Abstract
Electrically conformal antenna arrays (ECAA) for 2-dimensional (2-D) beamforming configured by wide beamwidth multipole radiation elements are proposed. Unlike the conventional conformal antenna array with physically curved shape, the proposed arrays are planar structures with wide-angle beam steering. The wide range of beam steering with a low gain variation allows the planar array structure to achieve the electrically conformal phased array patterns. In order to verify the ECAA concept, two different types of ECAA in a 1 × 8 configuration using planar multipole antenna elements were fabricated at 5.8 GHz and compared to the conventional patch array. Each multipole element had half-power-beamwidth (HPBW) wider than 110° at both E- and H-planes with the maximum HPBW of 175°. The first type of ECAA showed a measured peak gain of 10.8 dBi with a measured half power steering angle of 155° while maintaining a side lobe level (SLL) less than -10 dB. Further, the second ECAA showed a measured peak gain of 12.8 dBi with a measured half power steering angle of 144° while keeping the SLL less than -10 dB. These scan angles of the first and second types were extended about 66.7% and 54.8%, respectively from the conventional patch array with the same size. Lastly, two types of 8 × 8 array modules for 2-D beam steering were verified at 5.8 GHz and the first type showed a maximum peak gain of 21.0 dBi. Further, the 2-D half power steering angles in E- and H-planes of the second type were about 145° and 137°, respectively.
Highlights
With the advent of 5G communications, the increasing demand for the effective use of beamforming technique has been more accelerated than ever
Many different building blocks are required towards a successful adoption of beamforming technology, the challenges in the antenna array must be primarily concerned because it determines the overall system efficiency
If half power decrease with respect to the peak gain is used for measuring the scan angles, the simulated angle ranges for the 1×8 patch, type-A and type-B arrays are about ±53◦, ±83◦ and ±78◦, respectively
Summary
With the advent of 5G communications, the increasing demand for the effective use of beamforming technique has been more accelerated than ever. The type-A array as shown in Fig. 4 (b) shows the widest steering coverage and the lowest gain variation less than 0.7 dB over the peak angles.
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