Inter-Injection-Locked Oscillators for Power Combining and Phased Arrays

This paper presents a novel approach to synchronizing the phases of several oscillators for coherent power combining either in a conventional power-combining circuit or in free space as each oscillator drives an antenna element in a phased array. A set of nonlinear differential equations is derived to predict the system´s behavior. These equations are used in the computer-aided design and construction of a demonstration three-oscillator inter-injection-locked system at VHF. Good qualitative agreement between initial experimental results and theoretical predictions is observed, and applications of the inter-injection-locking concept to systems are discussed.