Phased Array Beamforming Research Articles

High-Capacity Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Communication for Internet-of-Things Applications Using 3D Steering Nolen Beamforming Array

In this paper, a novel 2D Nolen beamforming phased array with 3D scanning capability to achieve high channel capacity is presented for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. The proposed 2D beamforming phased array is designed by stacking a fundamental building block consisting of a 3 × 3 tunable Nolen matrix, which applies a small number of phase shifters with a small tunning range and reduces the complexity of the beam-steering control mechanism. Each 3 × 3 tunable Nolen matrix can achieve a full 360° range of progressive phase delay by exciting all three input ports, and nine individual radiation beams can be generated and continuously steered on azimuth and elevation planes by stacking up three tunable Nolen matrix in horizontal and three in vertical to maximize signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the corresponding spatial directions. To validate the proposed design, the simulations have been conducted on the circuit network and assessed in a fading channel environment. The simulation results agree well with the theoretical analysis, which demonstrates the capability of the proposed 2D Nolen beamforming phased array to realize high channel capacity in MIMO-enabled IoT communications.

A quantity to identify turbulence related sound generation on surfaces

This contribution addresses the problem of identifying sources of sound on aerodynamic surfaces subject to turbulent flow. A quantity is proposed, which identifies the location of the sound generation and serves as well to quantify these sources. The suggested concept reduces fluctuating surface pressure data to the part of the pressure which is actually relevant for sound generation (representing only a very small fraction of the former). The focus is put on the interpretation of surface pressures rather than prediction, i.e. data is assumed known, typically obtained from scale-resolving numerical simulations of the turbulent flow around the surfaces. The idea is to generate knowledge from this data, as a basis for designing more silent aero shapes. The localization of sources of sound generated aerodynamically is usually accomplished by phased microphone array (numerical) beamforming techniques in various variants involving acoustic propagation of source data to the acoustic farfield and subsequent data processing. This “detour” to the acoustic farfield indeed enables the separation of sound and aerodynamic (nearfield) data. The proposed approach explicitly uses nearfield information of the surface pressure field to identify and quantify aerodynamic sources of sound on surfaces without the need to introduce beamforming. The main hypothesis of this approach states that sound is generated where the mirror principle of flow quantities, ideally satisfied at plane hard surfaces, is violated. It turns out that the hypothesis is equivalent to the statement that aerosound is produced by diffraction of the pressure nearfield incident to a surface and as such intimately related to curvature. A physical quantity is proposed to quantify and thereby localize this source of sound. The method to determine the quantity is successfully validated for the cases of leading and trailing edge sound generation at an airfoil.

A 5G NR FR2 Beamforming System with Integrated Transceiver Module.

This paper presents a 5G new radio (NR) FR2 beamforming system with an integrated transceiver module. A real-time operating module providing enhanced flexibility and capability has been proposed. The integrated RF beamforming system with an integrated transceiver module can be operated in 8Tx-8Rx mode configuration simultaneously. A series-fed structure 8 × 7 microstrip antenna array for compact size and improved directivity is employed in the RF beamforming module. The RF beamforming module incorporates a custom 28 GHz, eight-channel fully differential beamforming IC (BFIC). An eight-channel BFIC in a phased-array beamforming system offers advantages in terms of increased antenna density and improved beam steering precision. The RF beamforming module is integrated with an RF transceiver module that enables the simultaneous up-conversion and down-conversion of the baseband signal. The RF transmitter module consists of a transmitter, a receiver, a signal generator, a power supply, and a control unit. The RF beamforming system can scan horizontally from -50° to +50° with a step of 10°. To achieve an optimized beam pattern, a calibration was conducted. The transmit and receive conversion gain of around 20 dB is achieved with the transceiver module. To verify the communication performance of the manufactured integrated RF beamforming system, a real-time wireless video transmission/reception test was performed at a frequency of 28 GHz, and the video file was transmitted smoothly in real time without interruption within a range of ±50°.

