Wireless power transfer (WPT) systems are electromagnetic devices able to transfer wirelessly energy over the distance. The current implementation of WPT systems is generally based on magnetic resonators interacting within each other’s reactive near-field zones. These systems respond to the widespread proliferation of portable rechargeable electronic devices and current limitations of battery charges and wire-based distribution networks. The social impact will be important since WPT systems are seen as the last frontier for the complete mobility of people. The revenue of the wireless power industry market is estimated to $1 billion with a very strong increasing rate in the coming years. The main research effort on WPT systems is registered in USA. The WPT system proposed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) is still the state of the art for WPT systems. It presents a power efficiency of 40% over 2 m distance. During the years, new adaptive networks or cumbersome relay systems have been proposed to improve the performances of such system. No attempt as be done to date to define and investigate new operation schemes. For the first time here, we propose to tailor the near-field of WPT systems (tailored WPT systems) to improve both the power efficiency and distance range and go much beyond the current state of the art. The innovative idea is to tailor the near field of the system to reduce the decay ratio of the magnetic field over the distance without radiating in free space. Indeed we are aiming to design super slowly-evanescent localized fields. The radiation resistance is kept small as for current systems, but the tails of the near field are enhanced by properly loading the structure. In other words, the equivalent impedance supporting the required near field is created on the aperture of the system. The system can be also electrically larger without radiating thanks to the imposed small radiation resistance. In this way the available space of domestic or industrial environment may be used to enhance the performances of the system by using larger transmitting systems. The overall system will be analyzed with an in-house code able to define an electromagnetic device from a given near-field profile. The developed code will be unique for the present state of the art of simulator tools. The proposed WPT systems may open new opportunities and possible technology transfers for many daily life applications. WIREFREE is a 36-month JCJC (Jeunes Chercheurs - Jeunes Chercheuses) ANR project coordinated by IETR.

Context. The development of new intelligent transport systems (ITS) is of prime importance in many industrial countries so as to improve road safety and reduce the total number of fatal accidents. Many current on-board or embedded ITS equipments are considered as comfort systems; they must evolve towards active safety systems. Indeed, it is considered that 90% of road accidents involve human factors. In this context millimetre-wave automotive radars play a crucial role for adaptive cruise control, brake assistance or blind spot detection. The currently-available systems offer limited capabilities, and new antenna configurations must be invented to comply with the wide diversity of new end-user specifications; the latter are more and more stringent and deal with many different road scenarios for short range, medium range and long range detection. General objective and market. The major objective of the MM-Scan project is to develop a very innovative ultra-compact antenna architecture for automotive active safety systems at millimetre waves. This architecture will complying with end-users requirements and account for all technological PCB fabrication constraints in order to provide a final demonstrator compatible with already-available industrial manufacturing processes. The target market is quite narrow today (about 50000 radars a year), but the growth expectation is very high and new solutions must be invented by anticipation. Partnership, Dissemination and Exploitation of results. This MM-Scan project is coordinated by IETR (Institut d’Electronique et de Télécommunications de Rennes, UMR CNRS 6164) and is accompanied by Bretagne Valorisation. The corresponding antenna concepts have been patented by the University of Rennes 1. Pilot studies carried out in 2009 and 2010 have demonstrated successfully the relevance and performance of simple antenna breadboards. Our major technical objective is to conduct further studies to design, optimize, fabricate and characterize a final demonstrator. This prototype is ultra-compact (double-folded configuration) and will produce multiple beams for short range, medium range and long range radar systems covering the 76-81 GHz band using one single sensor. The expected results are far beyond the state-of-the-art. This demonstrator will be the key element for the dissemination and exploitation of the results (technology transfers, patent licensing, new industrial partnerships, opening towards new commercial markets in telecommunications, defence or aeronautics, etc.).

