ABSTRACT
The increasing demand for new communication channels, with higher data rates and thus wider bandwidths, imposes huge demands on the electromagnetic spectrum. Now, in order to accommodate and facilitate the development of communication systems, it becomes necessary to consider exploitation and utilization of higher and higher frequencies, extending well into the microwave and millimeter-wave spectrum. These regions of the electromagnetic spectrum are now becoming more accessible through recent advances in component and system technology. This in turn improves the availability of cost-effective, reliable, and compact hardware, thus creating new opportunities and possibilities hitherto either not achievable or not practicable at lower frequencies.