Further Development of Rotating Beamforming Techniques Using Asynchronous Measurements

When rotating noise sources, such as turbomachinery, are investigated using phased microphone array measurements and beamforming, sidelobes appear on the resulting beamforming maps. Sidelobes can be decreased by increasing the number of microphones. However, if the investigated phenomenon is steady, then there is a cost-effective alternative: performing asynchronous measurements using phased arrays having a limited number of microphones. The single beamforming maps can be combined in order to arrive at results that are superior in resolution and sidelobe levels. This technique has been investigated in the literature, but according to the authors’ best knowledge, has not yet been applied to turbomachinery. This article introduces a means for applying the asynchronous measurement technique and the combination methods for rotating noise sources. The combination methods are demonstrated on two rotating point sources (both in simulations and measurements), and then on an axial flow fan test case. In the case of the two rotating point sources, the achievable improvement in resolution, average-, and maximum sidelobe levels are shown as compared to the single results. In the case of the axial flow fan, it is demonstrated that the combination methods provide more reliable noise source locations and reveal further noise sources.

Synthetic Aperture Cardiac Imaging with Reduced Number of Acquisition Channels. A Feasibility Study

Commercially available cardiac scanners use 64–128 elements phased-array (PA) probes and classical delay-and-sum beamforming to reconstruct a sector B-mode image. For portable and hand-held scanners, which are the fastest growing market, channel count reduction can greatly decrease the total power and cost of devices. The introduction of ultra-fast imaging methods based on plane waves and diverging waves provides new insight into heart’s moving structures and enables the implementation of new myocardial assessment and advanced flow estimation methods, thanks to much higher frame rates. The goal of this study was to show the feasibility of reducing the channel count in the diverging wave synthetic aperture image reconstruction method for phased-arrays. The application of ultra-fast 32-channel subaperture imaging combined with spatial compounding allowed the frame rate of approximately 400 fps for 120 mm visualization to be achieved with image quality obtained on par with the classical 64-channel beamformer. Specifically, it was shown that the proposed method resulted in image quality metrics (lateral resolution, contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio), for a visualization depth not exceeding 50 mm, that were comparable with the classical PA beamforming. For larger visualization depths (80–100 mm) a slight degradation of the above parameters was observed. In conclusion, diverging wave phased-array imaging with reduced number of channels is a promising technology for low-cost, energy efficient hand-held cardiac scanners.

Integrated contra-directionally coupled chirped Bragg grating waveguide with a linear group delay spectrum

Due to the advantages of low propagation loss, wide operation bandwidth, continuous delay tuning, fast tuning speed, and compact footprints, chirped Bragg grating waveguide has great application potential in wideband phased array beamforming systems. However, the disadvantage of large group delay error hinders their practical applications. The nonlinear group delay spectrum is one of the main factors causing large group delay errors. To solve this problem, waveguides with nonlinear gradient widths are adopted in this study to compensate for the nonlinear effect of the grating apodization on the mode effective index. As a result, a linear group delay spectrum is obtained in the experiment, and the group delay error is halved.Graphical

A 39-GHz CMOS Bidirectional Doherty Phased- Array Beamformer Using Shared-LUT DPD With Inter-Element Mismatch Compensation Technique for 5G Base Station

