Implementation of wideband digital beam forming in the E-band: Towards a hybrid array

This paper reports the test results of a small-scale prototype that implements a digitally beam-formed phased antenna array in the E-band. A four-channel dual-conversion receive RF module for 71-76 GHz frequency band has been developed and integrated with a linear end-fire antenna array. Wideband frequency-domain angle-of-arrival estimation and beam forming algorithms were developed and implemented using 1 Gbps OFDM QPSK symbols. Measured performance is very close to the simulated results and experimental data for an analogue-beam-formed array. This work is a stepping stone towards practical realization of larger hybrid arrays in the E-band.