A Scalable Dual-Polarized 256-Element Ku-Band SATCOM Phased-Array Transmitter with 36.5 dBW EIRP Per Polarization

This paper presents a Ku-band dual-polarized transmit phased-array with 256-elements spaced lambda/2 apart at 14 GHz in the x and y directions. The design is based on 64 silicon quad-core transmit chips with 8 channels, and these chips are used to feed a 2x2 quad antennas with dual polarizations. The output P1dB per channel is 12 dBm at 14 GHz. The silicon core-chips are flipped directly on a 12-layer low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) with stacked patch antennas and Wilkinson dividers. The 256-element phased-array results in a measured EIRP of 64.5 dBm and 66.5 dBm at P1dB and Psat, respectively, at normal incidence, per polarization. Measured patterns show a scan region of +/- 60 degrees in E-and H-planes with low sidelobes and near-ideal patterns. The design achieves a cross polarization level < -27 dB up to +/- 45 degrees and < -23 dB at +/- 60 degrees scan angle, in both planes. The array is scalable to allow the construction of large-scale phased-arrays (1024 elements or more). To our knowledge, this represents state-of-the-art in Ku-band transmit phased-arrays in terms of integration level making it suitable for a low-cost mobile Ku-band SATCOM terminal.