MILLIMETER WAVE ELECTRONIC BEAM SCANNING USING QUASIOPTICAL TECHNIQUES

A NOVEL APPROACH FOR ACHIEVING BEAM-STEERING OF A 60 GHZ COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IS DESCRIBED. THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE ELIMINATES SOME OF THE SERIOUS DRAWBACKS OF THE CURRENT PHASED ARRAY CONCEPTS USING FERRITE OR SOLID-STATE PHASE SHIFTERS. THE SCHEME HAS A POTENTIAL FOR MONOLITHIC IMPLEMENTATION. THE PROPOSED SCANNING TECHNOLOGY USES GAUSSIAN OPTICS ELEMENT THAT IS CAPABLE OF SCANNING VARIOUS APERTURE SIZES IN ONE DIMENSION. TWO SUCH ELEMENTS CAN BE USED FOR TWO-DIMENSIONAL SCANNING. THE PROPOSED SCANNING TECHNIQUE OFFERS FAST SCANS LIMITED ONLY BY SEMICONDUCTOR DRIVER/LOGIC SPEEDS, CAPABLE OF HANDLING LARGE POWER, SUITABLE FOR LOW-NOISE APPLICATIONS. A COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION FOR BEAM STEERING CAN BE OBTAINED IN COMPARISON TO THE "TRADITIONAL" PHASE ARRAY APPROACHES.