This article demonstrates a 39-GHz CMOS phased-array beamformer aiming for power-efficient and area-efficient fifth-generation (5G) dual-polarized multiple-in–multiple-out (DP-MIMO) applications. To address the digital pre-distortion (DPD) implementation issue in the massive beamformer elements with Doherty technique integrated, an inter-element mismatch compensation technique is introduced for improving the shared-lookup table (LUT) DPD performance over the process, voltage and temperature (PVT) variations. A bidirectional Doherty power amplifier (PA)-LNA is proposed to enhance the power back-off (PBO) efficiency regarding the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) 5G signals, meanwhile cost down the system by the unbalanced neutralized bidirectional operation. The proposed phased-array beamformer chip is fabricated in 65-nm CMOS technology and packaged in a wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP). Each element occupies only a 0.82-mm2 chip area, including the on-chip low-dropout regulator (LDO). The measured stand-alone Doherty PA-LNA achieves 18.9-dBm saturated output power with 17.8% power-added efficiency (PAE) at 6-dB PBO in PA mode and obtains a 4.8-dB noise figure (NF) at 40 GHz in LNA mode. By utilizing the proposed mismatch compensation, the measured 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA)-mode error vector magnitude (EVM) and adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) with the shared-LUT DPD are improved from −22.4 to −25.0 dB and from −28.7 to −32.1 dBc, respectively. The 64-element module achieves a 55.2-dBm saturated effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and supports 21-Gb/s single-carrier (SC) mode data streaming. The measured 64-element transmitter (TX) EVM is −25.2 dB at 43.2 dBm with 3.5-GSymbol/s baud rate in 64 QAM, and the corresponding 64-to-4 elements TX-to-receiver (RX) EVM is −22.5 dB. The consumed power for each element is 402 mW at saturation output point in TX mode and 87 mW in RX mode.

Remarks on Noise Shaping for Phased Array Analog Beamforming

This article comprises three parts, which exhaustively investigates the noise-shaping approach in analog beamforming of phased array (PA) antenna. Specifically, the impact of digital filter design on different PA applications is studied. In the first part, an overview of noise shaping in a hexagonal lattice PA is investigated for the first time. Compared with the Nyquist square lattice, the hexagonal counterpart yields a much smaller invisible region which is a challenge for pushing the error out of the visible region. Nevertheless, it has been shown that the method suppresses the quantization lobes (QLs), realigns the point deviation, and may promote antenna gain. For those with critically large array pitch, the digital filter stopband may become prohibitively wide, contributing to a negligible antenna gain loss. The second part uses the method for restoring null(s). It is shown that the noise-shaping approach is quite effective in enhancing the fidelity of the system in nulling the spatially localized interferences. However, considering the discrepancy between addressing the QLs as a harmonic error and nulls buried beneath the quantization residue, the digital filter design is challenging and needs high attenuation level. Specifically, the number of nulls is an essential criterion for the method’s success. The computations are double-checked with full-wave simulations. The results verify the viability of the approach with a minor deflection from the computation. The third part investigates the noise-shaping approach in PA of the sparse element spacing. The complication of digital filter design with respect to antenna gain loss is investigated for different scenarios. Optimization is used for complicated cases to find an optimal filter to minimize the antenna gain loss.

W-Band Binary Phase-Controlled Multibeam Antenna Array Based on Gap Waveguide Magic-Tee

In this article, a compact 94 GHz multibeam antenna array based on the binary phase-controlled concept is proposed. The feeding network is composed of four unconnected layers, and the ridge or groove gap waveguides are adopted as the guided wave structures. A key planar gap waveguide Magic-Tee is designed to obtain 0° and 180° phase states and then integrates with an <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8\,\times \,8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> slot antenna array to achieve multibeam operation for the first time. Compared with the traditional phased array and passive beamforming networks (BFNs), the feeding design is simple in construction, consisting of only Magic-Tees and cascaded power dividers without any phase shifters. Benefiting from the gap waveguide technology, the antenna array does not require electrical contact among the metal layers, so it is simple and low cost to manufacture. The <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8\times8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> slot antenna array can easily switch among one-beam and three different dual-beam states that point to ±7°, ±17°, and ±38°. The measurement results of 6.6% bandwidth from 91.7 to 98 GHz for both reflection coefficients <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$&lt; -10$ </tex-math></inline-formula> dB and isolations >25 dB are achieved. The proposed multibeam antenna array would be an attractive candidate for millimeter-wave multiuser communication where it requires multiple beams simultaneously.

