System-level Integration and Simulation of
Ultra Wideband Receiver Front-End
Nazrul H. Mohammad, Widad Ismail
Abstract— To determine the most
appropriate design for ultra wideband
(UWB) receiver front-end, a study was
conducted on the designs of wideband
antennas, wideband filters, and wideband
amplifiers. Previous works on these devices
have been analysed and compared for the
following major parameters, which are
antenna return loss, antenna bandwidth,
filter bandwidth, filter insertion loss, filter
return loss, amplifier gain, amplifier
bandwidth, amplifier return loss, and
amplifier noise figure. This work is to
integrate wideband antenna, filter, and
amplifier that were previously designed
separately, into a complete UWB receiver
front-end. The preferred designs for the
integration are antipodal Vivaldi for the
antenna, multiple-mode resonator (MMR) for
the filter, and three cascaded Agilent
HMMC-5200 series-shunt heterojunction
bipolar transistor (HBT) amplifiers for the
amplifier module. Setup and simulation of
the antenna is performed using Agilent ADS
Momentum while the simulations of the filter
and UWB amplifier module are performed
using Agilent ADS Schematic. The antipodal
Vivaldi antenna achieves partial wideband
capability with return loss below -10 dB
between 3.3 GHz and 6.2 GHz. The MMR
bandpass filter simulation realizes an almost
maximally flat insertion loss response for the
entire UWB passband that is from 3.1 GHz to
10.6 GHz and return loss below -15 dB
throughout the passband. The UWB
amplifier module demonstrates amplification
from 28.7 dB to 30.3 dB and return loss below
-17 dB from DC to 20 GHz. The front-end
simulation realizes 25 dB to 29 dB of signal
amplification within the UWB passband. The
Authorized licensed use limited to: Government of Egypt - SPCESR - (EKB). Downloaded on June 18,2023 at 15:24:14 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
out-of-band rejection performances are 8.2
dB/GHz and -8.1 dB/GHz roll-off rates for
the lower and upper stopband respectively.
The link system also realizes low noise figure
between 1.47 dB and 3.13 dB within the UWB
passband.
Index Terms—wideband, ultra wideband,
ultra wideband receiver, ultra wideband
front-end, UWB.
I. INTRODUCTION
The twenty-first century witnesses the ever
continuing emergence of wireless
communication technologies, where many types
communication that can only be realised by
means of cables in the past, are now made
possible by means of wireless. Concerning the
spectre of data communications alone, the use of
wireless networking technologies like Wireless
Local Area Network (WLAN) and Wireless
Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN) are
common and becoming more routine nowadays.
Still, there are efforts to further improve the
capacity, reliability and efficiency of these
applications.
Unlike LAN and MAN, the Personal Area
Network (PAN) is one communication domain
that is currently still heavily dependent on
cables. In other words, the emergence of
Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) in
comparison to WLAN and WMAN is still in its
infancy mainly due to its relatively very low
data rate compared to its wired counterpart.
High-speed data communication technologies
between computers and peripherals such as
Universal Serial Bus (USB), FireWire, and high-
definition (HD) media connectivity, currently
remain unmatched by commercially available
WPAN technologies like infrared (IR) and
Bluetooth in terms of data rate.
 The recently growing research and
development in Ultra Wideband (UWB)
technology for wireless communications aims to
bring to consumers the high-speed quality of
USB, FireWire, and the likes in the portability
and mobility of wireless.
Hence, this work is to contribute the first step
towards developing high-speed UWB systems
by proposing a suitable front-end system. In this
work, wideband antenna, filter, and amplifier
that were previously designed separately by
previous researchers are integrated into a
complete UWB receiver front-end. The entire Fig. 1(a) Antipodal Vivaldi antenna layout.
front-end integration and simulation are Properties of the chosen substrate material for
performed using Agilent Advanced Design the antenna and the filter are tabulated in Table
System (ADS). I.

