A 29–30GHz 64-Element Active Phased Array for 5G Application

A 64-element 29–30GHz active phased array for 5G millimeter wave applications is presented in this paper. The proposed phased array composites of 64-element antennas, 64-channel T/R modules, 4 frequency conversion links, beam controlling circuitry, power management circuits and cooling fans, and are integrated in a in a very compact size(135mm × 77mm × 56mm). Hybrid integration of GaAs and Si circuits are employed to achieve better RF performance. The architecture of the proposed phased array and the detail design of the T/R modules and antennas are analyzed. By the OTA (over the air) measurement, the proposed phased array achieves a bandwidth of 1 GHz at the center frequency of 29.5GHz, and the azimuth beam-width is 12 deg with the scanning range of ±45deg. With the excitation of 800MHz 64QAM signals, the transmitter beam achieves a EVM of 5.5%, ACLR of -30.5dBc with the PA working at -10dB back off, and the measured saturated EIRP is 63 dBm.