A Reconfigurable Dual-Polarized 1024-Element Ka-Band SATCOM Transmit Phased-Array with Large Scan Volume and +48 dBW EIRP

This paper presents a planar scalable 1024-element Ka-band SATCOM transmit (TX) phased-array with embedded RF drivers and reconfigurable polarization. The phased-array uses SiGe TX beamformer (BF) chips and printed stacked-patch antennas on a FR-4 based printed circuit board (PCB) to transmit either linear, rotated linear, circular clockwise or anticlockwise polarization. It demonstrates a measured 3.5° 3-dB beamwidth, sub 1 dB axial ratio, +48 dBW peak EIRP on axis and the ability to scan to ±70° in all planes. It is scalable to larger phased-arrays without grating lobes which makes it suitable for large SATCOM terminals with 4096 and higher elements.