A Dual-Circularly Polarized Dual-Beam Phased Array Antenna With Independent and Dynamic Controllability Enabled by Hybrid Phase Reconfigurable Technique

Abstract

In this article, a dual-circularly-polarized (CP) dual-beam phased array antenna (PAA) with independent and dynamic controllability is proposed by employing a novel hybrid phase reconfigurable technique (HPRT). Such functionality of independent real-time control for dual-CP beam is enabled by combining the merits of the Berry phase technique (BPT), dynamic phase technique (DPT), and reconfigurable technique. Based on the theory that an arbitrary linear polarized (LP) wave can be decomposed into a left-handed CP (LHCP) wave and a right-handed CP (RHCP) wave, the proposed array adopts the LP element to generate two independent switchable CP beams. A digital phase shifting network, comprising a switchable multiport phase shifter and two adjustable microstrip line phase shifters, is developed to provide the independent phase control for two orthogonal CP waves. To validate the concept, a $1\times 8$ PAA operating at 4.3 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. The experimental results agree well with the simulated ones for the six different beam states, thus verifying that the wavefront of the two orthogonal CP waves can be manipulated independently. The joint bandwidth of the 3-dB axial ratio (AR) and the 3-dB gain for all operating states can achieve 18.6%, covering from 3.9 to 4.7 GHz. The proposed dual-CP dual-beam PAA with independent and dynamic controllability could be applied in satellite communications, point-to-multipoint communications, and so on.