Compact and efficient antenna architectures are key enabler solutions for on-board electromagnetic applications (telecommunications, radars, electronic warfare, etc.). Current solutions use cumbersome mechanical systems, or expensive but flat electronically steered phased arrays. The main goal of the project is to develop a disruptive, modular and ultra-low-profile antenna architecture for the next generation of high data rate satellite communication systems for moving platforms. The proposed system will be developed in Ka-band to benefit from the high data rates offered by future satellite constellations. High data rates require the large bandwidth available at Ka-band but also extremely flat and steerable antennas to be integrated on the fuselage of moving platforms (airplanes, drones, missiles, trains, etc.). The main technical and scientific challenge of the project is the development of an extremely flat antenna architecture able to steer in a fast and efficient way its main beam over a large angular sector (> ± 65°) and wide band (20% relative bandwidth centered at 20 GHz for the downlink). The KAPLA project will develop and integrate two very innovative building blocks at the core of the proposed novel architecture. The proposed architecture will be validated experimentally to demonstrate scanning performances beyond the state-of-the-art. In details, these building blocks are: - An extremely low profile beam-forming network (BFN) using leaky-wave modes, - A thin deflector based on artificial materials and made of novel hybrid metal-dielectric cells at sub-wavelength scales. These elements will be fabricated using: - Low-cost PCB technology for the leaky-wave BFN using guided structures (substrate integrated waveguide (SIW), or parallel plate waveguide), - Novel additive manufacturing processes for metallic/polymer elements for the deflector, as this element cannot be manufactured with standard fabrication processes. This hybrid and pragmatic approach and the proposed modular architecture will guarantee a dramatic price reduction with an enhanced modularity of the system fulfilling stringent requirements for civil and military needs. The civil and military stakes of the project are clear. Satcom communications are essential for civil (e.g. high data links for flight entertainment) and military applications (e.g. drone communication). The KAPLA project will address both needs with a single antenna concept operating in the military and civil bands (transmitting or receiving band) to reduce drastically the development and industrialization time and thus the final cost of the product. The economic stakes are also impressive. The civil and military market for Satcom applications is growing at a fast and constant pace. The KAPLA project will guarantee the excellence of the civil and defense French industry in such competitive field facing a strong American competition.

TRANSMIL is a fundamental research project aiming at making major innovations in modeling, design and demonstration of electronically-reconfigurable transmitarrays (TAs) with beam-steering and beam-forming capabilities at millimeter-wave frequencies (Ka band). It fits in the thematic frame “Société de l’information et de la communication/Réseaux numériques à haute performance” (mobility, high data rate, new broadband terminals). A TA is typically composed of one or more focal sources illuminating a first antenna array operating in receive mode and connected, using phase-shift elements, to a second antenna array operating in transmission mode. P-i-n diodes, RF-MEMS switches, varactor diodes, ferroelectric varactors, liquid crystal, etc. can be integrated in the unit-cell in order to electronically control the unit-cell transmission phase, and thus reconfigure the antenna beam. TAs are a recent cutting-edge antenna concept for the development of new-generation smart and high-performance telecommunication systems (high data-rate point-to-point and multi-point wireless link, heterogeneous networks, etc.) and radar systems (imaging, surveillance, security, intelligent transport systems, etc.). TAs are high-gain antenna systems realized using multilayer printed circuit technology, which leads to a cost-effective, robust, reliable and ultra competitive solution for high-volume applications. Thanks to their spatial feeding technique, TAs (as reflectarrays as well) are extremely attractive compared to traditional phased arrays that suffer from large insertion loss in their lossy and bulky beam-forming network. TAs exhibit also a unique advantage compared to reflector antennas and reflectarrays: they can be integrated onto various platforms (buildings, vehcles, aircrafts, UAV, high speed trains, public transportation systems, etc.) since they do not suffer from any feed blockage effect (in contrast to reflectarrays), thus leading to smart skins systems. Several proofs of concept have been presented in the literature, but major theoretical and practical aspects are not studied yet. In the current state-of-the-art, there is no demonstration of electronically-reconfigurable TA at Ka-band based on mature technology with beam-steering and beam-forming capability. Advanced techniques and numerical tools for beam-synthesis applications must be demonstrated and developed to study and optimize their performance in terms of bandwidth and sensitivity to the phase quantization, F/D ratio, and unit-cell geometry. New concepts must be investigated to reduce the total volume of TAs and facilitate their integration onto host platforms. Multi-facetted TAs are not yet demonstrated. The TRANSMIL global objectives are twofold: i) implementation (for the first time) of advanced numerical tools for the design and optimization of complex TAs with multi-facetted or conformal configurations, and ii) first worldwide demonstration of an electronically-reconfigurable conformal TA in Ka-band (26 - 40 GHz) built on mature technologies. Several experimental demonstrations are planned to reach these ambitious goals: unit-cells, passive and electronically-reconfigurable TAs. The TRANSMIL project is composed of 4 workpackages (WP): project coordination and results exploitation (WP1); specification and design of TAs (WP2); passive and electronically-reconfigurable unit-cell design (WP3); and advanced TA design (WP4). The total effort equals 120 persons.month (duration: 36 months). The consortium gathers two partners (one research institute and one academic institution): CEA LETI and IETR, both with a very strong and unique expertise on TAs. Indeed CEA LETI and IETR have been collaborating very closely on this topic since 2006 and are the authors of one patent and several journals and conferences papers on TAs. Our recent demonstration on electronically-reconfigurable TA at X-band defines today the state-of-the-art at the international level.

