Modulation distortion in phase lock loop controlled active integrated patch oscillator arrays

Active integrated antenna arrays of patch oscillators have been shown theoretically to have limited data rates when frequency or phase modulated, due to time delays in the propagation of the locking signal along the array. Measurements of the far field distortion due to this effect are presented for the first time in this paper. An approximate analysis shows that this limitation is due to the superimposition of an amplitude component on the frequency modulation.