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).

该提案的主要目标是设计宽带，W频段处的圆形极化天线，并将其与CMOS功率放大器的随后集成到包装中，该包装可以用作基于阵列的发射器中的活动辐射元件。该项目应与Böck教授的小组关注上述CMOS功率放大器的小组密切合作，与柏林Tu的GeorgBöck教授密切合作。 W波段的总带宽为35 GHz。与较低的频带（例如，UWB或60 GHz）具有中等复杂性（3-4位/s/hz）的调制方案不同。与较高的频带（200 GHz及以上）相比，具有足够高的截止频率的CMOS工艺已经在商业上可用，因此，将电路和系统设计的技术障碍视为较低。天线阵列是有利的，因为一方面，它们启用了系统可扩展性，这意味着可以适应链接预算以适合不同的应用程序场景。另一方面，它们是模拟或数字光束转向的先决条件，可用于通过定向的视线（LOS）连接与用户通信，从而提高链路质量。一个目标是设计和制造简单的小（例如2x1或2x2）天线阵列演示器。设计的天线元件应圆两极化，因此基站和用户的移动设备之间不需要对齐。此外，通过利用两个正交极化（左手和右圆极化），数据速率加倍。因此，设计的天线元件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活性天线元件。由于WLAN/WPAN主要是客户市场，因此员工技术是低成本的立体造影过程。该过程具有微米尺度的特征大小和通过沉积和固化聚合物的良好控制的垂直生长，这可以实现结构（例如，倾斜壁），无法用“标准” PCB或MMIC过程（由于层层厚度或有限的层）。将活性组件直接包装到聚合物层中，导致具有最佳设计互连的集成（子）系统，从而导致信号损失较低。该提案的基本潜在挑战是利用这些技术机会来实现最佳的系统性能（例如：广泛带宽，低损失）。