TABLE I
II. DESIGN SUBSTRATE MATERIAL FOR ANTENNA AND
FILTER
It has to be stressed here that while the
individual blocks forming the ultra-wideband Property Value
(UWB) receiver front-end presented in this Dielectric constant, ε r 5.4
paper are by no means novel, this work, Dielectric loss tangent 0.018
however, is more into integrating previously Substrate thickness, h 1.6 mm
separately designed wideband devices into an Copper surface thickness, t 35 µm
ultra-wideband (UWB) receiver front-end Conductivity 4.1 x 107
system. A preferred design has been determined
for each of the devices of ultra wideband (UWB) Design calculation for Vivaldi antenna takes the
receiver front-end system that caters for the minimum frequency to be supported by the
UWB [2] frequency band that is from 3.1 GHz antenna into concern. Since wavelength is
to 10.6 GHz. The designs are antipodal Vivaldi inversely proportional to frequency, signal at the
for the antenna, multiple-mode resonator minimum frequency will have the longest
(MMR) for the filter, and three cascaded Agilent wavelength. Therefore the wavelength of the
HMMC-5200 series-shunt heterojunction minimum frequency will be taken for the
bipolar transistor (HBT) amplifiers for the antenna length, l . The wavelength referred to
amplifier module. in this design is the wavelength travelling in the
Antipodal Vivaldi antenna [3-9] as shown in dielectric material, λ d . Common transmission
Fig. 1(a) is proposed for the property of having line design equations are used to determine the
different parts radiating at different frequencies, wavelength λ d and microstrip feed width w as
hence establishing a wideband capability.
Microstrip-to-slotline transition is preferred over given by Equation (1) and (2) respectively. The
the other transition methods for the resulting low minimum frequency for the antenna is taken as 2
impedance besides the ease of future fabrication GHz, which is below the lower band-edge of
work by avoiding the necessity for a short hole. UWB band that is 3.1 GHz.
The dimensions of the antenna determine the c0
lower frequency limit whereas the transition λd = (1)
f εr
profile affects the operating bandwidth.
w 377
= −2 (2)
h Z0 ε r

Authorized licensed use limited to: Government of Egypt - SPCESR - (EKB). Downloaded on June 18,2023 at 15:24:14 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 impedance and high-impedance section lines.
The dimensions are shown in Table III.
The antenna width, x is given by
λd
x= (3)
2

The paired strip length r is given by

r 〉14w (4)

The paired strip length is taken arbitrarily

above 14w to increase the ratio of paired strip
length in proportion to overall length of the
antenna. This will increase the radiating area Fig. 1(b) MMR bandpass filter.
and therefore improving the bandwidth, due to
the fact that different parts of Vivaldi antenna TABLE III
radiates at different frequencies. Dimensions of MMR FILTER LINE SECTION DIMENSION
the antenna are tabulated in Table II.
Dimension Value
TABLE II Middle section width, wm 2.0 mm
ANTENNA DIMENSIONS
Middle section length, l m 9.5 mm
Property Value
Antenna length, l = λ d 65 mm Coupled line strip width, ws 0.3 mm
Feed width, w 2 mm Coupled line length, l c 6.5 mm
Antenna width, x 33 mm Coupling width, wc 0.1 mm
Paired strip length, r 38 mm
50Ω line width, wx 2.0 mm
50Ω line length, l x 10.0 mm
For the UWB filter, multiple-mode resonator
(MMR) bandpass filter [10] as depicted in Fig.
1(b) is adopted due to the simplicity of its Agilent HMMC-5200 HBT amplifier [1] is
topology and the ease of design. MMR consists selected for its wideband capability from DC to
of a λ/2 (with respect to center frequency fc) low- 20 GHz, which exceeds UWB bandwidth
impedance middle section and identical λ/4 (with requirement. A single HMMC-5200 amplifier
respect to passband first quartile frequency fQ1) provides 9.5 dB of gain. In this work, an
coupled line sections on both sides. The two amplifier module of three cascaded HMMC-
coupled line sections translate into lower and 5200 amplifiers is proposed, as shown in Fig.
upper band-edge frequencies respectively while 1(c). The cascade module demonstrates 28.5 dB
the middle line section corresponds to fc. of gain without a significant increase in noise
Combination of all the three sections realizes 7.5 figure.
GHz bandwidth from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The overall gain of a cascade of n amplifiers
Equation (1) and (2) are also applied. The value with gains (numerical) Ak, is
50Ω is taken for low-impedance section because A = A1 A2 ... An (5)
it is also the value of characteristic impedance.
Meanwhile, 75Ω is assigned for the high- The overall noise ratio (numerical) F of a
impedance as a 50% increase above the low- cascade of n amplifiers with gains Ak and
impedance value. Selection of 50Ω and 75Ω for corresponding noise ratios Fk is given by the
the low-and high-impedance values respectively following Friis’ formula:
is to minimise the contraction in terms of
dimensions and characteristics between the low-

