Microwave Engineering Group
At TU Wien, the activities in the project InerOP are performed by the Microwave Engineering Group, headed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Holger Arthaber. The group is located at the Institute of Electrodynamics, Microwave and Circuit Engineering (EMCE) of TU Wien. TU Wien is the lead partner of the InterOP project.
The Microwave Engineering Group covers a variety of research areas from basic to applied research. A state-of-the-art microwave laboratory as well as a variety of circuit, system-, and electromagnetic field simulators make this possible. In the microwave laboratory, almost all types of measurements can be performed ranging from on-wafer to whole systems.
A special feature of the group is the broad knowledge of the researchers, which goes far beyond the microwave technology. This is particularly evident in the implementation of research projects with FPGA-based real-time signal processing, the design of complex microwave systems and the use of strong signal processing algorithms.
Much of the group’s activity is focused on communication applications. In particular, the group is working on efficient, linear, and robust transceivers. On the transmission side, this includes, for example, switched mode power amplifiers; on the receiver side, the group is investigating interference-proof receivers. Basic research is currently focused on improving polyharmonic distortion (PHD) based nonlinear models. In the field of UHF RFID, the group has extensive knowledge in the field of reader design and tag localization.
Research projects cover a variety of topics, ranging from 13.56 MHz NFC chip cards up to 110 GHz substrate material characterization. Research projects
The Microwave Engineering Group operates a state-of-the-art microwave laboratory, covering the frequency range from DC to 70 GHz. Laboratory infrastructure
TU Wien (Technische Universität Wien)
TU Wien was founded in 1815 as the k.k. Polytechnisches Institut and is the oldest and largest technical university of Austria with a total scientific staff of 3,675 researchers and non-scientific staff of 1,134 people. TU Wien is very successful in acquiring funded research projects and establishing cooperations with industry, resulting in third party funds of 84,2 million Euro per year (total gross annual receipts: 347 million Euro per year) (all data from Knowledge Balance Sheet 2015). TU Wien currently has 31,681 active students (winter term 2018/19) with 2,720 graduates in 2017.
Our mission is »technology for people«. Through our research we develop scientific excellence, through our teaching we enhance comprehensive competence.
Bringing together solid basic research with scientific engineering work across various disciplines on the one hand and project collaboration with other universities, research institutes and businesses on the other, enables the university to conduct development work in almost all fields of technology. TU Wien has honed its research profile with the definition of five key reseach areas and establishment of cross-sectoral collaboration centres, and is set to intensify its efforts in the continuation of this process.
Institute of Electrodynamics, Microwave and Circuit Engineering (EMCE)
The Institute of Electrodynamics, Microwave and Circuit Engineering (EMCE) is active in the numerical calculation of electromagnetic fields, in microwave engineering for information and communication technologies, in the design and realization of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic circuits, in the field of sensors for biology and medicine, and in Terahertz technologies. The current staff consists of 30 researchers and 15 non-scientific employees. The institute hosts five research groups: Biosensors, Circuit Design, Magnetics, Microwave Engineering, and THz Electronics.
Besides its research activities, EMCE is strongly committed to teaching both the fundamentals of electrical engineering as well as advanced topics in different master programs.
Research Projects
The following incomplete list provides examples for research projects performed by the Microwave Engineering Group of TU Wien during the last five years:
Ongoing projects:
- CDG Location: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Location-aware Electronic Systems (funded by Christian Doppler Gesellschaft)
Studying of various technologies and physical layer interfaces for indoor localization. - InterOp: Interoperability of Heterogenous Radio Systems (funded by EFRE Interreg V-A Austria Czech Republic)
Measurement, modeling, simulation/emulation of linear and nonlinear interference. - LIMAR: L-Band Interference Mitigation for an Aeronautical Receiver (funded by Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG)
Investigation of robust receiver circuits and algorithms for LDACS-1 communication under strong in-band interference/blocking conditions. Simulation, optimization, and hardware verification of a joint HW/SW OFDM-receiver design. The project serves as the basis for one PhD thesis at TU Wien.
Finished projects:
- SES RSSI (direct funding from industrial partner)
Characterization of the antenna pattern of electronic shelf labels by coherent nearfield measurements. - Backscatter Localization (direct funding by industrial partner)
Development of a ΔRCS measurement system for evaluating backscatter localization performance at UHF, 2.45 GHz, and 5.8 GHz. - REFlex: RFID Real-Time Localization for Flexible Production Environments (funded by Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG)
Investigation of UHF RFID ranging with unmodified tags. Includes RF design, signal processing, and FPGA-concept. Interdisciplinary research including studies of ethical implications. - TX4Green: PWM-based transmitter for green base-stations (funded by Vienna Science and Technology Fund WWTF)
Switched mode power amp¬lifiers with high efficiency. Includes novel design methodology for digitally driven amplifiers, PWM noise shaping and signal processing for 1-bit systems, nonlinear characterization and linearization of systems with quantized input signals. - BoB: Board on Board Technology (subcontractor for industrial partner, funded by EU EUREKA/EURIPIDES)
Analysis of a novel flex-connector technology for high speeds analog/digital/RF PCBs including 3D EM-field simulations, test vehicle design and measurements - Soil-moisture Sensors (funded by Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG)
RF based sensing of soil moisture and salinity. Sensor optimization by 3D EM-field simulation and prototype design of an embedded sensor system. - UMTS NodeB Measurements (direct funding by industrial partner)
RF-performance comparison of UMTS NodeB of different vendors. Design of customer-specific tests for DECT-interference scenarios.
Laboratory Infrastructure
State of the Art Microwave Lab
Equipment within the Microwave Engineering Group
- Linear vector network analysis: 50 GHz, 4 port
- Nonlinear vector network analysis: 70 GHz, 4 port, X-parameter, pulsed…
- Signal Sources and Spectrum Analyzers: 44 GHz
- Harmonic Load pull (active/passive): 18 GHz
- RF wafer-prober with thermo-chuck
- Pulsed measurements
- LSNA (Large Signal Network Analyzer): 20 GHz
- Oscilloscopes/TDR/eye-analysis: 20 GHz+
- Noise figure measurement: 18 GHz
Equipment on shared basis with other groups/institutes
- Bit/pattern generators: 40 GHz+
- EMC tests with GTEM-cell
- Anechoic chamber with NSI nearfield/farfield antenna measurement system: 40 GHz
Simulation Software
- Circuit & System Design
- NI AWR Design Environment (Microwave Office)
- 3D Electromagnetic field simulators
- Dassault Systems CST Microwave Studio
- Ansoft HFSS
- COMSOL Multiphysics
- 2.5D field simulators
- SONNET
- NI AWR Design Environment AXIEM
Additional Software Products
- Mathworks MATLAB
- Siemens Solid Edge
- Autodesk Eagle
- Xilinx ISE/EDK & Vivado
