Research On Key Technologies Of Low-cost Millimeter-wave Phased Array

With the ability of rapid beam steering and agile beamforming,the phased array antenna has become a critical technology for both military and commercial applications.However,the high cost of traditional phased array severely impedes the progress of applying the phased array technology in industrial and commercial fields,such as satellite communication and 5G communication.Therefore,the research on the realization of lowcost phased array has become a significant and urgent issue.The purpose of this dissertation is to research general low-cost phased array solutions and discuss the key technologies applied in the low-cost phased array.The main contents of the dissertation are introduced as follow.In the first part,the dissertation summarizes current researches on the low-cost phased array.Then,this part introduces the architecture of the phased array and presents the cost composition of the phased array.The cause of each main component's cost of the phased array is also analyzed.Based on the results of the analysis,this dissertation proposes that optimizing the RF chip architecture and increasing the integration of packaging are effective ways to reduce the cost of most phased arrays.In the second part,the ultra-low cost transmit and receive phased array based on CMOS and PCB(printed circuit board)technology are proposed which will address the Satcom terminal application's requirement.First,this part proposes the architecture of the scalable 1024-element phased array which can satisfy the requirement on the largescale phased array and different requirements on the array's performance.Second,by researching the coupling between channels of beamformer chip,this part proposes the single-channel circular architecture to avoid the coupling's effect on axial ratio of the phased array and satisfy the requirement of switchable circular polarization.Second,this part introduces the integration proposal of flat-panel phased array and presents related designs and results.With the integration proposal,the phased array can be ultra-low profile and integrate different signals into one single broad.Third,the test results of transmit and receive phased array are respectively presented and analyzed.The test results agree well with expectation.Finally,this part introduces the Ka-band Satcom terminal which applies the low-cost planar phased array.The test results of the Ka-band Satcom terminal verify that the low-cost planar phased array is feasible and valuable for Satcom terminal application.For datalink applications between small aircrafts,such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV),the phased array has to achieve high performance when the aperture is limited.Therefore,the third part proposes a 36-element K-band phased array antenna based on GaAs technology and metal housing packaging.For the sake of satisfying the requirement for compact size and low cost,this part proposes the multi-channel and multi-function chip architecture for TR chip and beamformer chip.The new architecture can furtherly increase the integration of the GaAs chip.Furthermore,this part proposes a new all-inone packaging solution.By applying the all-in-one design,the phased array antenna can reduce the cost and the height of the phased array.This part also thoroughly introduces and analyzes the design of antenna element and transition circuits.Among the designs of transition circuits,the ultra-wide band microstrip to microstrip transition circuit can operate from DC to 40 GHz.At the end of this part,the test results of K-band phased array are presented and analyzed.The test results prove the feasibility of the low-cost GaAs phased array for ultra-small aperture application.