The development of simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) architectures necessitates advancedreceiver isolation techniques to handle the growing demands for frequency agility and RF
bandwidth while safeguarding sensitive front-end components. One key challenge in these systems
is mitigating self-interference, which can significantly degrade performance. Self-interference
cancellation (SIC) has emerged as an effective solution to suppress leakage signals, facilitating
full-duplex operation in a wireless system.
In this work, a novel adaptive self-interference canceller has been developed using a unique
transversal filter architecture for true time delay cancellation. This new design addresses the inherent
architecture losses found in traditional transversal filters, thereby achieving tremendous
flexibility and therefore, superior cancellation performance in multiple path scenarios with strong
leakage signals. The innovation lies in replacing conventional amplitude and phase weighting
components with tunable reflective discontinuities. This approach enables the implementation
of fundamentally lossless passive methods for leakage signal cancellation, which significantly enhances
the dynamic range and spectral efficiency of STAR systems, especially in space-constrained
environments.
Parallel to advancements in SIC for STAR systems, the integration of Electrically Small Antennas (ESAs) in high-bandwidth communication systems presents another significant challenge.
Space constraints in deployable systems, governed by the sizes that are smaller than 0.1λ, limit
the radiation bandwidth of an ESA. The effectiveness of an ESA’s efficiency-bandwidth product
is directly related to its quality factor as defined by Chu’s Limit. Despite these limitations, there
is a growing need for ESA integration in applications in cellular networks, biomedical implants,
unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles, and internet-of-things devices, where required conventional
antenna dimensions that comparable to the wavelength of operation are impractical.
To address performance trade offs set by space constraints, an improved efficiency-bandwidth
product has been demonstrated using an approach called Direct Antenna Modulation (DAM). A
capacitively loaded loop antenna (CLLA), is strategically designed to radiate high-bandwidth signals
through a precisely synchronized time-varying antenna impedance boundary condition. To
effectively implement synchronization, the CLLA employs a dual-pole dual-throw (DPDT) switch
configuration with high figure of merit (FoM) transistors. This novel DAM topology enables the
ESA to radiate high-bandwidth phase-modulated signals efficiently, despite its defined size constraints.
Compared to a time-invariant CLLA of the same form factor, the DAM implementation
significantly enhances the efficiency-bandwidth product by minimizing the impact of switch technology
efficiency while maintaining DAM synchronization.
Overall, these advancements in adaptive self-interference cancellation and efficiency-bandwidth
product of an ESA design through DAM contribute to the enhancing performance of our next generation
wireless systems with maximal flexibility in platform integration.