The retroreflective method has been used as a radio—frequency (RF) beamforming method for massive antenna array, for wireless communication systems, radars, and microwave power transfer (MPT) systems. In particular, the retroreflective method is suitable for optimum beamforming for both near—and far—field zones. Each transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) circuit in the Tx array has its own phase offset, which should be calibrated for optimum retroreflective operation. This paper presents a simple and effective phase offset calibration method for the retroreflective beamforming arrays using a one—by—one basis optimum phase searching method with a receiver at a reference point. To verify the proposed method for a massive retroreflective array, a 5.2 GHz short— and mid—range (~ 4 m) MPT system, including a Tx array based on 8x8 antennas and an Rx using 6 antennas (5 rectennas for power reception, and 1 additional for pilot transmission) for charging mobile handsets was implemented. Optimal retroreflective beamforming from the Tx array, which was calibrated using the proposed method, was experimentally verified for angles of within ±45° degrees for both xz— and yz—planes. The implemented Tx and Rx circuits achieved a received dc power of about 100 mW at a distance of 4 m.

In this paper, a dual-band RF wireless power transfer (WPT) system with a shared-aperture dual-band Tx array antenna for 2.4 and 5.8 GHz is proposed. The final configuration of the Tx array, which is made up of 2.4 GHz right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) patches and 5.8 GHz RHCP patches, is derived from the optimization of 2.4 and 5.8 GHz thinned arrays, ultimately to achieve high transmission efficiency for various WPT scenarios. The dual-band RF WPT Tx system including the Tx array antenna and a Tx module is implemented, and Rx antennas with a 2.4 GHz patch, a 5.8 GHz patch, and a dual-band (2.4 and 5.8 GHz) patch are developed. To validate the proposed dual-band RF WPT system, WPT experiments using a single band and dual bands were conducted. When transmitting RF wireless power on a single frequency (either 2.482 GHz or 5.73 GHz), the received power according to the distance between the Tx and Rx and the position of the Rx was measured. When the distance was varied from 1 m to 3.9 m and the transmitted power was 40 dBm, the received power value at 2.482 GHz and 5.73 GHz were measured and found to be 24.75–13.5 dBm (WPT efficiency = 2.985–0.224%) and 19.25–6.8 dBm (WPT efficiency = 0.841–0.050%), respectively. The measured results were in good agreement with the calculated results, and it is revealed that the transmission efficiency when wireless power is transmitted via beam-focusing increases more than that with conventional beam-forming. Furthermore, the dual-band WPT experiment proves that 2.482 GHz beam and 5.73 GHz beams can be formed individually and that their wireless power can be transmitted to a dual-band Rx or two different Rx.

A 3.4–3.7 GHz dielectric rod waveguide probe for near-field measurements is proposed for applications on the 5G sub-6 GHz band. By implementing a dielectric filled waveguide, the probe achieved a higher resolution and low scattering characteristics through a miniaturized aperture compared to the open-ended waveguide (OEWG) used for conventional near-field probes. An 8 × 8 pixelated grid structure in the dielectric launcher section of the probe is implemented to further reduce the scattering characteristics of the probe. The proposed probe is fabricated and experimentally verified. A coating of silver is applied to the dielectric during a production process. Measurement shows that the –10 dB reflection coefficient bandwidth meets 3.4–3.7 GHz requirement and that the radiation pattern shows a broadside gain of about 3.8 dBi with no null at the forward hemisphere. The results of a scattering characteristic experiment indicate decreased interferer level of 7.3 dB compared to an OEWG.

In this paper, a low-profile HF (high-frequency) meandered dipole antenna with a ferrite-loaded artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) is proposed. To operate in the HF band while retaining a compact size, ferrite with high permeability is applied to the unit cell of the AMC. The operating frequency bandwidth of the designed unit cell of the AMC is 1.89:1 (19–36 MHz). Thereafter, a meandered dipole antenna is designed by implementing a binary genetic algorithm and is combined with the AMC. The overall size of the designed antenna is 0.06$\times$0.06$\times$0.002 ${\lambda }^3$ at the lowest operating frequency. The proposed dipole antenna with a ferrite-loaded AMC is fabricated and measured. The measured VSWR bandwidth (<3) covers 20–30 MHz on the HF band. To confirm the performance of the antenna, a reference monopole antenna which operates on the HF band was selected, and the measured receiving power is compared with the result of the proposed antenna with the AMC.

In this paper, we propose a method for near-field-based 5G sub 6-GHz array antenna diagnosis using transfer learning. A classification network was implemented for normal/abnormal operation of the array antenna and the failure of a specific port. Furthermore, a regression network that could predict the amplitude and phase of the excitation signal of the array antenna was employed. Additionally, to accelerate the array antenna diagnosis, several near-field lines were sampled and reflected in the regression network. The proposed method was verified by measuring a fabricated 5G sub-6 GHz band 4$\times$4 array antenna in various scenarios using a divider and coaxial cables. The tests showed that the trained network accurately diagnosed 29 of 30 measurement results.

In this study, we investigated the recent deterioration of the radiation pattern performance of conformal arrays, which are applied to fields such as aircraft and vehicles. We analyzed the radiation pattern of conformal arrays in the array factor stage by combining previous studies on various beam-forming techniques for conformal arrays. To efficiently calculate and utilize the radiation pattern of conformal arrays, we derived an array factor based on phase composition for nonplanar arrays of three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems. As an amplitude tapering method for controlling the sidelobe level of the derived 3D array factor, we propose a Bernstein polynomial generalization method based on Genetic Learning Particle Swarm Optimization. The proposed 3D array factor was verified using a cavity-backed patch antenna operating at the X-band through EM simulation of conformal arrays as a single element.