Low cost phased array antennas using analog and digital phase shifters technologies

In this paper we present two new low cost implementations of the Coplanar Waveguide Continuous Transverse Stub (CPW-CTS) antenna array technology in phased array systems with beam steering capabilities. The first is based on using a hybrid smart antenna technique and digital beamforming, while the other is derived from an integrated implementation of the CPW- CTS and Ferroelectric material technologies. The digital beamforming mechanism relies on the use of directional antennas elements in the array and the employment of a smart switch that connects a sub-array containing elements with highest receive signal strength to the receiver and the beamforming algorithm, thus reducing the hardware cost, improving computational efficiency and accuracy, and reducing latency. Simulation and experimental results are presented showing the trade-offs involved and clearly demonstrating the feasibility and accuracy of this approach. The analog beam steering approach, on the other hand, is based on an integrated multi-dielectric layers coplanar waveguide phase shifters and CPW-CTS array antenna design. Simulation results show that such an approach could provide analog beam steering of the order of 20° while maintaining acceptable levels of biasing voltages for the Ferroelectric material layer. These as well as other simulation results illustrating the complementary nature of these two approaches as well as the various trade-offs involved will be presented.