Acceleration of beamforming speed for RF MEMS-implemented phased array antenna

Analog adaptive array antennas, such as RESAA (reactively steered adaptive array) antenna and phased array antenna, are advantageous and attractive in terms of cost and power consumption. In particular, unlike the RESAA antenna, the phased array antenna offers free layout of antenna elements, so it is applicable even for small wireless terminals. Moreover, with the remarkable advance in MEMS (microelectromechanical system) technology, RF (radiofrequency)-MEMS implemented switches have been recently available. Therefore, the phased array antenna with RF-MEMS switched phase shifter is a promising gain enhancement interference suppression technique at the wireless terminal side in future wireless communications. This paper proposes an acceleration method of beamforming speed for the RF-MEMS switched phased array antenna. Here, we assume the OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing)-based IEEE 802.11a standard as a system model.