3-D Cubic Slot Antennas with Application in Wireless Sensor Networks

• Author / Creator

  Shamsinejad, Souren

• Designing cost-effective, easy-to-implement hermetic antenna-package is a big challenge. These devices are particularly advantageous in portable scenarios with size and power restrictions. Their applications include but not limited to military, medical, space, and environmental monitoring where reliable communication among numerous monitoring nodes is crucial for the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) to fulfill requirements of simultaneous data transfer and massive connectivity. In this dissertation, we focused on design, simulation and fabrication of several types of hermetic antenna packages which are especially suitable for low cost mass production due to their compatibility with 3D printing manufacturing. Additionally, by employing conformal slot configuration on cubic structures, we managed to implement a structure with hollow interior space for electronic circuit placement to achieve lowprofile design and keep the outer surface purely conductive to guarantee EMI protection to handle harsh environmental conditions. Proposed configurations are prototyped on cubic structures as their symmetric shapes provide eminent suitability to offer horizontally polarized omnidirectional radiation pattern in the azimuth plane. This enhances the performance of terrestrial communication in wireless senor networks where distribution of angle of arrivals is more concentrated around horizon which is an improvement upon current designs as it has the capability to reduce interference usually experienced by vertically-polarized counterparts. Special wireless sensor network applications covet antennas capable of switching beams between directive and omnidirectional states to handle both terrestrial and sky communications where the former is used in adhoc network among sensory nodes and the latter is used between a hub installed on a drone or a satellite and sensory nodes. To address this need, we also developed a reconfigurable antenna-package which offers both broadside radiation patterns toward top and bottom faces of the cube as well as omnidirectional radiation pattern in the azimuth plane to cover all 3D space around the antenna. In addition, to serve applications where beam forming or MIMO is required for high speed communication or communication in the areas where multipath propagation is dominant, a multiport cubic structure is proposed which can switch between omnidirectional and directional radiation patterns in the azimuth plane. Proposed antennas are the best compromise between solution to ISM-band bandwidth scarcity and adaptability with WSN technologies (Heart and ZigBee).

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Antenna in Package
  • Conformal Slot Antenna
  • 3D Cubic Antenna
  • Reconfigurable Antenna

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R35X25S77

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.