A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays
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摘要: 有源电路与天线的无缝集成能有效改善链路性能与集成度。当前，有源集成天线主要是在保证天线辐射性能的前提下调控天线阻抗特性使其与有源晶体管实现直接匹配。天线复阻抗特性对有源通道的相位响应影响，及其在有源集成相控阵列中的应用还未进行充分分析。有源电路与天线的无缝集成能有效改善链路整体性能与集成度。本文提出一种用于有源集成阵列的通道相位自补偿方法。每个有源通道中的有源晶体管与辐射阵元需直接集成，即晶体管漏极输出端的负载阻抗与辐射阵元的输入阻抗匹配。通过在恒定有源增益下对该负载阻抗(复阻抗)求解，可以得到有源通道相位响应与负载阻抗的具体映射关系。进而针对各通道间对于移相范围的具体要求，选择合适的负载阻抗作为相应辐射阵元的输入阻抗，便可以在不采用外部移相结构的情况下，对每个通道施加一组相位分布，用以控制初始波束指向或者共形阵列中阵元之间波程差补偿等应用。论文设计、加工和测试了一个具有初始波束指向的有源集成相控阵天线设计实例，验证了该方法的有效性。Abstract:
The seamless integration of active circuitry and antennas can effectively enhance link performance and integration. At present, active-integrated antennas are mainly designed by adjusting the antenna impedance, while maintaining the desired radiation characteristics, to achieve direct matching with active transistors. However, the impact of the antenna’s complex impedance on the phase response of the active channel, as well as its potential application in active-integrated phased arrays, has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This paper proposes a channel phase self-compensation method for active-integrated arrays. For each active channel, the active transistor is directly integrated with and the radiating element, i.e., the load impedance at the transistor’s drain is matched to the input impedance of the antenna element. Under a constant active gain, the required complex load impedance is solved to establish an explicit mapping between the phase response of each active channel and its corresponding load impedance. According to the specific phase-shifting requirements among array channels, appropriate load impedances are then selected as the input impedances of the corresponding radiating elements. This can apply a set of phase distributions to each channel without using an external phase-shifting structure, to control the initial beam orientation or compensate for the wave path difference between elements in a conformal array, etc. An active-integrated phased-array antenna with an initial beam direction is demonstrated as a design example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. This approach provides a forward-looking and efficient design paradigm for next-generation active-integrated arrays. Objective In the traditional approach, active circuit channels and antenna arrays are each matched to 50 Ω prior to interconnection. This not only occupies considerable physical space and hinders system-level integration, but the insertion loss of the passive matching networks and the mismatch loss at the interconnects also degrade the overall link performance. A seamless co-integration of the active circuitry and antenna elements can overcome these limitations. However, for multi-channel active-integrated antenna arrays, it is often necessary to impose one or multiple sets of superimposed phase distributions on the active channels to meet the requirements of various application scenarios, such as fuze initial beam offset, wavefront compensation for conformal active phased arrays, and wide-angle beam scanning. Conventionally, these phase gradients are achieved by backend phase-shifting networks. In this work, by appropriately controlling the complex impedance characteristics of the antenna when it is directly integrated with the active circuitry, the phase response of the active-integrated channels can be effectively tuned within a certain range without employing complex matching networks or additional phase shifters. Thus, this approach reduces both the complexity and performance requirements of the backend phase-shifting network. The advantages become even more prominent in millimeter-wave, high-frequency, and terahertz systems, where the achievable phase-shift range of phase shifters is inherently limited. Methods The phase self-compensation of active channels is achieved based on the direct integration of the active transistor with the radiating element, in which the drain output of the transistor is directly connected to the input of the radiating element (i.e., the impedance transformation is realized within the antenna element itself). Under this structure, the proposed method is implemented through the following three steps: (1) The active transistor is first modeled as a two-port network. By evaluating the antenna element’s complex impedance as the load on different constant-gain circles, the mapping between the phase response of the active channel and the load impedance is established, from which the total achievable phase shift of the active channel is obtained. (2) According to the required phase-shift range among the array channels, appropriate combinations of active gain and corresponding complex load impedances (not unique) are then selected. (3) Finally, the realizability of these impedances is examined based on the radiation-element characteristics. The impedance values with the highest realizability are determined and implemented through the optimization of the radiating element, achieved by fine-tuning its geometry and feed position to meet the required impedance targets. Furthermore, when adjusting the radiating element—particularly for circularly polarized elements—it is also necessary to maintain desirable radiation characteristics, including good axial ratio and beam-scanning performance. Results and Discussions The proposed phase self-compensation mechanism enables the array to achieve its initial beam pointing and to compensate for path-length variations arising from special array geometries (e.g., conformal or curved surfaces) without employing any additional phase-shifting structures. As a result, the performance requirements imposed on the backend phase-shifting network in active phased arrays can be significantly alleviated. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a 1×4 circularly polarized active-integrated linear array ( Fig. 9 ) is designed and demonstrated. Based on rigorous channel-level impedance calculations (Fig. 6 ) and a detailed analysis of the antenna-element impedance characteristics (Fig. 8 ), a phase gradient of 38° between adjacent channels is synthesized and applied to the circularly polarized active-integrated array. Without degrading its circularly polarized radiation performance and without relying on any external phase-shifting circuitry, the initial beam pointing of the active-integrated phased array is successfully shifted to the desired direction of θ0 = 12° (Fig. 13 ). Furthermore, it is observed that the phase self-compensation design does not impair the beam-scanning capability of the array. After superimposing an additional phase gradient for beam steering, the array achieves a scanning range of up to 50°, with the gain reduction kept within 2 dB relative to the initial pointing direction, and the axial ratio maintained below 4 dB across the scanning range.Conclusions In the framework of active-integrated arrays, this work exploits the phase-tuning characteristics introduced by the complex impedance at the antenna port when the radiating element is directly matched to the active transistor. Thus, a desired phase-gradient distribution can be synthesized among the channels of an active-integrated phased array within a certain achievable range. Such a capability enables the compensation of the required phase distributions(such as initial beam presetting and path-length equalization in conformal-array applications)without relying on additional phase shifters, thereby reducing the complexity and performance requirements of the backend phase-shifting circuitry to some extent. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through a multi-channel circularly polarized active-integrated phased-array prototype with a preset initial beam direction. Both full-wave simulations and measurements confirm that the phase self-compensation mechanism of the active channels can provide the array with the desired initial beam pointing, while maintaining its beam-scanning capability and polarization performance. This work offers a promising new pathway for realizing next-generation high-efficiency active-integrated phased arrays. -
Key words:
- Active integration /
- Phased array /
- Phase compensation /
- Beam scanning /
- Circular polarization
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表 1 1 × 4规模阵列中各有源通道依次实现的相移量及负载阻抗
通道1 通道2 通道3 通道4 相移量Φ 56° 94° 132° 170° ∠Sp21 116° 112° 108 99° tan–1(XL/RL) –60° –18° 24° 71° ZL(Ω) 21–j35 11.9–j4 10+j4.5 7+j20 
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