Noise Shaping for Phased Array Beamforming

Quantization of phase and/or amplitude has far-reaching effects on the radiation characteristics of the phased array (PA), including gain, minor lobe level, and point deviation. Traditionally, one common method to address such a nonlinear distortion is using random-phasing to interrupt the error periodicity. Here, we show that the distortion due to the quantization can be better remediated by spectrally shaping the error compared to the random-phasing (dithering) approaches. We adapted the method for phase-only and amplitude-phase synthesis of planar array designed based on analog beamforming (ABF). To do that, for the first time, 2-D real- and complex-coefficient minimum-phase digital finite impulse response (FIR) filters are designed based on the discrete Hilbert transform (DHT) method. In particular, the digital filter design for phase-only synthesis is comprehensively investigated, respecting the error spectra in the beamspace domain. It is shown that by pushing the error out of the so-called visible region, the decrease of antenna directivity due to the quantization can be compensated to some extent, which provides a quite advantage over the uniform distribution of error. For some cases, pushing the error out of the visible region might be impossible. For such cases, we proposed using the spaced-notches filter. It is also shown that the method is on maximum efficacy when both phase and amplitude of the excitation signal are controllable. Thus, complex-valued noise shaping (CV-NS) can be exploited for the phase-amplitude synthesis of the PA, showing quite promising performance.

Simultaneous Subsea Gas Plumes Detection and Positioning Using a Transceiver of an Ultra-Short Baseline System

This paper presents an in-situ active acoustic detection system that can detect and locate the subsea gas plumes simultaneously using a transceiver of an ultra-short baseline (USBL) positioning system. Seabed gas leaks, both natural and artificial, are causing concern worldwide. Conventional detection systems, including Raman spectrometers, side-scan sonars, and multibeam sonars, suffer from some limitations such as the effective range and real-time processing problem. We use an omnidirectional USBL transceiver to illuminate surroundings and detect echoes from gas plumes. A small hydrophone array in planar circular shape is used to beam-form the received echoes. An echo identification algorithm is proposed to separate the echoes from fixed objects and gas plumes. The results are verified against various experiments. The matched filtering and phased-array beamforming are applied to determine the relative distance and angle of arrival from gas plumes. A preliminary result on gas flow rate quantification is also studied. This paper describes the system design and algorithms in detail and presents experimental results in an anechoic tank, demonstrating the great potential of this system for subsea gas plumes detection and positioning.

Establishing density-dependent longitudinal sound speed in the vertebral lamina.

Focused ultrasound treatments of the spinal cord may be facilitated using a phased array transducer and beamforming to correct spine-induced focal aberrations. Simulations can non-invasively calculate aberration corrections using x-ray computed tomography (CT) data that are correlated to density (ρ) and longitudinal sound speed (cL). We aimed to optimize vertebral lamina-specific cL(ρ) functions at a physiological temperature (37 °C) to maximize time domain simulation accuracy. Odd-numbered ex vivo human thoracic vertebrae were imaged with a clinical CT-scanner (0.511 × 0.511 × 0.5 mm), then sonicated with a transducer (514 kHz) focused on the canal via the vertebral lamina. Vertebra-induced signal time shifts were extracted from pressure waveforms recorded within the canals. Measurements were repeated 5× per vertebra, with 2.5 mm vertical vertebra shifts between measurements. Linear functions relating cL with CT-derived density were optimized. The optimized function was cL(ρ)=0.35(ρ-ρw)+ cL,w m/s, where w denotes water, giving the tested laminae a mean bulk density of 1600 ± 30 kg/m3 and a mean bulk cL of 1670 ± 60 m/s. The optimized lamina cL(ρ) function was accurate to λ/16 when implemented in a multi-layered ray acoustics model. This modelling accuracy will improve trans-spine ultrasound beamforming.

Phased array beamforming networks

The work is devoted to studying multibeam phased array beamforming networks based on the Butler matrix and Rotman lens. The study was performed under conditions similar to those in the telecommunication satellite service area. The microstrip circuit pattern was developed; the amplitude and phase frequency responses were investigated taking into account losses in materials. Array directional patterns for beamforming variants were calculated. Evaluation of adjacent ray overlay within the service area was carried out. Conclusions about acceptability of the proposed beamforming networks were made. Keywords: beamforming network, antenna array, Butler matrix, Rotman lens.

