Planar Beam-Forming Array for Broadband Communication in the 60 GHz Band

A planar beam-forming antenna array is proposed that operates in the 60 GHz frequency band. The array consists of 6 balanced-fed aperture-coupled patch antenna elements [2] that are placed in a circular configuration. The resulting array has a maximum gain of 14 dBi and a 3 dB scan range of plusmn50 degrees. To demonstrate the performance, test arrays have been implemented with accompanying feed networks that apply the appropriate phase distribution over the array for beam-forming at several specific scan angles. Measurements validate the proposed array configuration.