Design, Fabrication, and Evaluation of a MEMS-Based, Ka-Band, 16- Element Sub-Array

摘要

The Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) has recently completed an Army Technology Objective (ATO) aimed at furthering phased arrays for both tactical seekers and communication links. The ATO has been pursuing both MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC)-based phase shifters with an overall goal of reducing missile seeker costs by 50 percent based on the missile mission. In a collaborative effort with the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), the AMRDEC has worked to improve the maturity of Radio Frequency (RF) MEMS devices for use in phase shifters for phased arrays. This report will demonstrate that RF MEMS have vastly improved in reliability over the past few years. Additionally, background information and most current results of a task to implement a 16- element phased sub-array with RF MEMS-based phase shifters will be presented. The slat will be centered at 33.4GHz and will utilize one-half wavelength spacing between elements. The individual elements will consist of Vivaldi antennas. Taylor Weighting will be applied to lower the overall sidelobes. This report will discuss the MEMS design being produced including the current maturity of the design, insertion loss, power consumption, linearity and reliability of the phasing network.