Hybrid Beamforming for mm-wave Antenna Subsystems based on Ridge Gap Waveguide Technology

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High data rates and large bandwidths are among the main characteristic of the 5G technology. These features contradict the expected increase in the number of users and the limited spectrum. Using space diversity is a promising technique that has been promoted to solve these issues using large arrays at high frequencies. The promoted solution is referred to as millimeter massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems. In which, a large number of antennas is used to form a sharp beam directed to a specific user to reduce the co-channel interference to other users and allowing the transmission with high signal-to-interference ratio (SNIR). Traditionally, beamforming is done in the digital domain, however, adding a beam switching feeding structure to the antennas can enhance the performance of the beamforming dramatically. The mixture of the beam switching network and the digital beamforming is referred to as Hybrid Beamforming. The beam switching network is responsible for broadly selecting a certain coverage area (sector), while the digital processing unit can reshape the beam within the selected sector. This proposal aims to develop a hybrid beamforming prototype based on ridge gap waveguide technology. The final prototype should include a digital processing unit that controls multiple identical beam switching networks. Each beam switching network will be responsible of selecting a certain sector for the radiation, while the digital processing unit will apply weighted signals for each network to reshape the beam within the selected sector. Through controlling both the magnitude and the phase of the signal applied to each network, the beam can be allocated adaptively to a specific user.