A NOVEL PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA THAT USES FERROELECTRICS AND BULK PHASE SHIFTING

Abstract A new concept for phased arrays is proposed using a voltage controlled ferroelectric lens. The ferroelectric lens concept uniquely incorporates bulk phase shifting; the array does not contain individual phase shifters but rather uses ferroelectric material. This will reduce the number of phase shifters from (n × m) to (n + m), where n is the number of columns and m is the number of rows in a phased array. The number of phase shifter drivers and phase shifter controls is also significantly reduced by using row-column beam steering. Thus, the ferroelectric lens concept can potentially lead to low-cost phased arrays. This paper presents the ferroelectric lens concept, theoretical analysis and design, and experimental results. Latest results obtained for C band (4-8 GHz) lens are included. A brief description of ferroelectric materials used for this work is also included