D5. Wideband tunable MEMS phase shifters for radar phased array antenna

Abstract

A wideband tunable MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) phase shifter is proposed for radar phased array antenna. A tuning circuit is added to modulate a narrow band phase shifter to achieve a bandwidth of about 200 MHz at 3 GHz central frequency which is suitable for radar applications. RF capacitors, inductors, and resistors are selected and optimized for the tuning circuit to achieve a phase response suitable at the pre-mentioned bandwidth. The overall phase response of the phase shifter is an algebraic sum of the narrow band phase shifter and the tuning circuit phase responses. The phase shifter is designed, simulated and tested using Advanced Design System (ADS) software either with or without using tuning circuits. This type of phase shifters can give high performance and resolution at a bandwidth 20 times wider than the normal switched line phase shifter.