Implementation considerations of patch antenna array for 60GHz beam steering system applications

Beam steering antenna is expected in 60 GHz wireless communication system to improve the signal to noise ratio and obtain high gain with wide cover range for high speed WPAN application. In this paper, patch antenna arrays with planar topology are investigated by synthesizing the network losses and devices such as phase shifters. The investigation results can provide a valuable guide line for the further implementations to the highly integrated beamforming systems. Moreover, the array antenna system performances, i.e. maximum gain, directivity, radiation patterns, element phase sensitivity, are analyzed under different element number and based on electromagnetic simulation and computational methods. It is found that the half wavelength square patch arrays can obtain maximum plusmn 45deg angle scanning range in E-plane and plusmn 40deg range in H-plane with peak gain variation of 3 dB. It can be shown that to achieve 6 dBi gain with plusmn 45deg beam steering range, a 13-element array with inter-element spacing of lambda₀ and full 360deg phase shifter are required if only passive components are employed.