Authorized licensed use limited to: Government of Egypt - SPCESR - (EKB). Downloaded on June 18,2023 at 15:24:14 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 F2 − 1 F3 − 1 Fn − 1
F = F1 + + + ... + (6)
A1 A1 A2 A1 A2 ... An −1

Term
Term1
Num=1
Z=50 Ohm

Term
Term2
Num=2
sp_hp_HMMC-5200_19970207 Z=50 Ohm
SNP1
Bias="Amplifier: Vcc=6V;Rout=100Ohm; Lin/out=175pH ---- DC-20GHz HBT Amplifier"
Frequency="{0.00 - 30.00} GHz"
Fig. 3 Antipodal Vivaldi antenna S11
sp_hp_HMMC-5200_19970207 performance by simulation.
SNP2
Bias="Amplifier: Vcc=6V;Rout=100Ohm; Lin/out=175pH ---- DC-20GHz HBT Amplifier"
Frequency="{0.00 - 30.00} GHz"
Simulation of the UWB MMR bandpass filter,
sp_hp_HMMC-5200_19970207
SNP3 as shown in Fig. 4, achieves an exact UWB
Bias="Amplifier: Vcc=6V;Rout=100Ohm; Lin/out=175pH ---- DC-20GHz HBT Amplifier"
Frequency="{0.00 - 30.00} GHz" passband, which is from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz.
It also demonstrates an almost maximally flat
Fig. 1(c) Three Agilent HMMC-5200 wideband response with ripple of less than 0.4 dB. The
amplifiers connected in cascade. optimised design also realizes return loss (S11)
The integration of antenna, filter, and amplifier that remains below -15 dB for the entire
into a complete UWB receiver front-end in ADS passband, thus fulfilling the exact UWB return
simulation tool is shown in Fig. 2. loss requirement.

Fig. 4 UWB MMR bandpass filter simulation

performance.

Fig. 5 shows gain performance of three

Fig. 2 System integration creating a complete cascaded HMMC-5200 amplifier module. The
UWB receiver front-end. gain remains at 28.7 dB from 1 GHz until 6 GHz
S21 and S11 simulation performance are plotted where it increments by 0.8 dB to 29.5 dB at 7
in Fig. 3 while noise figure performance is GHz. It remains at 29.5 dB until it reaches 9
plotted in Fig. 4. GHz where it increments for another 0.8 dB.
Beyond 10 GHz, the gain remains at 30.3 dB.
III. RESULTS
As shown in Fig. 3, the antenna simulation
obtained return loss below the -15 dB at two
separate frequency regions, which are between
4.179 GHz and 4.786 GHz and another is
between 5.616 GHz and 5.982 GHz
respectively. The best return loss recorded is -
41.1 dB at 4.482 GHz. Return loss that remains
below -10 dB from 3.3 GHz to 6.2 GHz
demonstrates partial wideband capability.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Government of Egypt - SPCESR - (EKB). Downloaded on June 18,2023 at 15:24:14 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Fig. 5 Three cascaded HMMC-5200 amplifier
module performance.

Referring to Fig. 6, the front-end demonstrates

signal amplification between 25 dB and 29 dB Fig. 6 Gain (S21) and return loss (S11)
throughout the UWB passband. As far as out- performance by simulation.
of-band rejection is concerned, the link system
performs well in the lower stopband which is
below 3.1 GHz with 8.2 dB/GHz roll-off rate
while out-of-band rejection performance in the
upper stopband is -8.1dB/GHz roll-off rate.
However, there is still some residual
amplification of signals above 10.6 GHz. This
partially exposes the system to unwanted high-
frequency components, making it potentially
prone to signal interference. The link system’s
return loss performance is -10 dB from 3 GHz to
8 GHz, which partially meet the designated
below -15 dB return loss from 3.1 GHz to 10.6
GHz. This partial return loss performance
requirement fulfilment is due to return loss Fig. 7 Noise figure performance by simulation.
performance of the antipodal Vivaldi antenna,
which is below -10 dB only from 3.3 GHz to 6.2 TABLE IV
GHz. Meanwhile, the noise figure performance UWB RECEIVER FRONT-END PERFORMANCE
of the link system proves to achieve low-noise Criterion Performance
requirement. As seen in Fig. 7, the noise figure Gain 25–29 dB
remains low between 1.47 dB and 3.13 dB at 3.1–10.6 GHz
within the UWB passband that is from 3.1 GHz Return Loss < -10 dB
to 10.6 GHz. The performance values are at 3–8 GHz
summarised in Table IV. Out-of-band Rejection 8.2 dB/GHz
(lower stopband)
Out-of-band Rejection -8.1 dB/GHz
(upper stopband)
Noise Figure 1.47 dB – 3.13 dB

