Switched-beam antenna array design for millimeter-wave applications Citation for published version (APA): Rousstia, M. W., & Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TUE). Stan Ackermans Instituut. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (2011). Switched-beam antenna array design for millimeter-wave applications. [EngD Thesis]. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2011 Document Version: Accepted manuscript including changes made at the peer-review stage Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 04. Mar. 2023 Switched-beam antenna array design for millimeter- wave applications Mohadig Widha Rousstia, M.Sc. Design report on the work carried out at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, during the period October 2010 – August 2011. Project Supervisors Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) dr. ir. M. H. A. J. Herben Department of Electrical Engineering A. C. F. Reniers Electromagnetics Group TU/e Stan Ackermans Institute (SAI) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) August 2011 Switched-beam antenna array design for millimeter-wave applications by Mohadig Widha Rousstia, M.Sc. A catalogue record is available from Eindhoven University of Technology Library ISBN: 978-90-444-1066-2 (Eindverslagen Stan Ackermans Instituut; 2011/059) Keywords: rod antenna, polyrod antenna, dielectric antenna, tapered rod, circular rod, dielectric horn, conformal antenna, switched-beam array, multibeam, travelling wave, end-fire, antenna array, scan range, scan beam, 60 GHz antenna, millimeter-wave antenna, gigabit wireless communication, CPW, RF MEMS, MEMS switch, SP3T Acknowledgements i Acknowledgements This project cannot be finished successfully without many helps from people in the Electromagnetics Group at TU/e. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to dr. ir. Matti Herben for his numerous guidances and invaluable inputs during this project. His availability for me in daily basis is of a great importance to make this project accomplished successfully. I would like to also thank Ad Reniers for supervising me and sharing his broad experiences with me during conducting this project. Also, I would like to thank especially prof. Dr.-Ing. Leon Kaufmann for giving me the opportunity to work in the Netherlands and, particularly, in this inspiring environment. Special thanks also to prof. dr. ir. Bart Smolders and prof. dr. ir. Erik Fledderus for guiding me to find this interesting project. I am also grateful to have worked with Erwin Dekkers from GTD and Boy van Veghel from QPI, to make the antenna demonstrator realizable. I want to also thank Imran Kazim for our many discussions, his patience as being my office mate, and his willingness to share the computer resource for my simulation, Rainier van Dommele for offering me helps for the radiation pattern measurement, and dr. Mingda Huang for sharing his knowledge. Obviously, I also thank dr. ir. Rob Mestrom for the useful information about the MEMS. I also highly appreciate the helps from Rian van Gaalen and Suzanne Kuijlaars during my stay and work period at TU/e. I profusely thank Peng Guo, Chrysoula Sismanidou, Mojtaba Zamanifekri, Shady Keyrouz, Ulf Johannsen, David Duque Guerra, and all colleagues, who cannot be mentioned here one by one, for sharing her/his interest in this project and making the Electromagnetics group a vibrant place to work. Last but not least, I would like to dedicate special thanks for my parents and brother for their unconditional love and support. ii Summary Summary The limited coverage of wireless communication at the millimeter-wave frequency band due to large free-space path loss, i.e. large signal attenuation, has been a major problem. Furthermore, shadowing and small-scale fading may reduce the received signal even more. An array of rod antennas is designed to tackle those problems by providing high gain, broad scan range, and a shaped beam. Each patch, which couples the electromagnetic wave to the rod, is fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) feedline. Each rod antenna demonstrates 18 dBi realized gain and 20° half power beamwidth (HPBW). Moreover, the 4 GHz bandwidth of the antenna provides high data rate for the gigabit wireless application. Furthermore, the Radio Frequency Microelectromechanical System (RF MEMS) switch is used to realize a switched antenna with a broad scan range. The design method and the characterization of the antenna are presented. The proposed antenna system is suitable for a wide range of applications, such as wireless high definition video/audio, USB and firewire replacement, Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar, and home/office backhaul application at millimeter-wave frequency. Table of contents iii Table of contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………..i Summary………………………………………………………………………………..…...ii Table of contents…………………………………………………………………………….iii List of abbreviations...…………………………………………………………………………v List of figures...………………………………………………………………...……………viii List of tables...………………………….……………………………………………………xii 1 Project description ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction of millimeter-wave wireless communication .......................................... 1 1.2 Challenges in millimeter-wave wireless communication............................................. 3 1.3 Overview of the antenna structure ............................................................................... 4 1.4 Project objective ........................................................................................................... 6 1.5 System specification ..................................................................................................... 7 1.5.1 Link budget analysis ............................................................................................. 7 1.5.2 Specification of the antenna structure ................................................................. 10 1.5.3 Specification of the RF MEMS switch ............................................................... 11 1.6 Report outline ............................................................................................................. 12 2 Design of the dielectric rod antenna in the 60-GHz frequency band ......................... 15 2.1 Background of the dielectric rod antenna .................................................................. 16 2.1.1 How the rod antenna works ................................................................................ 16 2.1.2 Field configuration .............................................................................................. 22 2.2 Design iteration of the rod antenna ............................................................................ 25 2.3 Optimization of the rod antenna ................................................................................. 31 2.4 Patch-fed structure...................................................................................................... 34 2.5 Transmission line structure ........................................................................................ 36 2.5.1 Coplanar waveguide............................................................................................ 36 2.6 Preparation for the simulation .................................................................................... 38 2.7 Antenna characterization ............................................................................................ 40 2.7.1 Array structure with 40° inter-element angular distance θ ................................ 40 el 2.7.1.1 S-parameter .................................................................................................. 42 2.7.1.2 Radiation pattern.......................................................................................... 43 2.7.2 Array structure with 20° inter-element angular distance θ ................................ 45 el 2.7.2.1 S-parameter .................................................................................................. 