Low-Cost Reconfigurable 1 bit Millimeter-Wave Array Antenna for Mobile Terminals

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation 2022-06, Vol.70 (6), p.4507-4517
• Main Authors: Wang, Yan, Xu, Feng, Jin, Ya-Qiu, Du, Zhengwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antenna arrays; Antennas; Feed direction; Frequency ranges; Microstrip antennas; Microstrip transmission lines; Millimeter waves; Patch antennas; Reconfiguration; Sidelobes; Steering; Terminals
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2022.3140508

A reconfigurable 1 bit millimeter-wave array antenna for mobile terminals is investigated. The reconfigurable array antenna consists of four reconfigurable 1 bit microstrip patch antenna elements. Each patch antenna element is fed by a slot on the ground. The 1 bit patch antenna element with phase values of [Formula Omitted] and 0 is achieved by selecting the feeding direction of microstrip line. After analyzing the performance of the 1 bit four-element array, a fixed phase is applied to mitigate the negative effects of the 1 bit phase quantized error. The 1 bit four-element arrays with and without the fixed phases are compared in detail. The overlapped −10 dB impedance bandwidth of a prototype array at different beam directions reaches 3 GHz (25–28 GHz). Within the frequency range of 26–28 GHz, the array with the fixed phases can steer the main beam from −34° to 35° without grating lobes. Within these steering beams, the performances of good array gain, moderate sidelobe level, and low cross-polarization level are achieved.