Beamforming D-band phased array microstrip antennas

This paper presents a beamforming D-band phased array in proximity coupled fed microstrip antennas design at 132–160 ​GHz frequency working range. The first beamforming phased array microstrip antenna simulation with the CST MWS software was also simulated with Ansys HFSS for equalization. The simulation results obtained from a couple of simulators were in good agreement, supporting the suggested design. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the proposed antennas supply high peak gain, high peak total efficiency, and decent steering angles of 26.05 ​dB and 88.33%, ‒13.5° to 13.7°, respectively. Moreover, an innovatory error analysis simulation has been done to approximate the proposed antenna's BW and the gain because of the anticipated manufacturing etching accuracy deviation, the dielectric constant of the microstrip laminates, and the loss tangent of the microstrip laminates indicate the possible high-frequency losses, which are frequency-dependent. That makes them suitable as a base for a D-band line-of-sight (LoS) medium-distance base-station beamforming beyond 5G (B5G) cellular communication and for Terahertz (THz) imaging sensor, nondestructive testing (NDT) sensor, biological imaging sensor, and material characterization sensor.

Reducing Subcarriers Beam-Squinting of Ultra-Wideband Mobile Communication Systems using Phased Array Antennas

There has been increasing demand for accessible radio spectrum with the rapid development of mobile wireless devices and applications. For example, a GHz of spectrum is needed for fifth-generation (5G) cellular communication, but the avail- able spectrum below 6 GHz cannot meet such requirements. Fortunately, spectrum at higher frequencies, in particular, millimeter-wave bands, can be utilized through phased-array analog beamforming to provide access to large amounts of spectrum. However, the gain provided by a phased array is frequency dependent in the wideband system, an effect called beam squint. We examine the nature of beam squint and develop convenient models with a uniform linear array. To further simplify the evaluation of the system performance, an approximated closed-form expression for the array gain is derived. Furthermore, to evaluate the performance of the proposed design, rigorous numerical results concerning different system parameters are provided in this paper.

Supersonic jet noise source distributions.

The purpose of this work is to examine the noise source distributions of shock-containing supersonic jets at various pressure ratios corresponding to fully expanded Mach numbers ranging from 1.0 to 1.4 in intervals of 0.2 for various nozzle exit diameters. Source location measurements using a phased array (beamforming), farfield jet noise measurements, and schlieren flow visualization are presented. It is found that supersonic noise source distributions are more complex than those of subsonic jets. The source distributions for supersonic jets can be divided into three different Strouhal regions. At low Strouhal numbers ( fD/U≤0.3), the noise source distributions appear very similar to those of a subsonic jet, as reported in open literature. This Strouhal region is dominated by jet-mixing noise associated with small-scale turbulence mixing. At high Strouhal numbers ( fD/U≥1.0), the noise source distributions are comprised of several repetitive sources at various discrete downstream jet locations that produce noise at all frequencies. The locations of these sources roughly correspond to the shock cells in the jet, and thus, vary with jet Mach number. Another region exists at Strouhal numbers between these two regions ( 0.3<fD/U<1.0) for which the precise location of the sources as a function of Strouhal number was determined to be ambiguous due to a limitation of the phased array used. This region roughly corresponds to the frequencies of noise where jet-mixing noise and shock noise are of similar levels. The spacing of the shock sources in this region are smaller than the beam width of the array measuring them. Their locations can no longer can be separately recorded; and instead, they are averaged together and their centroid location is plotted.

Waveguide Superlattice-Based Optical Phased Array

High-density low-crosstalk waveguide superlattices can potentially help shrink the pitch of an optical phased array to half-wavelength, which may lead to superior beam characteristics. While a superlattice's longitudinal coherence is exploited to create phase mismatch and reduce crosstalk, its transverse coherence is also modified and will inevitably disturb the beam forming of the optical phased array. Our theory shows that the transverse and longitudinal coherence can be balanced in a nontrivial superlattice such that superlattice-induced disturbance of the beam can be suppressed without compromising crosstalk. Large supercells less restrained by symmetry offer more degrees of freedom for finding a desirable superlattice structure. The supercell configuration order and structural modulation strength are crucial to balancing coherence and approaching the ideal characteristics of a half-wavelength pitch optical phased array. Experimental results show a high main-beam energy ratio, low sidelobe levels, and a wide angular scanning range. Such optical phased arrays may potentially open up further opportunities for light detection and ranging (LIDAR), wireless optical communications, and biomedical scanning imaging.

