Advanced millimeter wave Ultra-Large Array (ULA) for 5G+ wireless networks

目前5G+网络的发展需要大型、可定向的相控阵天线来克服路径损耗和利用空间选择性。许多相控阵结构能够以高单元数为代价实现所需的宽方向，以满足增益要求。这项工作的目标是探索新的相控阵结构，能够灵活地驱动1000多个单元，通过实时校准来最小化旁瓣电平(SLL)和栅瓣电平(GLL)。该方法旨在将ULA分解成随机分布的子阵，以打破周期性并导致较低的SLL和GLL。利用在高性能封装(LTCC)中实现的现有天线阵列，该项目将针对所需控制算法的实施和能够实时校准的馈电网络。对于每个随机分布的子阵，将通过适当地对准相位激励来计算和校正复权重以实现所需的转向。

Current development of 5G+ networks requires large and steerable phased antenna arrays to overcomepath-loss and to exploit spatial selectivity. Many phased array configurations are capable of achieving therequired wide steering at the expense of a high element count to meet gain requirements. The objective of thiswork is to explore novel phased-array architectures, capable of driving more than 1000 elements with agilityvia real-time calibration to minimize the side lobe levels (SLL) and grating lobe levels (GLL). The proposedapproach aims to break the ULAs into sub-arrays, randomly distributed in order to break periodicity andleading to lower SLL and GLL. Using existing antenna arrays implemented in high-performance packaging(LTCC), this project will target the implementation of the required control algorithm and feed networkscapable of real-time calibration. For each the randomly distributed sub-arrays, the complex weight will becalculated and corrected for the desired steering by properly aligning phase excitation.