Integrated active antenna arrays with polarization multiplexing for broadband communications at W-band

具有偏振复用功能的集成有源天线阵列，用于 W 频段宽带通信

• 批准号: 237428911
• 负责人: Professor Dr.-Ing. Arne F. Jacob
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Hochfrequenztechnik E-3
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Priority Programmes
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2012-12-31 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/237428911?language=en
• 关键词: Integrated; active; antenna; arrays; polarization

The main goal of this proposal is the design of a wideband, circularly polarized antenna at W-band and its subsequent integration with a CMOS power amplifier to a system-in-package which may be used as an active radiating element within an array-based transmitter. The project shall be completed in close cooperation with Prof. Georg Böck, TU Berlin, as Prof. Böck‘s group is concerned with the above mentioned CMOS power amplifier. The W-band offers a total bandwidth of 35 GHz. Unlike lower frequency bands (e.g., UWB or 60 GHz) modulation schemes with moderate complexity (3-4 bit/s/Hz) may be employed. In contrast to higher frequency bands (200 GHz and above) CMOS processes with sufficiently high cutoff frequencies are already commercially available, so that the technological barrier for the design of circuits and systems is considerably lower. Antenna arrays are advantageous because, on the one hand, they enable system scalability, which means that the link budget may be adapted to suit different application scenarios. On the other hand, they are a prerequisite for analog or digital beam steering, which may be used to communicate with users via a directed line-of-sight (LOS) connection and thus improves the link quality. One goal is the design and fabrication of a simple, small (e.g. 2x1 or 2x2) antenna array demonstrator. The designed antenna element shall be circularly polarized so that there is no need for alignment between the base station and the user‘s mobile device. Further, by utilizing two orthogonal polarizations (left- and right-handed circular polarization) the data rate is doubled. The designed antenna element thus supports two independently driven polarizations (polarization multiplexing). One goal is the design and fabrication of an active antenna element with polarization multiplexing. Since WLAN/WPAN is mainly a customer market, the employed technology is a low-cost stereolithographic process. The process has a micrometer-scale feature size and well-controlled vertical growth by deposition and curing of polymers, which enables structures (e.g. inclined walls), which cannot be fabricated with `standard` PCB or MMIC processes (due to layer thickness or limited amount of layers). Direct packaging of active components into the polymer layers leads to integrated (sub)-systems with optimally designed interconnects and, thus, lower signal losses. The basic underlying challenge of the proposal is to use these technological opportunities to achieve the best possible system performance (e.g.: wide bandwidth, low losses).

该方案的主要目标是在W频段设计一种宽带圆极化天线，并将其与CMOS功率放大器集成到可用作阵列发射机中的有源辐射元件的系统级封装中。该项目将在柏林工业大学Georg Böck教授的密切合作下完成，因为Böck教授的团队关注上述CMOS功率放大器。W频段提供的总带宽为35 GHz。与较低频带(例如，超宽带或60 GHz)不同，可以采用具有中等复杂性(3-4比特/S/赫兹)的调制方案。与更高频段(200 GHz及以上)相比，具有足够高截止频率的cmos工艺已经商业化，因此电路和系统设计的技术壁垒要低得多。天线阵列是有利的，因为一方面，它们实现了系统可伸缩性，这意味着可以调整链路预算以适应不同的应用场景。另一方面，它们是模拟或数字波束控制的先决条件，其可用于经由定向视线(LOS)连接与用户通信，从而改善链路质量。一个目标是设计和制造一种简单、小型(例如2x1或2x2)的天线阵列演示器。设计的天线单元应该是圆极化的，这样基站和用户的移动设备之间就不需要对准了。此外，通过利用两个正交极化(左旋和右旋圆偏振)，数据速率加倍。因此，所设计的天线单元支持两个独立驱动的极化(极化多路复用)。一个目标是设计和制造具有极化多路复用的有源天线单元。由于WLAN/WPAN主要是客户市场，因此所采用的技术是低成本的立体平版印刷工艺。该工艺具有微米级的特征尺寸，并可通过沉积和固化聚合物很好地控制垂直生长，这使得无法使用“标准”印刷电路板或MMIC工艺(由于层厚或层数有限)制造的结构(如斜壁)成为可能。将活性成分直接封装到聚合物层中可以得到具有优化设计的互连的集成(子系统)系统，从而降低信号损耗。该提案的基本基本挑战是利用这些技术机会实现最佳的系统性能(例如：宽带宽、低损耗)。