Technologies for Tunable Antennas Holger Maune Technische - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Technologies for Tunable Antennas Holger Maune Technische Universität Darmstadt Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics maune@imp.tu-darmstadt.de 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Agenda  Reconfigurable RF Frontends  Technologies for Tunable Antennas  Ferroelectrics  Liquid Crystal  Tunable Antennas  Pattern Engineering  Impedance Tuning  Conclusion 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Today‘s Technology for Radio-Frontends D F F A HPA DSP VCO D A LNA Digital - Matching Signal Analog Mixer Network Switch Matching Processing Converter Oscillator Amplifier Filtering Diplexer Network Digital Backend Radio Frequency Frontend Antenna A wide range of incompatible, hardware-related inflexible systems, operating on a variety of carrier frequencies, modes and standards. 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Towards Frequency-Agile, Software-Defined, and Cognitive Radios D F F A HPA Φ DSP VCO D A LNA Matching Digital - Mixer Network Switch Matching Signal Analog Processing Oscillator Amplifier Filtering Diplexer Network Converter Smart Reconfigurable RF-Frontend with Antennas Digital Backend tunable passive components  Baseband (software) reconfiguration for multi-standard operation  Reconfigurable RF frontends with reconfigurable/tunable analog RF components for multi-band (and multi-standard) operation 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Fundamentals of Antenna Arrays Phase Radiating Combiner Attenuators shifters elements α − a N -1 N 1 ⋅ e ξ j − E 1 N 0 Receiver + α Θ 1 a 1 ⋅ e ξ j E 1 0 α d 0 a 0 ⋅ e ξ j E 0 Wavefronts 0 Phase difference at n-th element ζ n = n ⋅ k ⋅ d ⋅ cos( Θ ) for n = 0, 1, 2, 3... Sum-Signal − N 1 ... = ∑ α α α α + Θ + Θ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ Θ j j j j jkd cos j 2 kd cos j n k d cos I = I e I e e I e e I e e 0 1 2 n 0 1 2 n = n 0 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Example: Linear Dipole Array Endfire Θ 0 =0 ° Broadside Θ 0 =90 ° Pattern changes during scanning 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Applications for Steerable Antennas 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Technologies for Reconfigurable RF-Hardware Technologies for Reconfigurable Systems PASSIVE ACTIVE FE LC LC MEMS Ferrites Semiconductors RFIC MMIC Thin Film Thick Film Thick Film Low cost technologies Low power consumption High linearity  High power application High FoM possible Compact by using MetaMaterial structures 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Liquid Crystal as Tunable Material for Microwave Applications Temperature Soild Nematic Liquid Liquid ε r, ║ Anisotropy ∆ ε r = ε r, ║ - ε r, ┴ Nematic ε r, ┴ Solid Anisotropic Anisotropic Isotropic Not Tunable Tunable Not Tunable  z n x ε ε ⊥ uniaxial anisotropy 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Liquid Crystal as Tunable Material for Microwave Applications RF DC γ ≈ ω ∝ µ ε ⋅ ( ) ' '( ) ( ) U j L C U U π 2 Φ = β ⋅ = ε ⋅   ( U ) ( U ) λ r 0 π { } 2 ∆Φ = ε − ε ⋅  ( ) U ( 0 ) ( ) U λ r r V 0 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Barium-Strontium-Titanate as Tunable Material for Microwave Applications  Large dipole moment by Ti 4+ & O 2-  Permittivity can be changed by an electrostatic field ε r ∆ε r ( E ) | E |  Change limited by breakdown Dielectric Tunability  Fast Tuning  ps -range  Passive Tuning  electrostatic field 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Barium-Strontium-Titanate as Tunable Material for Microwave Applications Thin-Films Thick-Films Inkjet-Printing  Deposition on  Screen-printing  Printing of BST on Si,MgO,LaAlO 3 ,Pt… on Al 2 O 3 various materials  Sintering ( ≈ 1200°C)  Sintering (400…650°C)  ε r ≈ 100 … 600  ε r ≈ 200 … 700  h ≈ 70 … 500 nm  h ≈ 1 … 30 µm  h ≈ 70 … 500 nm Planar Structures 3D Structures 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Planar Antennas 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Planar Phased Array Antennas based on Liquid Crystal Technology 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Planar Phased Array Antennas based on Liquid Crystal Technology @ 17.5 GHz 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Phase Shifter Topologies Phase shifters are usually based on: Artificial transmission line (LH) Conventional transmission line (RH) Simple design & fabrication Wide bandwidth Change of line impedance  mismatching 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Phase Shifter Topologies Larger absolute phase constant  LH Line can be physically shorter Phase constant with higher sensitivity to a capacitance change LH More compact phase shifter RH 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Planar Phased Array Antennas based on BST Thick Film Technology 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Planar Phased Array Antennas based on BST Thick Film Technology 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Phase Shifters for Differential Signals Tunable differential phase shifter 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Phase Shifters for Differential Signals @ 10 GHz  Performance @ 10 GHz Insertion loss = -12dB Phase shift = 225° Leakage current < 0.2 nA FoM = 38°/dB 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Volumetric Antennas 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Tunable Antennas for Inter-Satellite Communications 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Tunable Antennas for Inter-Satellite Communications 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Tunable Antennas for Inter-Satellite Communications 0 |S| [dB] -5 -10 -15 -20 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 200 600 FoM| [°/dB] 150 475 ∆Φ [°] 100 350 50 225 0 100 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 f [GHz] 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Tunable Antennas based on LTCC 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Reflectarray Antennas 1 Functional principle 2  Energy radiated by the feed 1  Reradiated and phase-adjusted at each element Phase compensation n k 0 R r n r 0 n 2 N n 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Reflectarray Antennas  16x16 elements  All patches in a row connected  Beam steering in one plane 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Reflectarray Antennas Gain: 20.3 dB Directivity: 24 dB Efficiency: 42% 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Reflectarray Antennas Gain: 20.3 dB Directivity: 24 dB Efficiency: 42% 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Impedance Tuning 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Towards Frequency-Agile, Software-Defined, and Cognitive Radios D F F A HPA Φ DSP VCO D A LNA Matching Digital - Mixer Network Switch Matching Signal Analog Processing Oscillator Amplifier Filtering Diplexer Network Converter Smart Reconfigurable RF-Frontend with Antennas Digital Backend tunable passive components  Baseband (software) reconfiguration for multi-standard operation  Reconfigurable RF frontends with reconfigurable/tunable analog RF components for multi-band (and multi-standard) operation 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune

Frequency Tunable Antenna Using varactors to tune compact antennas to cover several bands ( e.g. 0.99 ~ 1.11 GHz with varactors‘ tunability of 30% ) Low operation current (e.g. ~ nA) allows very low DC power consumption Equivalent Ext.DC Bandwidth 0 source -2 40 k Ω -4 Reflection Coefficient (dB) -6 -8 -10 -12 -14 0 V z 50 V -16 90 V y -18 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 x Frequency (GHz) 19.09.2012 | Institute of Microwave Engineering and Photonics | Holger Maune