A CMOS Dual-Polarized Phased-Array Beamformer Utilizing Cross-Polarization Leakage Cancellation for 5G MIMO Systems

This article introduces a power-efficient and low-cost CMOS 28-GHz phased-array beamformer supporting fifth-generation (5G) dual-polarized multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) (DP-MIMO) operation. To improve the cross-polarization (cross-pol.) isolation degraded by the antennas and propagation, a power-efficient analog-assisted cross-pol. leakage cancellation technique is implemented. After the high-accuracy cancellation, more than 41.3-dB cross-pol. isolation is maintained along with the transmitter array to the receiver array. The element-beamformer in this work adopts the compact neutralized bi-directional architecture featuring a minimized manufacturing cost. The proposed beamformer achieves 22% per path TX-mode efficiency and a 4.9-dB RX-mode noise figure. The required on-chip area for the beamformer is only 0.48 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . In over-the-air measurement, a 64-element dual-polarized phased-array module achieves 52.2-dBm saturated effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). The 5G standard-compliant OFDMA-mode modulated signals of up to 256-QAM could be supported by the 64-element modules. With the help of the cross-pol. leakage cancellation technique, the proposed array module realizes improved DP-MIMO EVMs even under severe polarization coupling and rotation conditions. The measured DP-MIMO EVMs are 3.4% in both 64-QAM and 256-QAM. The consumed power per beamformer path is 186 mW in the TX mode and 88 mW in the RX mode.

Wideband 22–44-GHz Phased-Array Beamformers for 5G and Beyond

For supporting communication links with increased date rate between the base station and the user, millimeter-wave multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) will be adopted globally, the 24–29- and 37–43-GHz bands are now approved worldwide as the standard 5G communication bands, and several 5G systems have been presented in the 28- and 39-GHz bands [item 1) in the Appendix]. The key challenge now is how to reduce the entire MIMO systems’ sizes and weights, particularly the costs.

A 28-GHz CMOS Phased-Array Beamformer Utilizing Neutralized Bi-Directional Technique Supporting Dual-Polarized MIMO for 5G NR

This article presents a low-cost and area-efficient 28-GHz CMOS phased-array beamformer chip for 5G millimeter-wave dual-polarized multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) (DP-MIMO) systems. A neutralized bi-directional technique is introduced in this work to reduce the chip area significantly. With the proposed technique, completely the same circuit chain is shared between the transmitter and receiver. To further minimize the area, an active bi-directional vector-summing phase shifter is also introduced. Area-efficient and high-resolution active phase shifting could be realized in both TX and RX modes. In measurement, the achieved saturated output power for the TX-mode beamformer is 15.1 dBm. The RX-mode noise figure is 4.2 dB at 28 GHz. To evaluate the over-the-air performance, 16 H+16 V sub-array modules are implemented in this work. Each of the sub-array modules consists of four 4 H+4 V chips. Two sub-array modules in this work are capable of scanning the beam from −50° to +50°. A saturated EIRP of 45.6 dBm is realized by 32 TX-mode beamformers. Within 1-m distance, a maximum SC-mode data rate of 15 Gb/s and the 5G new radio downlink packets transmission in 256-QAM could be supported by the module. A $2\times 2$ DP-MIMO communication is also demonstrated with two 5G new radio 64-QAM uplink streams. Thanks to the proposed area-efficient bi-directional technique, the required core area for a single element-beamformer is only 0.58 mm2. Compact and low-cost 5G millimeter-wave MIMO systems could be realized.