Summary
International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation
2008
Session Number:2C09
Session:
Number:2C09-3
60-GHz Circularly-Polarized Switched-Beam Antenna Module
Shih-Yuan Chen, Yu-Lin Shih, Hsiao-Wei Wu, Tah-Hsiung Chu, Powen Hsu,
pp.-
Publication Date:2008/10/27
Online ISSN:2188-5079
Summary:
To increase the system capacity and the transmission data rate of wireless communication systems, the smart antenna technologies [1], including the adaptive and the switched beamforming, offer significantly improved solutions. Regarding the circuitry complexity and production cost, the switched beamforming would be currently a better candidate though it can form beams only in the specific predetermined directions based on the received signal strength measurements. In addition, using circularly-polarized (CP) antennas can provide further enhancement due to its capability of reducing multipath reflections and interferences. Therefore, a CP antenna module with the switched beamforming capability is proposed in this paper. The design specifications are as follows: the operating frequency band from 59 to 62 GHz, the input return loss > 10 dB within the band, the inband axial ratio < 3 dB, and the LHCP peak gain > 10 dBic. The proposed 60-GHz integrated antenna module is composed of four identical CP antennas and a 4×4 Butler matrix as the beamformer. For easier integration, all the components used are in the microstrip configurations, and the RT/Rogers 5880 substrate of 5-mil thickness is chosen as the common dielectric substrate. The design details and the integration considerations are described in the following sections.