Substrate Integrated Waveguide Based Phase Shifter and Phased Array in a Ferrite Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic Package

  • Ahmed A. Nafe

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Phased array antennas, capable of controlling the direction of their radiated beam, are demanded by many conventional as well as modern systems. Applications such as automotive collision avoidance radar, inter-satellite communication links and future man-portable satellite communication on move services require reconfigurable beam systems with stress on mobility and cost effectiveness. Microwave phase shifters are key components of phased antenna arrays. A phase shifter is a device that controls the phase of the signal passing through it. Among the technologies used to realize this device, traditional ferrite waveguide phase shifters offer the best performance. However, they are bulky and difficult to integrate with other system components. Recently, ferrite material has been introduced in Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) multilayer packaging technology. This enables the integration of ferrite based components with other microwave circuitry in a compact, light-weight and mass producible package. Additionally, the recent concept of Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) allowed realization of synthesized rectangular waveguide-like structures in planar and multilayer substrates. These SIW structures have been shown to maintain the merits of conventional rectangular waveguides such as low loss and high power handling capabilities while being planar and easily integrable with other components. Implementing SIW structures inside a multilayer ferrite LTCC package enables monolithic integration of phase shifters and phased arrays representing a true System on Package (SoP) solution. It is the objective of this thesis to pursue realizing efficient integrated phase shifters and phased arrays combining the above mentioned technologies, namely Ferrite LTCC and SIW. In this work, a novel SIW phase shifter in ferrite LTCC package is designed, fabricated and tested. The device is able to operate reciprocally as well as non-reciprocally. Demonstrating a measured maximum reciprocal phase shift of 132o and maximum non-reciprocal shift of 118o at 12 GHz. Additionally a slotted SIW antenna is designed and integrated with the phase shifter in an array format, demonstrating a beam scanning of ± 15o. The design is highly suitable for mobile automotive radars and satellite communications systems.
Date of AwardMar 2014
Original languageEnglish (US)
Awarding Institution
  • Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering
SupervisorAtif Shamim (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Phase Shifter
  • Sustrate Integrated Waveguide
  • Ferrite
  • Phased Antenna Array

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