(2021) Design of Antenna Array and Data Streaming Platform for Low-Cost Smart Antenna Systems
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Tan, Moh Chuan (2021) Design of antenna array and data streaming platform for low-cost smart antenna systems. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/82055/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Design of Antenna Array and Data Streaming Platform for Low-Cost Smart Antenna Systems Tan Moh Chuan Matriculation Number: 2303745 Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Engineering College of Science and Engineering University of Glasgow January 2021 Abstract The wide range of wireless infrastructures such as cellular base stations, wireless hotspots, roadside infrastructures, and wireless mobile infrastructures have been increasing rapidly over the past decades. In the transportation sector, wireless technology refreshes require constantly introducing newer wireless standards into the existing wireless infrastructure. Different wireless standards are expected to co-exist, and the air space congestion worsens if the wireless devices are operating in different wireless standards, where collision avoidance and transmission time synchronisation become complex and almost impossible. Huge challenges are expected such as operation constraints, cross-system interference, and air space congestion. Future proof and scalable smart wireless infrastructures are crucial to harmonise the un-coordinated wireless infrastructures and improve the performance, reliability, and availably of the wireless networks. This thesis presents the detailed design of a novel pre-configurable smart antenna system and its sub-system including antenna element, antenna array, and radio frequency (RF) frontend. Three types of 90° beamforming antenna array (with low, middle and high gain) were designed, simulated, and experimentally evaluated. The RF frontend module or transmit and receive (T/R) module was designed and fabricated. The performance of the T/R module was characterised and calibrated using the recursive calibration method, and drastic sidelobe level (SLL) improvement was achieved using the amplitude distribution technique. Finally, the antenna arrays and T/R modules are integrated into the pre-configurable smart antenna system, the beam steering performance is experimentally evaluated and presented in this thesis. With the combination of practical know-how and theoretical estimation, the thesis highlights how the modern smart antenna techniques that support most cutting-edge wireless technology can be adopted into the existing infrastructure with minimum distraction to the existing systems. This is in line with the global Smart City initiative, where a huge number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices being wired, or wireless are expected to work harmoniously in the same premises. The concept of the pre-configurable smart antenna system presented in this thesis is set to deliver a future-proof and highly scalable and sustainable infrastructure in the transportation market. i Declaration Name: Tan Moh Chuan Matriculation Number: 2303745 With the exception of chapters 1 to 3 which contain introductory material and literature review, chapters 4 to 7 already been published, all works in this thesis were carried out by the author unless otherwise explicitly stated. Permission to use has been granted from RFNet Technologies Pte Ltd to use the training materials from the company as shown in Table 2.2 Deployment cost for the roadside infrastructure covering 10 km distance (in US$). Permission letter can be found in Appendix A: Permission Request Form. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No copy, distribution, and re-production are permitted without prior agreement from the author. The author declares that this thesis does not include work forming part of a thesis presented successfully for another degree, and the thesis has been produced in accordance with the University of Glasgow’s Code of Good Practice in Research. Signature: Date: ii Acknowledgments The author would like to acknowledge and express sincere appreciation to the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Singapore, and RFNet Technologies Pte Ltd (RFNet), Singapore for financing and providing a good environment and facilities to support the research. I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Minghui Li, Dr. Qammer H. Abbasi and Professor Muhammad Ali Imran for providing their professional guidance, laboratories, and IT resource to make my research work possible and completed within the stipulated timeline. It was a great experience to tag on their networks that indirectly enhance the visibility of my research works. I would like to express my appreciation to my co-workers in RFNet Technologies Pte Ltd, Dai Shao Wei, Murdifi bin Muhammad, Tan Geok Sun, and Nelson Teh Saw Hooi who have participated actively in the project discussion and thank for their support during the prototype testing. Finally, a special thanks to my parent, See Eik Kui, family, and friends for providing unconditional support that allows me to have a clear mind throughout the course. iii Publications and Book Arising from This Thesis [Book] 1. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. A. Imran. Antenna Design Challenges and Future Directions for Modern Transportation Market. Springer. (In production, to appear in March 2021). [Journal] 2. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. A. Imran, "Design and Characterization of T/R Module for Commercial Beamforming Applications," in IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 130252-130262, 2020, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3009531. 3. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. A. Imran, "A Wideband Beamforming Antenna Array for 802.11ac and 4.9 GHz in Modern Transportation Market," in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 2659-2670, March 2020, doi: 10.1109/TVT.2019.2963111. [Conference] – Best Student Paper Award 4. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. Imran, "Sensor Aided Beamforming in Vehicular Environment," 2020 International Conference on UK-China Emerging Technologies (UCET), Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2020, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/UCET51115.2020.9205411. [Conference] 5. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. A. Imran, “An Amplitude Distribution Network in the T/R Module for Beamforming Applications” Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (AP-S), Montréal, Canada, 2020. 6. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. Imran, “A Recursive Calibration Approach for Smart Antenna Beamforming Frontend,” 2020 14th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Copenhagen, Denmark, 2020, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.23919/EuCAP48036.2020.9135881. 7. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. Imran, “A Flexible Low-Cost Hybrid Beamforming Structure for Practical Beamforming Applications,” 2019 IEEE iv International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT), Nanjing, China, 2019, pp. 1-3, doi: 10.1109/RFIT.2019.8929162. 8. D. T. R. Liang, M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. Imran, “Radome Design with Improved Aerodynamics and Radiation for Smart Antennas in Automotive Applications,” 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT), Nanjing, China, 2019, pp. 1-3, doi: 10.1109/RFIT.2019.8929217. 9. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. Imran, “A Wideband Beam forming Antenna Array for 802.11ac and 4.9 GHz,” 2019 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Krakow, Poland, 2019, pp. 1-5. 10. M. C. Tan, M. Li, Q. H. Abbasi and M. Imran, “A smart and low-cost enhanced antenna system for industrial wireless broadband communication,” 12th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2018), London, 2018, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1049/cp.2018.1218. v Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. i Declaration ............................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. iii Publications and Book Arising from This Thesis ............................................................. iv List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ x List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... xi List of Acronyms, Constants and Symbols ..................................................................... xiv 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Motivation ................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Research Objectives ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Key Contributions ..................................................................................................