Synthesis of Filters and Filtering Antennas for Micro and Millimeter Waves Applications

Filters and antennas are the closest building blocks to the air interface in modern wireless communications systems. Filters allow the transmission of signals in a target frequency range and attenuate those that operate in the unwanted range. Antennas help radiate signals within their operating range. This article is a summary of the author’s doctoral thesis and focuses on the development of new synthesis-based methods for the design of these two building blocks and the integration between them, in other words, filtennas. The main advantage of the synthesis-based design is that the expected frequency response of the final prototype is approximated in advance. Therefore, the selection of the best solution that satisfies the given requirements can be done through fast but accurate circuit simulations. When the best solution is found, then the actual prototype is designed according to the synthesized circuit.