Design, Fabrication, and Measurement Study of a Planar Phased Array Antenna

Phased Array Antenna (PAA) application in mobile communication is increasingly extensive, bringing a wide range of metrology requirements. Rotating-element electric-field vector (REV) method with circle fitting and linear fitting based on the complex measurement is proposed to calibrate the PAA. The simulation verifies the feasibility of the calibration method and the uncertainty contribution of the amplitude and phase fluctuation of the phase shifter to the array calibration and beamforming parameters. An 8x6 patch array with a unique digital phase shifter for each element is designed for metrology research. The designed phased array is calibrated and measured in the anechoic chamber, with different initial phases of each element being programmable adjusted. The results show that the adjusted initial phases are calibrated accurately, and the array could be used for beamforming.