Microwave and mm-Wave Technologies Workgroup

General

The microwave and mm-wave technologies workgroup focuses on RF and MW components and systems design. To accomplish comprehensive designs profound characterization and modeling of the considered devices is required. These techniques require special attention when it comes to integrated design. Therefore, a focus is put onto on-wafer measurements and the corresponding deembedding approaches. Another activity of the workgroup is to quantify and stimulate the performance of transmissions systems. Especially for Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication system Over-The-Air (OTA) measurements are of significant importance. For automotive radar sensors stimulating a desired traffic or interference scenario constitute an important focus of our workgroup.

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Design of components and systems

This research goal includes the design of highly integrated transmit / receive modules and front-end. The devices are optimized to allow a highly linear and efficient operation. At the same time innovative designs enabled by emerging technologies are applied allowing to take new approaches in communication, radar and measurement applications. The development and measurement of antennas and transitions are accomplished in close cooperation with the antennas and filters workgroup.

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Characterization, modeling and compensation of devices

Further research activities are also in the mm-wave technologies area. By characterizing devices and modules up to 110 GHz information on their behavior is gained. On the one hand the focus is put onto complex measurement setups for comprehensive device characterization. On the other hand the information covered in the measurements is incorporated into linear and nonlinear models to predict the corresponding behavior. Having an appropriate description for the behavior of devices and system at hand impairment compensation techniques are applied to enhance their performance.

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On-wafer measurements and deembedding techniques

Performing single-ended or differential measurements on a wafer prober at microwave and mm-wave frequencies require special care to accomplish reproducible measurement results. Using our semi-automatic wafer prober located in a clean room highly defined operation conditions can be provided for these measurements. Custom calibration kits and deembedding structures are developed to shift the measurement planes to the Device Under Test (DUT). Different calibration and deembedding algorithms are applied to cope the various boundary conditions imposed by the considered devices. A research focus is put onto the optimization of RF-probes and launching structures for wideband Printed-Circuit-Board (PCB) probing.

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MIMO-OTA measurements and radar target stimulation

Antennas are one of the key components of transmission setup. In modern communication system the behavior of the antennas, their placement, the RF hardware and the signal processing interact closely. To quantify the behavior of the communication system all required components including the transmission channel must be considered together. These OTA measurements of communication system applying multiple antennas are performed in our anechoic chamber under defined operation conditions. For MIMO systems this measurement provides valuable information, like the Total Radiated Power (TRP) or Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS), of the considered system under test.

For automotive radar sensor testing it is important to mimic a certain traffic scenario even if the sensor is location in a lab environment. A research focus of the workgroup is put on stimulating a desired moving objects (cars, pedestrian, etc.) for this sensor. We develop a system which can operate independently of the radar sensor (which means no information on the type of the operation mode of the sensor is required). Additionally, we focus on object which are located in the vicinity of the radar sensor. We work on this topic together with the radar workgroup.

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Teaching

Microwave and mm-wave technology is covered by the following courses :

Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Engineering (L + PE)
HF-Engineering (L + PE)
Microwave measurement techniques (L, further informations)
Applied Microwave Systems (L, further informations)

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