A 2-D electronic beam steering phased array for point-multipoint communication applications

In this work a 2D electronic beam steering array is presented. The 8 x 8 antenna operates in the frequency range 4.4-5 GHz. Each radiating element is connected to an independently controlled analog phase shifter, thus allowing a continuous steering of the main beam both in elevation and in azimuth. The whole antenna is realized in printed technology, and all the RF and biasing circuitry is realized on a single layer, while the radiating part is realized by an array of cavity-backed slot-fed patches, thus resulting in an extremely compact and modular solution. Preliminary measurements show the good performance achievable and confirm the beam-shaping and interference-nulling capabilities of the presented antenna system.