Development of Novel Phase Shifterless RF Phase Array Antenna Systems

In recent years the usage of phase arrays in wireless communications has found significantly increased interest, partly due to their ability to enhance system sensitivity and their anti-jamming capabilities. This growth of strong interests in RF phase array antenna systems for DoD applications is evident with the current and future developments of many major RADAR and military communication systems in place, such as the ground-based, sea-based, airborne, and space-based phased array RADAR and other electronic systems. During the period of our phase I STTR contract, our team at NoiseFigure Research and Texas Tech University has helped raising considerable interests by creating a fully monolithic silicon active phase array IC using coupled voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) and on-chip switches with experimental injection-locking.The objective of this Phase II proposal, therefore, is to utilize our advanced technology and design concepts with nonlinear dynamics and coupled monolithic VCO arrays to develop phase-shifterless RF phase array antenna systems based on fruitful results of our Phase I efforts. For DoD applications, the added benefit of using monolithic phase arrays would make it possible to create self-calibrated Tx/Rx modules to reduce system calibration, testing and deployment time while reducing the total payload.