Digital Arrays using Commercial Transceivers: Noise, Spurious, and Linearity Measurements

Advancements of radio transceiver RFICs in the wireless industry can be an enabler for digital beamforming phased arrays requiring highly integrated electronics to fit within the on-array size constraints. As these integrated radio ICs emerge, there are a series of questions in the phased array community on system performance possible when these ICs operate as a coherent array. To assess electrical performance as channels combine, a multi-channel transceiver based digital receiver/exciter (DREX) demonstrator has been developed. The multi-channel transceiver-based DREX demonstrator is presented along with measured results. Measurements demonstrate the ability to increase dynamic range, improve spurious and improve phase noise as channels are combined. Measured results also find intermodulation products are correlated across channels with no improvement as channels are combined. Interpretation of measured results when scaled to large phased array performance is then presented.