45 2.7.2.2 Radiation pattern.......................................................................................... 46 2.7.2.3 Polarization .................................................................................................. 49 2.7.2.4 Radiation efficiency ..................................................................................... 51 2.8 Comparison of the mutual coupling of different array structures .............................. 52 2.9 Design template .......................................................................................................... 54 3 Design of the RF MEMS switch in the 60-GHz frequency band ................................ 59 3.1 Background of the RF MEMS switch ........................................................................ 60 3.1.1 RF considerations................................................................................................ 61 3.1.2 Electromechanical considerations ....................................................................... 64 3.2 SP3T switch structure................................................................................................. 66 3.3 Transmission line, interconnection, and packaging ................................................... 71 3.3.1 90° CPW bend ..................................................................................................... 72 iv Table of contents 3.3.2 Via, tapering, and SMA transition in CPW transmission line ............................ 73 3.3.3 λ/4 transmission line ........................................................................................... 74 3.3.4 Packaging ............................................................................................................ 75 3.4 RF MEMS characterization ........................................................................................ 75 3.5 Actuation voltage ....................................................................................................... 79 4 Prototype of the switched-beam antenna array ........................................................... 83 4.1 Integration of the antenna and RF MEMS ................................................................. 83 4.2 Sensitivity of the structure.......................................................................................... 88 5 Fabrication and measurement ....................................................................................... 91 5.1 Consideration for manufacturing the antenna structure ............................................. 91 5.2 Characterization of the foam material ........................................................................ 93 5.3 Characterization of the RMSW 220HP evaluation board .......................................... 95 5.3.1 Return loss and insertion loss ............................................................................. 95 5.4 Characterization of the conformal rod antenna .......................................................... 96 5.4.1 S-parameter ......................................................................................................... 96 5.4.2 HPBW, far-field pattern, and antenna gain ......................................................... 98 5.5 Characterization of the antenna system .................................................................... 104 5.5.1 Return loss ........................................................................................................ 104 5.5.2 HPBW, far-field pattern, and antenna gain ....................................................... 105 6 Conclusions and future works ..................................................................................... 107 6.1 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 107 6.2 Recommendations and future works ........................................................................ 108 7 References ...................................................................................................................... 111 8 Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 119 8.1 Project based management ....................................................................................... 119 8.1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 119 8.1.2 Problem description .......................................................................................... 120 8.1.3 Goal and results................................................................................................. 120 8.1.4 Delimitation ...................................................................................................... 121 8.1.5 Project phases.................................................................................................... 122 8.1.6 Capacity and time plan...................................................................................... 123 8.1.7 Organization ...................................................................................................... 124 8.1.8 Money ............................................................................................................... 125 8.1.9 Quality............................................................................................................... 126 8.1.10 Progress control ................................................................................................ 126 8.1.11 Risk list and risk management .......................................................................... 127 8.2 Antenna demonstrator .............................................................................................. 128 8.3 DC-DC converter for actuating the MEMS ............................................................. 130 8.4 System overview of the 60-GHz wireless communication ...................................... 132 List of abbreviations v List of abbreviations BER Bit error rate BW Bandwidth CPW Coplanar Waveguide CST Computer Simulation Technology DC Direct Current DEVURO Detection of Vulnerable Road User DIMES Delft Institute of Microsystems and Nanoelectronics EM Electromagnetics ESD Electrostatic Discharge FEC Forward Error Correction FET Field Effect Transistor FGCPW Finite Ground Coplanar Waveguide FIT Finite Integration Technique FMCW Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave GaAs Galium Arsenide Gbps Gigabit per second GHz Giga Herzt GmbH Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung GND Ground GSG Ground-Signal-Ground GTD Gemeenschappelijke Technische Dienst HD High Definition HE Hybrid mode HPBW Half Power Beamwidth vi List of abbreviations ISI Inter Symbol Interference ISM Industrial, Scientific, Medical ITU International Telecommunication Union LNA Low Noise Amplifier LCP Liquid Crystal Polymer LHCP Left-hand Circular Polarization LOS Line-of-sight LTCC Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic MHz Megaherzt MIMO Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output MS Microstrip MMIC Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit MWS Microwave Studio NF Noise Figure NLOS Non-line-of-sight OTS Off-the-shelf PI Polyimide PIN P-type, Intrinsic, N-Type semiconductors PML Perfectly Matched Layer PS Polystyrene PTFE Polytetrafluoroethylene QPI Quality Products International QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying Radar Radio Detection and Ranging RF Radio Frequency RF MEMS Radio Frequency Microelectromechanical System List of abbreviations vii RHCP Right-hand Circular Polarization RMI Radant MEMS, Inc. Rx Receiver SAI-ICT Stan Ackermans Institute – Information & Communication Technology SLL Side Lobe Level SMA Sub-Miniature version A SPNT Single Pole N Throw SUT Substrate-under-test TE Transverse Electric TM Transverse Magnetic TEM Transverse Electromagnetic TRL Thru-Reflect-Line TTD True-time-delay TU Delft Delft University of Technology TU/e Eindhoven University of Technology Tx Transmitter VNA Vector Network Analyzer VRU Vulnerable Road User WLAN Wireless Local Area Network WSN Wireless Sensor Network