D-Band Active Antenna Array with Lens Enabling Quasi-Optical and Analogue Beam Reconfiguration for 6G Applications

In this paper, a proof-of-concept at D-band (110-170 GHz) is presented for a hybrid quasi-optic and analogue beamforming approach, involving an elliptical lens and an active focal plane array. The quasi-optic technique reduces the beam squint over frequency. Analogue phase shift in the focal plane array is used to increase the lens steering range. A prototype including two 4-channel D-band transceivers with on-chip antennas has been built as a first demonstrator. The resulting active focal plane array consists of 2 × 4 antenna elements, which are tuned in amplitude and phase to reconfigure the beam. The concept will be scaled to larger focal plane arrays in future development steps.