiring light‐weighted high‐gain E‐plane sectoral horn antennas.

A Review Paper on Horn Antenna Using SIW Technology

Abstract: In this paper, we review, Micro-strip patch antenna and Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology (SIW). Horn Antennas have become attractive due to their inherent feature of being one of the solutions to many requirements associated with high-frequency bands. This paper presents a comparative study of different horn antennas, their operating frequencies, associated parameters and applications in terms of frequency bands also using the SIW technique, the construction of planar horn antenna is studied at K band and X band frequencies.