A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays

SUN Liying; LU Yunlong; XU Jun; HU Yang

doi:10.11999/JEIT251325

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Journal of Electronics & Information Technology > 2026 >

SUN Liying, LU Yunlong, XU Jun, HU Yang. A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT251325

Citation:

SUN Liying, LU Yunlong, XU Jun, HU Yang. A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT251325

SUN Liying, LU Yunlong, XU Jun, HU Yang. A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT251325

Citation:

SUN Liying, LU Yunlong, XU Jun, HU Yang. A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT251325

PDF( 2947 KB)

A Channel Phase Self-Compensation Method for Active-Integrated Arrays

doi: 10.11999/JEIT251325 cstr: 32379.14.JEIT251325

SUN Liying¹,
LU Yunlong^{1
,
,},
XU Jun²,
HU Yang¹

1.
Faculty of Information Science and Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
2.
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Funds: National Natural Science Foundation of China (62571285, 62171242), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (LR24F010001), Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (2024J027), Ningbo Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Yongjiang 2035 Key R&D Plan (2025Z206)

Accepted Date: 2026-02-05
Rev Recd Date: 2026-02-05

Available Online: 2026-02-28

Abstract

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.
- Active integration,
- Phased array,
- Phase compensation,
- Beam scanning,
- Circular polarization

FullText(HTML)

References(20)

References

[1]	石涵琛, 杨闯, 彭木根. 6G太赫兹通信: 架构、技术与挑战[J]. 电波科学学报, 2024, 39(3): 395–412. doi: 10.12265/j.cjors.2023130. SHI Hanchen, YANG Chuang, and PENG Mugen. Terahertz communication for 6G: Architectures, technologies and challenges[J]. Chinese Journal of Radio Science, 2024, 39(3): 395–412. doi: 10.12265/j.cjors.2023130.
[2]	KIM W, ISKANDER M F, and PALMER W D. An integrated phased array antenna design using ferroelectric materials and the continuous transverse stub technology[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2006, 54(11): 3095–3105. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2006.883994.
[3]	XIA Xiaoyue, YU Chao, WU Fan, et al. Millimeter-wave phased array antenna integrated with the industry design in 5G/B5G smartphones[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2023, 71(2): 1883–1888. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2023.3234173.
[4]	洪伟, 徐俊, 陈继新, 等. 面向6G的最优和次优毫米波大规模波束成形阵列架构[J]. 电子与信息学报, 2025, 47(8): 2405–2415. doi: 10.11999/JEIT250109. HONG Wei, XU Jun, CHEN Jixin, et al. Optimal and suboptimal architectures of millimeter-wave large-scale arrays for 6G[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology, 2025, 47(8): 2405–2415. doi: 10.11999/JEIT250109.
[5]	WARNICK K F. Noise figure of an active antenna array and receiver system[J]. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2022, 21(8): 1607–1609. doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2022.3175146.
[6]	LIN Qingqing. XU Jun, CHEN Kai, et al. A single-board integrated millimeter-wave asymmetric full-digital beamforming array for B5G/6G applications[J]. Engineering, 2024, 41(10): 38–53. doi: 10.1016/j.eng.2024.04.013.
[7]	李旭光, 刘兵, 傅海鹏, 等. 130 GHz CMOS有源矢量合成移相器[J]. 电子与信息学报, 2021, 43(6): 1559–1564. doi: 10.11999/JEIT210071. LI Xuguang, LIU Bing, FU Haipeng, et al. A 130 GHz CMOS active vector-modulation phase shifter[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology, 2021, 43(6): 1559–1564. doi: 10.11999/JEIT210071.
[8]	CHEN Kai, XU Jun, TANG Siyuan, et al. Millimeter-wave active beam-tilted phased array modules and seamless integration design with ultrawideband sub-6 GHz antenna for future V2X applications[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2025, 73(5): 2737–2753. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2024.3518064.
[9]	冯孔豫. 天线波束相位理论[J]. 电子与信息学报, 1984, 6(2): 96–106. FENG Kongyu. Phase theory of antenna beam[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology, 1984, 6(2): 96–106. (查阅网上资料, 未找到本条文献英文信息, 请确认).
[10]	LOW K K W, ZIHIR S, KANAR T, et al. A 27–31-GHz 1024-element Ka-band SATCOM phased-array transmitter with 49.5-dBW peak EIRP, 1-dB AR, and ±70° beam scanning[J]. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2022, 70(3): 1757–1768. doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2021.3139911.
[11]	FANG Shigang and QU Shiwei. Broadband wide-scanning large-curvature cylindrical conformal dipole array antenna with low-scattering characteristics[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2024, 72(8): 6437–6447. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2024.3417293.
[12]	LI Jiashang, QU Shiwei, FENG Pengyu, et al. Dual-band omnidirectional scanning conical conformal phased array antenna[J]. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2024, 23(12): 4768–4772. doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2024.3470792.
[13]	LIAO Wanchun, MAASKANT R, EMANUELSSON T, et al. A directly matched PA-integrated K-band antenna for efficient mm-wave high-power generation[J]. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2019, 18(11): 2389–2393. doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2019.2937235.
[14]	NALLANDHIGAL S N, BAYAT-MAKOU N, and WU Ke. Scalable planar active array antenna integrated with distributed amplifying transistors for high-power applications[J]. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2021, 69(7): 3425–3437. doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2021.3073405.
[15]	VILENSKIY A R, LIAO Wanchun, MAASKANT R, et al. Co-design and validation approach for beam-steerable phased arrays of active antenna elements with integrated power amplifiers[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2021, 69(11): 7497–7507. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2021.3076255.
[16]	EMADEDDIN A and JONSSON B L G. Wide scan, active K-band, direct-integrated phased array for efficient high-power Tx-generation[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2023, 71(9): 7579–7584. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2023.3281075.
[17]	LIAO Wanchun, VILENSKIY A R, MAASKANT R, et al. mmWave metal bowtie slot array element integrating power amplifier MMIC via on-chip probe to enhance efficiency and bandwidth[J]. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2022, 70(9): 8110–8121. doi: 10.1109/TAP.2022.3177524.
[18]	NALLANDHIGAL S N and WU Ke. Analysis and impact of port impedances on two-port networks and its application in active array antenna developments[J]. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2021, 69(4): 2357–2370. doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2021.3061441.
[19]	POZAR D M. Microwave Engineering[M]. 4th ed. Hoboken, USA: Wiley, 2011. (查阅网上资料, 未找到本条文献页码信息, 请补充).
[20]	MAILLOUX R J. Phased Array Antenna Handbook[M]. 2nd ed. Norwood, USA: Artech House, 2005. (查阅网上资料, 未找到本条文献页码信息, 请补充).