Beam-Reconfigurable Antenna Based on Vector Modulator and Rotman Lens on LTCC

Sabin Kumar Karki* (Corresponding Author), Mikko Varonen, Mikko Kaunisto, Arto Rantala, Markku Lahti, Antti Lamminen, Jan Holmberg, Mikko Kantanen, Juha Ala-Laurinaho, Ville Viikari

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
104 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A beam-switching array is designed using a 4 × 6 Rotman lens as a beam-forming network to switch the beam towards -30°, -10°, 10°, and 30°. Six substrate integrated waveguide fed 1 × 4 microstrip patch arrays are used as the radiating elements. The beam-switching array is designed on the LTCC substrate to operate at 71-76 GHz. In this work, the feasibility of implementing a beam-switching network with a vector modulator (VM) integrated circuit as switching element is studied for the first time. The measured radiation pattern of the beam-switching array with the VM is in line with the simulated radiation pattern. The measured peak realized gain of the beam port 1, 2, 3, and 4 with 3-dB backoff gain of the VM are 17, 17, 17.8, 16.9 dBi at 75 GHz, respectively. In addition, the work demonstrates the possibility of beam-reconfigurability in beam-switching array by simultaneous excitation of the beam ports in optimum phase using the VM. The simultaneous excitation of the adjacent two ports, 1-2, 2-3, and 3-4, steer the beam towards -19°, 0°, and 19°, respectively, which improves the beam cross-over level. With various combinations of simultaneous excitation, the half power beam-width of the beam-switching array is varied from 17.8° to 75°.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)52872-52882
JournalIEEE Access
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Array
  • beam reconfigurability
  • beam-switching
  • microstrip patch antenna
  • millimeter-wave
  • Rotman lens
  • vector modulator

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