A versatile Integrated Design System for designing printed- circuit antennas and RF sensors will be developed. The unique features of this system are an Element Design module for designing passive as well as active antennas, a Feed Network Design module for designing layouts, and an object- oriented circuit analysis capability for layout verification. The Element Design module will be equipped with an accurate numerical simulator for modeling structures on multi-layer, complex substrates with vertical loads for active device insertion. The graphical user interface for this module will have a simple geometry specification process with editing capabilities for sensitivity analysis and auto and manual gridding capabilities for simulation purposes. The Array/Feed Network design module will be equipped with a set of icons defined either by the user or the design system for constructing layouts. These icons will represent various array and circuit elements to be used in the layout design. Construction of feed networks will be done by clicking and connecting the different icons sequentially. Connection algorithms will be developed to update the scattering parameters of any two connected icons as the layout is being constructed. With these built-in connection algorithms, this object-oriented construction approach will provide a designer with a practical means to explore new designs as well as assess design tradeoffs. It will allow a designer to adopt a design methodology for different design requirements and help designers achieve a single-pass design.
