Ad hoc communication among small robotic platforms in complex indoor environment is further challenged by three limiting factors: 1) limited power, 2) small size antennas, and 3) near-ground operation. In complex environments such as indoor scenarios often times the line-of-sight communication cannot be established and the wireless connectivity must rely on multi-path propagation. As a result, the propagation path-loss is much higher than free-space, and more power will be needed to obtain the need coverage. Near ground operation also leads to increased path-loss. To maintain the network connectivity without increasing the required power a novel high gain miniaturized radio repeater is presented. Unlike existing repeater systems, this system utilizes two closely spaced low profile miniaturized planar antennas capable of producing omnidirectional and vertical radiation patterns as well as a channel isolator layer that serves to decouple the adjacent antennas. The meta-material based channel isolator serves as an electromagnetic shield, thus enabling it to be built in a sub-wavelength size of 0.07λ0 ² × λ0/70, the smallest repeater ever built. Also wave propagation simulations have been conducted to determine the required gain of such repeaters so to ensure the signal from the repeater is the dominant component. A prototype of the small radio repeater is fabricated to verify the design performance through a standard free-space measurement setup.

Date Published: 13 May 2011
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 8031, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications III, 803117 (13 May 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.885113

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8031:
Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications III
Thomas George; M. Saif Islam; Achyut K. Dutta, Editor(s)