Analysis of thermal effects in active antenna array transmitters using a combined EM/circuit/thermal simulation technique

Abstract

This paper presents a new technique for efficient system level analysis of joint nonlinear thermal and RF effects in active antenna array transmitters. The technique is based on the integration of an electro-thermal simulation with comprehensive electro-magnetic (EM) and nonlinear temperature-dependent behavioral models for the active circuits. Simulation results for a 64 (8×8) element GaN-based antenna array MIMO transmitter serving two independent users are used to illustrate the predictive capabilities offered by the proposed analysis.