A Scalable Ka-Band 1024-Element Transmit Dual-Circularly-Polarized Planar Phased Array for SATCOM Application

Xuan Luo,Tao Yu,Zubing Wu,Jun Ouyang,Kai Zheng,Lei Han,Zhi-Hui Chen,Yi Yan

doi:10.1109/access.2020.3019174

Abstract

This paper presents a scalable 1024-element transmit dual-circularly-polarized phased array for Ka-band satellite communication (SATCOM) terminal applications. The transmit array based on the CMOS beamformer and a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) can steer up to large scan angles (±60°) with a scan loss less than 4.5 dB. With the 8-channel transmit beamformer, the array can realize dual circular polarization and the axial ratio (AR) of the array is less than 3 dB in the scanning range of ±30° in both left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) and right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) mode. The effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of the array achieves 74 dBm from 29.5 GHz to 30 GHz. The design and measurement of the 1024-element transmit array have presented a feasible way for mass production of a low cost active phased array.

Highlights

With the development of the high throughput satellite (HTS) systems and low earth orbiting satellite (LEO) systems [1,2,3,4], satellite communication (SATCOM) operators can provide low price and global coverage
Others have found that a liquid crystal performed as a tunable dielectric material can be used to substitute the phase shifters in phased arrays [8,9]
Xuan Luo: A Scalable Ka-band 1024-element Transmit Dual-Circularly-Polarized Planar Phased Array for SATCOM Application element, the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of an N-element transmit improves by N2 [10]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

With the development of the high throughput satellite (HTS) systems and low earth orbiting satellite (LEO) systems [1,2,3,4], SATCOM operators can provide low price and global coverage. Xuan Luo: A Scalable Ka-band 1024-element Transmit Dual-Circularly-Polarized Planar Phased Array for SATCOM Application element, the EIRP of an N-element transmit improves by N2 [10]. It is efficient for the transmit array to achieve high EIRP. The coupling between adjacent channels of the beamformer is significantly increased This is a common problem for the siliconbased phased arrays. To avoid grating lobes in the scanning range of ±60°, the space of each antenna element is set to 5 mm x 5 mm

Architecture of Circular Polarization

THE DESIGN OF MULTILAYER PCB AND DUAL-CI RCULARLY-POLARIZED ANTENNA ELEMENT

Passive Circuit Simulation

MEASUREMENT OF THE 1024-ELEMENT TRANSMI T PHASED ARRAY

CONCLUSION