WE PROPOSE A NOVEL MEMS-BASED DIGITAL PHASE SHIFTER TARGETED FOR KA-BAND OPERATION BUT SCALABLE DOWN TO X-B…

Public award description

WE PROPOSE A NOVEL MEMS-BASED DIGITAL PHASE SHIFTER TARGETED FOR KA-BAND OPERATION BUT SCALABLE DOWN TO X-BAND AND UP TO W-BAND. THIS NOVEL PHASE SHIFTER WILL INCORPORATE MEMTRONICS' STATE-OF-THE-ART MICROENCAPSULATED, CAPACITIVE MEMS SWITCHES TO CONTROL PHASE. THE ENVISIONED PHASE SHIFTER BEHAVES MUCH LIKE A SWITCHED-LINE PHASE SHIFTER WITH BROADBAND MATCHED IMPEDANCE BUT WITHOUT SACRIFICING SIZE NORMALLY NEEDED TO ACCOMMODATE MULTIPLE SIGNAL PATHS. MANY MEMS-BASED PHASE SHIFTERS HAVE BEEN CREATED WITH GOOD RESULTS UTILIZING A LOADED LINE APPROACH. WHILE THIS TECHNIQUE WORKS WELL FOR SMALLER BITS LARGER BITS SUFFER FROM NARROW BANDWIDTHS AND A POOR IMPEDANCE MATCH IN ONE OR BOTH STATES. ADDITIONALLY CASCADING MULTIPLE BITS RESULTS IN A RELATIVELY LONG MULTI-BIT PHASE SHIFTER. AS INSERTION LOSS IS DOMINATED BY CONDUCTOR LOSS THESE LONG MULTI-BIT PHASE SHIFTERS BECOME RATHER LOSSY REDUCING ADVANTAGES THAT MEMS-BASED PHASE SHIFTERS MAY OFFER. THIS PROPOSED PROJECT SEEKS TO OVERCOME THESE LIMITATIONS BY MAXIMIZE PHASE SHIFT PER UNIT LENGTH WHILE INCREASING BANDWIDTH TO ARRIVE AT A LOW-LOSS KA-BAND PHASE SHIFTER WITH SIGNIFICANT PERFORMANCE AND SIZE IMPROVEMENTS OVER CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES.