Construction of Hardware and Software Control Logic for an Electronically Steered211 Phased Array Antenna

摘要

Active antenna arrays with electrical beam control are today being intensively211u001edeveloped for a number of application in radar, communication and electronic 211u001ewarfare. Phase or time shifters are used in most cases to accomplish the beam 211u001esteering. In the report the software and hardware design and implementation of a 211u001econtrol system for an antenna array with 4(astrisk)4 elements is described. 211u001eDigitally controlled 6-bit phase shifters are used for steering the antenna beam 211u001edirection. An algorithm that relates the phase shifter control data to the 211u001eazimuthal and elevation beam angles is implemented together with a user 211u001einterface. The Visual Basic program development tool has been utilized. The 211u001esoftware computed input control data are distributed to the phase shifters via a 211u001edriving circuit. The control hardware is implemented using an FPGA (Field 211u001eProgrammable Gate Array) device, together with necessary voltage adjustment 211u001ecircuitry.