Authorized licensed use limited to: Government of Egypt - SPCESR - (EKB). Downloaded on June 18,2023 at 15:24:14 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Proceedings on Microwave Antennas and
Propagation, Vol. 143, No. 2, April 1996,
pp. 97-102.
IV. CONCLUSION
[6] Langley, J.D.S.; Hall, P.S.; Newham, P.;
In this paper, an ultra wideband (UWB) "Novel ultrawide-bandwidth Vivaldi
receiver front-end is proposed, designed, and antenna with low crosspolarisation" IEEE
simulated. Within the UWB passband, the gain Electronics Letters Volume 29, Issue 23,
is between 25 dB and 29 dB. With return loss 11 November 1993, pp. 2004 – 2005.
below -10 dB from 3 GHz to 8 GHz, the system [7] Noronha, J. A. N.; Bielawa, T.; Anderson,
partially achieves UWB return loss requirement. C. R.; Sweeney, D. G.; Licul, S.; Davis, W.
The out-of-band rejection in lower and upper A.; "Designing Antennas for UWB
stopbands are 8.2 dB/GHz and -8.1 dB/GHz Systems", Microwaves & RF Journal, June
respectively. The following works are 2003, pp. 53-61.
suggested for the improvement of UWB receiver [8] Rajaraman, R. (2004); "Design of a
front-end: Wideband Vivaldi Antenna Array for the
1) Compact UWB antenna with return loss Snow Radar", M.Sc. Dissertation,
below -15 dB for the entire UWB band that is University of Kansas, Kansas, United States.
from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. [9] Yngvesson, K. S.; Korzeniowski, T. L.;
2) UWB bandpass filter with notches to reject Kim, Y.-S.; Kollberg, E. L.; Johansson, J.
IEEE 802.11a (WiFi) signal at 5.8 GHz and F.; “The tapered slot antenna – A new
IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) signal at 3.5 GHz. The integrated element for millimeter-wave
UWB bandpass filter should also have roll-off applications,” IEEE Transactions on
rates of 20 dB/GHz or better to provide Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol.
sufficient out-of-band rejection. 37, No. 2, February 1989, pp. 365-374.
3) Low-noise UWB amplifier with gain of 40 [10] Zhu, L.; Sun, S.; Menzel, W.; "Ultra-
dB or better and exact UWB bandwidth from 3.1 Wideband (UWB) Bandpass Filters Using
GHz to 10.6 GHz to avoid unnecessary Multiple-Mode Resonator", IEEE
amplification of signal at unwanted frequencies. Microwave and Wireless Components
Letters, Vol. 15, No. 11. November 2005,
pp. 796-798.
REFERENCES
[1] Agilent Technologies; “Agilent HMMC-
5200 DC-20 GHz HBT Series-Shunt
Amplifier”, Data Sheet, Agilent
Technologies Inc., 2003.
[2] FCC; “FCC First Report and Order,
Revision of the Part 15 Commission’s
Rules Regarding Ultra-Wideband
Transmission Systems”, U.S. Federal
Communications Commission, ET-Docket
98-153, April 22, 2002.
[3] Gazit, E.; "Improved Design of the Vivaldi
Antenna", IEE Proceedings, Vol. 135, Pt. H,
No. 2, April 1988
[4] Gibson, P. J.; "The Vivaldi Aerial",Proc. 9th
European Microwave Conference, 1979, pp.
101-105.
[5] Langley, J.D.S.; Hall, P.S.; Newham, P.;
"Balanced antipodal Vivaldi antenna for
wide bandwidth phased arrays," IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Government of Egypt - SPCESR - (EKB). Downloaded on June 18,2023 at 15:24:14 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.