New microwave and millimeter-wave front-end architectures

Modern microwave and millimeter-wave application systems require innovative design architectures for compact, light-weight, low-cost and multiple-functionality RF front-ends. This paper reviews several novel technologies developed recently at the authors' group. First, the active integrated antenna (AIA) and photonic band-gap (PBG) concepts have been incorporated in the design of microwave power amplifiers in an effort to improve their power added efficiency. The second topic covers two new types of planar quasi-optical (PDQ) power combiners, which have been demonstrated to provide an effective solution to heat dissipation problems associated with all current quasi-optical power combining techniques.