Reconfigurable phased array antennas with RF-MEMS on a PCB substrate

Author

Armenta, Christian James Aguilar ; Porter, Stuart ; Marvin, Andy

Author_Institution

Electron. Dept., Univ. of York, York, UK

fYear

2012

fDate

12-13 Nov. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper presents the design, simulation and measurement of a reconfigurable phased array antenna at 12.5 GHz. Simulation results for various aspects such as a radio frequency microelectromechanical system (RF-MEMS) switch, a phase shifter, and the integration of both on the same substrate are presented. The purpose is to monolithically integrate the RF-MEMS phase shifter with the antenna array. Also, the fabrication process of the RF-MEMS switch on the PCB board along with the results obtained so far are presented. The proposed system consists of a 2×2 microstrip antenna array with beam steering angle of around 30° in the H-plane for Broadcasting Satellite Services (BSS) in the Ku-band. Subsequently, a simple 1-bit phase shifter is presented.

Keywords

antenna phased arrays; direct broadcasting by satellite; microstrip antenna arrays; microswitches; phase shifters; printed circuits; Ku-band; PCB substrate; RF-MEMS phase shifter; RF-MEMS switch; beam steering angle; broadcasting satellite service; fabrication process; frequency 12.5 GHz; microstrip antenna array; radio frequency microelectromechanical system switch; reconfigurable phased array antenna; word length 1 bit; Antenna measurements; Arrays; Impedance; Phase shifters; Phased arrays; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation Conference (LAPC), 2012 Loughborough

Conference_Location

Loughborough

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-2218-8

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4673-2219-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/LAPC.2012.6402973

Filename

6402973