Security of citizen is a major societal challenge due to its interaction with the freedom feeling which is a basic part of our democracy. The last few month news have played a part in increasing insecurity feeling through media coverage of violent events such as settling of scores related to by drug traffic, jewelleries hold-ups, valuables thefts and the example of the media hijacking of an armoured van in Toni Musulin case. A recent poll lead by IFOP, a French survey institute, from 18th to 20th September 2013, revealed that 84% of the French people feel an increase in crime. This result should be compared with these of the past years: 72% in 2012, 59% in 2010 and 43% in 2007. Physical aggressions such as hold-ups have led to a strained atmosphere and have given the impression that violence is commonplace and latent. Aggressors profile has changed regarding crime: crime formerly organized around some rules becomes nowadays less organized and rational and thus hard to understand. Otherwise, the boundary between delinquency / organized crime and terrorism is more and more reduced as for source of funding (drug traffic or hold-up) or terrorist profile. For example, Merah case or the last questioning of 9 persons in June 2013 suspected to have committed hold-up at La Poste with the aims of funding terrorism against French personalities. To struggle against those threats, the security forces use several information means namely GPS tracker embedded in suspects vehicles. These devices, used in a well-defined legal framework, represent invaluable tools to officers in charge of investigation and minimize risks taken by prime-participant. Police services are facing difficulties with jammers used to interfere with GPS reception and lately all the GSM (2G, 3G, and 4G) bands disruption for geo localization data transmission. Common use of those devices in organized crime and terrorism drives to seek out alternative solution. NB: Although forbidden in France (except in jails, theatre, concert hall, etc), jammers are available on the web for some 15 to 200€. Combining complementary competences in the field of navigation (Sysnav, whose CEO has just been nominated among the 10 most innovative and impactful French people under 35 by the MIT Technology Review), radio-communication (Éolane), and antennas (IETR), the ALTER-TRACK project addresses the issue explained previously by suggesting an autonomous and real-time solution of vehicle localization free of GPS (for localization) and GSM (for transmission of position data). This project, which is the continuation of ANR CSOSG projects (GPS localization only), is based on: ? localization acting improvement; ? supply of a long range communications solution different from GSM, which presents characteristics such as autonomy, inconspicuous and insensitive to interferers; The goals of this real-time tracking of vehicle rely on: - buried technologies independent to infrastructure: satellite for GPS, base station for GSM; - improvement regarding accuracy of localization information before transmission through several techniques (embedded Map-Matching processing); - long range radio communications for data localization exchanges between the tracking vehicle and the follower one. Both vehicles are distant of some km each other in urban area; - small and inconspicuous antenna; - low susceptibility to radio jammer / interferer; - high autonomy. From an operational point of view, several types of communications (data link) can be considered in urban area in the suggested frequency band (VHF < 300 MHz): ? vehicle being tracked – tracking vehicle link: mobile-mobile link with diversity ? vehicle being tracked – fix node link (temporary or standing infrastructure)